The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-01-14
A Few Comparisons.

so ~ fGW AVVSpNkA1OOSs
Compare these charges with our
| own: 90 cents from Fargo 10 Duluth.
257 miles away, an average Of ) cents
from Duluth to Buffalo, q thousand
miles; 0.Iccnts on export gram from
Buffalo to New York, another 4a2
! miles by rail; cents for lightcragc
at New York; finally, for the 5000
mile journey across the ocean. 8
| ccnts--a total Of 32 cents per bushel,
as compared with the ga cents per
bushel paid by the Argentine farmer
for delivery At the European tcrmin-
al. -.
with wheat of equal milling value.
| which farmer has the advantage ?
Which farmer can longest afford to
stay in the wheat production BUSH
. ness?
"Or consider this: The pea can
ncrs of Wisconsin find that the pea
Gamers Of the Pacific coast can ship
their product down the Pacific,
through the Panama Canal, up the
Atlantic coast, a distance of 1000
miles, to New York, for about one
half. the money it costs the Wiscon..
sin man to ship his peas by all-rail
to New York. 100 miles away. The
Australian wool grower, $4,000 miles
away, is closer TO the Boston wool
; market than our growers in Wyoming
are, 1000 miles away. And if we use
| freight dollars as the measure of dis
lance, the Atlantic ocean is about as
| wide as the state of New York
about as wide as the state of Mime
sofa.
Ten to One Ratio.
"You can put it down as a general
rule that dollar of freight money
will carry you ten miles or more on
deep water for every mile that it will
! carry you by freight car over the
land.
| II think ! may say in all candor
that throughout the entire area OF
the associated states, among all busl-
ness men who have given thought to
the matter, there is ono common
voice Of opinion: The Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence ship channel is necessity,
not for this region alone, but for the
wcll-bcing Of the entire nation. :.
| IL do not minimize the actual work
to be done. 1t is a big job. The In
tcrnational Joint Commission figures
| the cost at quarter billion of dol
lars. This is lot Of money, but it
is only onc-fourth tho amount the
railroads say is needed annually to
care for rail replacement and new
| equipment Of tracks and terminals.
! A quarter billion dollars is only sixty
per cent Of the cost Of the Panama
Canal. A quarter billion dollars is
only one-cighth as much money as
| the people Of tho United States spent
:. for candy, cosmetics and chewing gum
in 1925. We could. if need be, pay
for every cent Of tho ship channel
cost by direct levy, in spot cash. and
ut the end of the year we wouldn''
know, as a people, or ms individuals
either, that we had spent the money
! Nations. to Share Cost.
"But nobody expects it will be paid
! for in that manner. The lntcrna-
tional Joint Commission has suggest
ed that each nation share in the costs
according to its benefits received
and up jumps Congressman S. Wal
| lace Dempsey, Of New York wildly
shouting that we are to pay seven
| tcen-eightcenths of the cost. Tht
| congressman apparently forgcts THAI
! while the joint American and Canad
ian tonnage movement on the Grea'
Lakes is in that proportion, only thai
tonnage which uses the ship channel
will be reckoncd with when the allO-
| cation Of costs comes up. IL indeed 4
ever comes up in that form. The New
| York congressman. who ran for Of
flee on the platform that, as chair
| man of the Rivers and Harbors com
| mittcc in congress, he would put thu
st. Lawrence ship channel to sleep!
is dangerous only because people VIII
| do not know the facts--peoplc who
do not know Congressman s. Wallace
Dempscy--may mistake his sound ano
fury for sense and knowledge.
"What portion Of the costs this ma
ton may be called upon to pay may
safely be left to the two governments
jointly and fairly to determine. !
can safely be said that the bill viii
be small as compared to the benefits
And perhaps l might point out tina,
in connection with the improvement