The evening world., 1920-06-09
waterways Costing 1885,
100000 Could Garry Food
Cheaply to City.
BLAME u. S. OPERATION.
Great Artery Capable of Being
Freighted With Commerce
of Half the Continent.

Freighted With Commerce
of Half the Continent.
Sophie Irene Loeb Of The Foe
ming World std1-d thorough
Investigator tDith a thoroughly
toeH grounded knoJoIedOe of the
subject-hGS made an dutomO-
bile tour Of the highways and
bytodys Of the agricultural coun-
ties of Neto York State for
drst-hdnd facts about farm con-
ditiOns affecting food production
and prices. Professional farm
ers hare been quoted at length
toith reference to threatened
curtdiIment Of production. scar
city Of labor aud high prices for
farm necessities, but The EUe-
ming World is the FIRST nelospG-
per to 90 direct to the farmers
themselves for the facts. Miss
Loeb has toTttteH series Of
articles. i0hich i0iH disclose
facts quite startling to the NetO
Yorker and the country at large.
The tenth article fOllotos:
Dy Sophie Irene Loeb.
LITTLE FALLS, N. Y. June Sit
may be only a coincidence or it may
be that the two conditions have some
relation to each other. but the de-
cline of the commerce Of the Port
Of New York is paralleled by the de-
cline of traffic on the State Barge
Canal system. Tho Barge Canal sys-
TEN. for which the people Of the State
have obligated themselves to pay
t155, ,000, 900. was designed not only to
bring food and produce from the
fields and farms to the people Of New
York City, and thus reduce the cost
OF living but also to feed the COM
merce Of the Port Of New York.
But the canal is working at only 10
per cent. of its capacity. 1t is, vlr-
tually, an enterprise rotting in Its
banks, failing utterly in the accom-
plishment Of the purposes for which
It was constructed and at this time
serving almost exclusively private
corporations to their benefit and
profit and aiding the commerce Of
the Port OF New York only to the
extent that private corporations di-
rectly utilize It in their export and
import business, General traffic Is
small factor.
In study Of the patrons OF the
| canal l find that the Standard OH
Company is perhaps the largest bene-
hciary Of this great waterway paid
for by the people. l am told by lock-
masters that more Standard OIL boats
go through than any other kind.
Not only this, but 1t is believed
that the canal operations OF this cor
poration have proved so highly salts
factory that they anticipate economic
and large development
The tank barges Of the Standard
Oil Company last year carried more
than 10000 gallons as far west o.
Syracuse on the Erie Division and
northerly to whitehall on the Cham
plain Division.
The tonnage carried, consisting
mostly OF gasoline and kerosene, ag
gregated 46,15I tons. an increase o
more than $4,000 tons over last year.
The next largest benefciaries Of tn
canal are the General Electric Com
pany and the Ore Carrying Corpora
ton.
, The General Electric freight wa
largely export goods sent abroad. d
the return journey these boats carrie
imported matter such as raw ma
terials, rubber and the like.
This concern sent last year neart
1900 tons more than the precedin
; year.
y The Ore Carrying Corporation car
q RED nearly 1900 tons more than tn
! preceding year. This concern foun
l that even when the boats conveye
cargo on the New York trip alone an
Y carried nothing in return the cost c
transportation was appreciably les
4 than the railroad and the revenu
: higher.
e / cite these corporations only a
4 examples, or course they have ever
: right to use the canal and will con
I tinue to develop this form OF trans
L portation for their own economic I'D
vantage. II the great purpose OF III
canal, which was to bring 20 tn
average consumer OF the cOngeste
areas all kinds OF produce, Is Gel
talnly defeated as far as any benef
is accruing TO the individual COZ
! Bumer.
o All along the line, the men operai
n ing the locks and those In clol
n touch with the canal situation con
I plain bitterly of the disuse OF tn
= gigantic artery OF transportation.
With great pride these men toe
me into the power houses and shove
me how millions of dollars have bee
j. spent in the most up-to- the minu
q machinery in the world.
: 1t all works like a push butte
g process, II Is the last word In moo
c ern mechanics.
d Hundreds OF boats could pal
" through these gateways, where on
a few are moving. II takes fiftee
or twenty minutes for a boat to 8
through, Thus in twenty-four hour
| nearly one hundred boats could mas