Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-06-16
WATERWAY TRANSPORTATION.

count of itself. This waterway Is th'
old Erie canal brought up TO date
Starting at the head Of navigation OF
the Hudson river the canal crosse;
the great state of New York to the
Great Lakes connecting with Lake
Erie at Buffalo.
; 1t was only after a hard fight that
New York was able to build this
waterway. Bonding the state for
$50, 900, 900 had first 10 be approved
by the people. This was done in the
face of the greatest opposition put up
mainly by the railroads. All through
the process of b~uilding-and it has
taken many years to complete the
work-the opponents of waterway de-
velopment have done their best to
make the project a failure.
OF course, a barge canal such as
this one is, is useless without ado
quate terminals and to add the cost
of building these terminals to the
amount already spent on the water
way itself seemed like rubbing 1t in.
lBut gradually these terminals have
been secured, although many more
are still needed. and suitable boats
have been constructed to operate
on such an inland waterway to the
lbest advantage.
Now comes the awful congestion
of the railroads. They cannot begin
TO handle the freight that is offered
Ito them. The barge canal across
Ithe state of New York has helped
wonderfully in solving the problem.
MANY Industries located in cities
Ialong this waterway declare they
gwould have had to shut down had
lat not been for receiving coal and
lother raw materials by the way of
1.-THE canal. transportation on this
waterway has increased 100 per
lcent., this year over last year.
Business interests are more and more
lrealizing the tremendous advantage
Ithis canal is to them and instead of
I~anjuring the railroads it has actually
fbeen a help to them.
Within the last year or two an
ihgitation has been started to provide
Ian all-water route from the Great
Makes to the Atlantic ocean by way
tpf the Welland canal and st. Lawrence
triver. Although the Welland canal
bhas been in e%xistance for a great
many years 1t Is not large enough to
accommodate large ocean-going YES
sells. The proposed development would
make 1t possible for steamships to
sail from Chicago and lake ports di-
rect to Europe.
ir When 1t is realized that the de-
lvelopment of the port of New York
ian the early days was due largely to
Mhe construction of the Erie canal,
tmaking New York the terminal for
smuch Of the shipping between the
Middle West and Europe. n can
lmean to have all this di-
kerted through the St. Lawrence. AL
READY Montreal. the metropolis of
Canada, has got a large share of this
business and it is natural that Can
hdian cities should be enthusiastic
bver the proposed project. h only
hope for New York and the United
iEtates retaining this enormous trade
1ies in the New York state barge
canal.
In an address before the Joint Com
mission on International Boundary
MATTERS at Buffalo on Monday Murray
Hubert, dock commissioner of New
York, strongly opposed the Welland
Aanal-St. Lawrence scheme He con-
Aended that if the national government
Went into the st. Lawrence project II
would be spending money to duplicate
Mhat already had been done or Is
iplanned in New York. He cited thu
work the New York and New Jerse
lHarbor Commission now has undei
iway. He said the work of this com
Emission would be ready TO be lai'
before the legislatures of the tive
Estates next winter and that these plan'
lnow being formulated would make thu
port of New York the greatest por
In the world.
This is extremely interesting t.
Perth Amboy because this city is in
cluded In the metropolitan district an(
the Raritan bay and river are includ
Ted within the waters of the port o
New York.
Here. indeed. is Perth Amboy's op
iporturity. What are we doing L
make the most of it? With the
swaters Immediately surrounding Ney
York already so congested that com
merce is being driven away the de
lnand for more terminals increases
When we contemplate the greas in
crease in traffic on the New Yorl
state barge canal in conjunction will
the proposed ship canal across Ne,
Jersey. what could be more ioxica