Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-07
The Inland Shipway.

| ne 1nlanQ SnlpWhy'
The dream OF shipway from The
! Great Lakes to the sea; of "A water
| route from the great central food belt
! Of the Nation to It's Atlantic ports and
Europe. has for decades eripped the
| ina gination OF the American public
! The vision OF vast carRoes of grain
| and stock. OF factory produce ana raw
materials passing from the supplying
to the consuming points on this con
tinent at greatly reduced freight rates;
the assurance of entire avoidance OF
tran shipment expenses from ratihead
to vessel In the case Of g,sods destined
for foreign consumption the strategic
value of the project in war time, have
/ all been factors contributing to the
general popular interest in the plan.
BY normal stages the advocacy of
such a shipway passed from that OF
visionary conception to that of prac-
teal protagonIsm: various routes
We're advocated; congressional interest
became increasingly active, and in
1924 President Coolidge appointed
commission, headed by Secretary
Hoover, to report on the possibilities
Of putting the project into effect.
AS the commission entered upon its
study of the problem before 1t, two
main routes were being urged. The
one, known AS the ''all-American
route" leaving Lake Ontario at Os,
wego. involved the construction of a
canal TO Albany. and from that point
ii was proposed to pass down the liud-
son River to New York ana the sea-.
The other proposed the use of THE st.
Lawrence River. by means of the con-
Struction Of locks and dredging opera
tions, all the way from Lake Ontario
to the Atlantic. The Hoover commits
sion has now reported. 1t takes a po'
sition unequivocally in favor of the
st. Lawrence route.
The reasons set forth In support of
this position are as follows: The st.
Lawrence route would be less eX-
pensive to construct by hundreds of
millions of dollars" 1t would be ca
pable of carrying a considerably great
err tonnage than the alternative ship
way. Its development would be con
nected up with the development of
highly profitable water power projects.
Only nine locks would be required, as
against twenty for the "all-American
route" The distance via the st.
Lawrence would be 1850 miles longer
to New York than were the alterna-
tive route constructed, but e25 miles
would be cut off the distance to north
European ports. In the matter of an
operating season free from ice, both
projects are held to stand on the same
footing. From a military angle it is
held that the above indicated advan-
tages more than concordance those
of American control OF both sides of
the entire route.
The Hoover report is, by its very
nature, confined to the engineering
problems involved in the question be-
conservative and authoritative pres
entation of the engineering factors in
the problem, and, as such, leaves no
doubt as to which route, from the
technical angle, is the more desirable.
That there are other angles from
which the question must be viewed is
pparent. Not the least of these is that.
on the political side, five governmental
bodies must be satisfied before the St
Lawrence route can be utilized: Our
Federal Government, the government
of New York State, and the govern
ments Of the Dominion of Canada and
of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec
Negotiations seeking the accord of all
will no doubt promptly be initiated. 1t
is earnestly to be hoped that they
may prove successful. For, in view of
the Hoover report, the failure to iron
out the political wrinkles involved in
the development of the st. Lawrence
project would undoubtedly mean
either a long postponement or the vir-
tual abandoning of the inland ship
way.
For that report conclusively estab-
fishes the fact that any alternative
route, however much desired in New
York State or the East, would be far
less advantageous to the country as a
whole, and the interests of the coun-
try as a whole are those which must
control in a matter Of such magnitude.
The East will, in the long rum, be
benefited to the extent to which the
entire Nation is benefited.