The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-20
SQUARE DEAL FOR WARRIOR

Colonel T. Q. Ashburn, chief of the in land waterways service, does not agree with the contention of Secretary Weeks that the Warrior barge service will be failure without an equitable division of revenue de rived from joint hauls with the railroads. However, he believes that the division now in force is unfair to the Warrior and gives the railroads undue advantage as competi- tors with the waterways. Colonel Ashburn says that if the equipment on the Warrior, which is totally inadequate and is rapidly deterioating, were replaced by modern steel barges, to be acquired at cost of S1 ,000, 900, distributed over a period of three or four years, the Warrior would show net annual profit of $110,000, even when conl- peled to operate under discriminatory rates. Since Colonel Ashburn is recognized au- thority on inland waterways, who has de- voted years to a study of the question, his opinion must have more weight with the public than that of laymen.
 Colonel Ashburn declares that the Inter state Commerce Commission cannot fail to see that it is "hamstringing the Warrior be- fore it gets a chance to breathe" state rnent which will be concurred in by residents along the Warrior and inland shippers who have seen it's successful operation hampered by lack of necessary equipment and discrin- inatory freight rates. The battle between rail and water carriers has been going on for years in the United States and the Warrior has suffered, with other streams, which compete with the railroads. From the Civil war down to a comparatively recent period river traffic was practically throttled. Its revival has been brought about in spite of many obstacles and complete victory for the river carriers has not yet been won. Instead of being a losing venture, Colonel Ashburn declares that the Warrior would earn an annual profit of S168,000, net percentage of 8.4 on an investment of $2,000,0o0, if the average revenue were increased to $3 per ton. But this cannot be done unless modern equipment is pro- vided. That is the most pressing need of the Warrior just now.
 The steel fleet now in use consists of four chartered steel cargo flats with an estimated capacity of 2,500 tons; three steel cargo flats of 1,500 tons, and three steel housed cargo barges of 1900 tons. The other craft comprises wooden barges and five converted gas barges, nearly all of which are so anti quated and so il-fitted for service that the cost of maintenance is almost prohibitive. It costs approximately $30000 a month to maintain these barges, largely because they are being torn to pieces by such heavy freight as coal steel, ore and other com modities. The average revenue per ton of freight on the Warrior is only about $2. If the rates were more equitably divided the Warrior would earn about $3 per ton.
 The people are not yet enjoying to the full the benefits of the Warrior service, and they will not enjoy them until they are given joint rail and water facilities. It is simply a question of giving the Warrior a square deal. The railroads receive so much more for short haul than the Warrior receives for a long haul that it is bound to show loss, particularly in view of its inadequate equipment. With anything like fair chance the Warrior would be an unqualified success. No enterprise can be made profitable when forced to meet unfair competition with out of-date and inferior facilities.