Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-06-23

| employees SO Long as decisions are
| ignored by the managers.
There Is another highly important
phase of the transportation problem
very much worth our attention. be-
| l1eVe the use of our inland WATERWAYS
! ofer the one sure way to reduced
| carrying charges on basic materials,
| heayy cargoes and farm products.
Probably all of us acknowledge the
urgent need of diminished cost on
agricultural shipments and many
bulk cargoes essential to manufacture
| ing industry. While 1t is well estab-
lished by the Boston milk case de-
cision that public necessity justifies
carrying commodity at less than
cost, the service at less than cost on
the larger tonnage of the country
does not offer the righteous solution.
we ought to try the experiment of
| co-ordlnating rail and water ship
ments, we ought to avail ourselves of
the waterways developed through ex-
pendltureS of enormous public funds
and we ought to give the waterway
carriers a chance to prove their ca
pacity for helpful service.
$I,13O.610,OOO Spent on Rivers.
The federal government has ex-
pended approximately si,130,610,OOO
on river and harbor improvement.
Only last spring the Congress appro-
priated S56.5S9,910, in spite of bud
get recommendation of less than half.
For the sums spent on harbors we
have, most beneficial results. The mil
lions expended on inland waterways,
on rivers and canals, have brought
small returns because we have put
them to no practical use. Though we
expended to cheaper carrying charges
and TO facilitate transportation, we
nave failed In co-ordinating service
n
discourage every worthwhile devel-
opment. Where barge and packet
service has been established there has
been such an unfair division of the
Joint carrying charge that waterway
development has been impeded, and
where service lines by water have
been established the hoped-for dim
mutton Of rates has been denied or
avoided until the plea of cheapened
transportation by water has seemed
a mockery.
/ believe we should encourage our
water service, we should encourage
and enforce co-ordinated service, we
should see to an equitable division OF
rates and exact rate reductions when
ever practicable to operate success
fully under rate reductions
1t is a very discouraging picture
to contemplate the expenditure of
$50.00O,O00 of public funds on an in
land waterway when the tonnage on
mat waterway mas EOlfnlnlSneQ more
than half, while the waterway itself
is made better and better year by
year. We have eiteher wasted many
hundreds of millions in blind folly or
have been inexcusably remiss in
turning our expenditures to practical
account.
l wish the railway leadership of
the country could see the need of
this employment of our water routes
as an essential factor in perfected
transportation, and join in aiding the
feasible plan of co-ordinatiuE service
and cheapening charges, not alone
as means of populariZed and eff
Client public service, but as a means
of ending the peril of their own for
tunes.
Motor Truck Makes Inroads.
No thoughtful sentiment in Amer
lea will tolerate the financial ruin of
the railroads. But the people do
wish, now that exploitation has been
ended. to have their transportation
adequate to the country's needs, and
desire all our facilities brought into
efficient service. They wish to make
sure of the ample agencies. and they
demand the least carrying charge
which will make an adequate return
to capital and at the same time per-
nit extensions and additions and en-
HANGED equipment essential to the
best transportation in the world.
We have not fully appraised the