The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-23
Forum Of The People
Western Roads Would Destroy Canal Traffic

Western Roads Would Destroy Canal Traffic To the Editor of The Age Herald:
 United States Senator Ellison D. Smith of South Carolina, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, has gwen the Spokesman Review an informative state ment discussing the vital problem of adequate development of both water and railroad trans portation to meet the growing needs of the country at large. Having practically elirh- mated the boats from our rivers and Eastern canals, the railroads are now engaged in an effort to destroy all freight traffic through the Panama Canal Because the question is one of national importance and is not limited to any section or locality. am sending you a copy of Senator Smiths statement. The Spokesman-Review will use the statement Monday morning, September p, and it is for release in your paper on the same day.
 The transportation problem is of import ance to every state, community and industry. We have spent $1 200, 100000 in development of rivers and harbors in order to extend our water transportation system, but we are realizing little benefit from it because we have permitted growth of vicious system of rate discrimination by the railroads that has practically destroyed water shipping up- on the very waterways we have spent so much money to develop. This situation has been created because the Interstate Con- merce Commission has permitted the railroads to violate the fourth section of the Transpor- tation Act, commonly known as the long and short haul law, by establishing an artif- cial structure of freight rates designed to keep water competition at minimum, or annihilate it entirely. By means of these violations of the long and short haul law, the railroads have made extremely low rates be- tween water points, recouping their losses on that traffic by charging exorbitantly high rates to intermediate cities and towns and yet the water points have not been benefited, as they would have enjoyed as low or lower rates if the boats had been ;llowed to carry the volume of freight naturally belonging to them.
 The result is that hardly any boats are in business the rviers developed at the expense of the entire nation. There is no possibility of reviving that business until the federal government wipes out violations of the long and short haul law and prohibits railroads from making artificial rates to sea- board and waterway cities for the purpose of wiping out the boat traffic. This would not injure, but in fact benefit the seaboard and waterway cities, as the restoration of the boats would bring to those cities even lower rates from other waterway points than the railroads are giving them.
 The transcontinental railroads reaching the Pacific coast are engaged now in an effort to establish low and discriminatory rates be- tween the East and Pacific Coast terminals, which, if granted, will make the Panama Canal practically worthless so far as coast to coast commercial shipping is concerned. In an application before the Interstate Com merce Commission, they are seeking author ity to violate the long and short haul law for the openly admitted purpose of taking wi Ic thn Canal. do not want to burden you with figures, but comparison of the business of the Western transcontinental railroads and that of the Panama Canal boats last year proves that if the railroads took all the freight now passing through the Panama Canal they would increase their own freight volume only two and one-quarter per cent
 During 1923, the Panama Canal boats car ried 3,227 900 tons of freight from the East to the Pacific Coast. Their total tonnage, both eastbound and westbound, exclusive of oil, which is largely shipped by the federal government, was 5,600,000 tons. During the same period the railroads reaching the Pa cifc coast carried 248000000 tons, which was an increase of 25,600 900 tons over the traffic of 1922. In other worG., the rail- roads are now trying to put the Panama Canal boats out of business and make the Canal worthless commercially in order to in-
  quarter per cent, for the total tonnage of the boats last year was only two and one quarter per cent. of the total tonnage of the transcontinental railroads, while the total westbound tonnage of the boats during the year was but one and three-tenths per cent of the freight traffic of the rranscontinental roads.
 It is this situation that Senator Smith dis cusses in the enclosed statement. He is we'll qualified to discuss legislation pertaining to transportation, for in his long service as member of the Senate Committee on Inter- state Commerce he has made a thorough study of the transportation needs of the country Last spring, he presided at exten- sve hearings conducted by his committee on the Gooding Bill Senate Bill 2327) to strengthen the fourth section of the trans portation act to wipe out the railroad freight | rate discriminations that have kept the boats from our rivers This bill was favorably recommended by the committee and passed the senate by the decisive vote of 54 to 23 after it had been argued on the floor of the senate for an entire week. Many Eastern senators, including those of New York,