Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-10-25
WATER TRANSPORT SYSTEMS
BY FREDERIC J. H4SKIN.

In the last % years railroad traffic
in the United States has increased
from ia .000, 00O. 900 ton miles 10 $685.
600 900 600 ton miles. At one half this
rate of increase in another % years
transportation facilities must be ex-
banded to handle at least 525 900 .000,-
! 900 ton miles and provide for 40. 900 900
additional population. Our present
railways will be wholly inadequate TO
meet that burden. according to Sec
rotary of Commerce Hoover. who sees
n solution of the traffic congestion
problem through the development of
water transportation.
Mr.. Hoover visualiZes the water
transport resources of the country az
two great systems. similar to railroad
systems. with trunk or main lines and
feeders-the Mississippi system and
the Great Lakes system. The former
includes 5000 miles Of connected wa.
| terways. of which about 300 miles
are trunk lines and some 5000 miles
| are laterals or feeders.
Great Trunk Lines.
There is a main north and south
trunk line l 500 miles in length cX-
tending from New Orleans to Chicago,
and there connecting with the Great
Lakes system and crossing this is A
I ~
| miles, from above Pittsburgh through
Cairo. The feeders include the upper
Mississippi, the upper Missouri, the
Arkansas. the Cumberland, the Ten
nessee, the Monongahela, the Allie
gheny and other streams
With the main lines developed to a
depth of feet and the laterals cor
| respondingly improved. the Commerce
Secretary points out that this system
lzA l. A
agriculture. will place great CONNER
cial and industrial cities with upward
of 1000, 900 people in the cheapest of
communication with each other and
will contribute to the cheaper trans
portation of agriculture and bulk
F, commodities over a great hinterland
of States. To do this. he estimates.
will cost approximately 500. 900, 600
S65 900, 600 for the improvement of the
trunk lines and S35 1000, 900 for the
work urgently needed on the feeders.
or the 300 miles of trunk lines
about 1,100 remain to be finished
| three great links from Kansas City to
! st. Louis. from Cairo to Chicago and
! from Cincinnati to Cairo-while of the
| Iaterals $500 miles have been COM
| pleted to various workable depths,
| leaving 744 miles to be improved. This
work should be done within the next
decade.
Cost of Water Transportation.
Water carriage is the cheapest of all
transportation for many kinds of
goods. For example. 1000 bushels of
wheat can be carried 1000 miles on
| the sea for 500 to $50, on the Great
Lakes for $50 to $50 and on the mod
ern Mississippi barges for $50 to $40,
| while the cost of transporting that
amount of wheat the same distance by
railroad would be from $3.50 to 5000.
In the past there has been con.
slant war between the proponents of
rail and water borne traffic, but Sec.
| rotary Hoover says there is today NO
excuse for continuing this battle, for
we are faced with situation in which
both railways and waterways are
needed.
Nor do we need overstate the i'm
| portance of water-borne facilities in
| relation to our other transportation
| systems, our railways and highways
the Secretary told Missouri River in
terests at Kansas City, Taking the
| country as whole. the railways and
| highways must ever bear the ma jor
| burden off our internal traffic, and
| there are many classes of goods which
| will always go by rail, parallel with
| the waterways, but we must accord
| internal waterways great and in
| creasing future in transportation.
Highways Restored by Gas Power.
"At one time in our history we prac
! tically abandoned highways and water
ways for railways. The invention OF
| the gas engine has restored our high
| ways and multiplied their traffic ter
| thousand fold. yet the total volume OF
| passengers and goods on our rail
! ways has never been so great as now
| Our railways would be incapable OF
| the country's transport today without
| the aid of the highways. In the same
way. with greater depths and with
| the improvements in craft, it is pos
sible to restore our waterways, MOI
will this jeopardize the prosperity OF
| our railways. as some predict"
Secretary Hoover pointed out that
the Great Lakes system is the greatest
| system of inland water transportation
| in the world today, with a vast fleet
] Of vessels whose traffic is over % pei