The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-05-27
BY EDWARD JEROME DIES


Out in Montana a corporation car.
rying on an international trade has
made striking discovery.
1t can lay down its product In Indt.
ana as cheaply by water and rail as
it can by rail. In other words, 1t can
send the product by rain to the west
tern coast, by water through the Pana-
ma canal to the Atlantic seaboard,
and then by rail back to Indiana at the
same cost Of shipping al1-rail from
Montana to Indiana.
That discovery is typical of thou
sands that are being made. And It
explains In some measure why the
middle west is stepped in the water
ways problem.
A wave of sentiment In favor OF
waterways development is gaining
great momentum. Bankers, manufac-
turers and agricultural leaders believe
that the middle west and the north
west will swing into an era of vast
perity with the opening Of inland wa
ter lanes.
Water Costs Lower
Take the case of a single manufac-
turer, the largest in his field. c. u.
Williams is member Of the Missis-
sippi Valley Association, which is max
ing waterways history. He Is also
president of the Williams Dill O. Matte
Heating Corporation Of Bloomington,
a short distance from Chicago. His
employees, including statesmen, num-
Der thousands, his modern plant
sprawls over acres of land, and his
business spans the globe.
"A short time ago." he said, I'VE
shipped an oil burner from Blooming
ton to Providence, R. I. On the very
same day an oil burner was shipped
from San Francisco by way of the
Panama canal to the same man. The
one sent by water from the western
coast reached this man three days
ahead of the one shipped by rail from
Illinois. And the cost by water was
three dollars less than the cost by
rail.
"Such incidents might be cited
without end. When the monetary loss
es due to absence of inland water
channels are tota1ed up in a single in
dustry the aggregate sum is SO tre-
mendous as to be startling.
Manufacturing is shifting west
word. The east Is fast coming to the
realization that the central west has
everything in its favor, that geograph-
ically it Is ideal for manufacturing
purposes. All that remains to lift the
central west and the northwest to new
heights, industrially, is the opening
of adequate waterways"
Need for greater and cheaper carry
ing facilities has been brought about
by the fact that the centers of produc-
ton are swinging to the west Indi-
ana is now the center of population:
central Missouri is the center of farm
acreage; Minnesota of iron ore pro-
duction.
Fifteen years ago James ]. Hill said
the railroads should spend a billion
dollars a year for five years in ex-
pansion of facilities. Five years later
group of experts reported that If
traffic continued to increase for the
succeeding ten years on the basis of
the past twenty years, the railroads
would be forced to spend one and a
half billions of dollars year to meet
the demands Of agricultural and indus
trial expansion. The soundness of
such predictions is now being pain
fully realized.
A citizens organization known as
the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Tide
water association has been working
steadily for years assembling Informal
ton on the subject Of providing the
west and the middle west with an
international waterway. 1t would
make the great st. Lawrence basin
navigable for ocean-going ships-from
Duluth and the Minnesota wheat fields
down the gulf of the st. Lawrence to
the open sea.
Those fighting for the deep water
ways project declare development of
the Great Lakes in the last twenty
years may be understood in some
measure when it is considered that
the traffic now exceeds in tonnage
that Of the Mediterranean and Black
Seas combined. The tonnage is great
ly enlarged by the amount of iron ore
and wheat thus transported. And these
commodities are factors to be consid-
cred, too, in connection with low
freight rates. Yet the fact that even
with the short season of the Great
Lakes, more freight now passes
through the 800" in a year than
through the Suez Canal, remains a
striking indication of the possibilities
in fresh water commerce.
Briefly, the st. Lawrence seaway
project consists in canalizing the st.
Lawrence from Montreal, the present
head of navigation, to Lake Ontario:
building canal around Niagara Falls,
deepening the interlake rivers, and
finally deepening and enlarging the
lake harbor ports.
1t has been suggested that the cost
OF canalizing the st. Lawrence should
be equally divided between the gov
ernments of the United States and of
Canada, and, In return, one-half of
the developed horse power appor-
toned to each country. Engineers
have reported that the returns from
tonnage charges would maintain the
canal and amortize the bonds. II the
income from the canal were not suffi-
cient, then the sale of the hydroelec-
trio power would more than cover the
cost
Leaders Of the project, who repre-
sent the vast Industrial and agricul-
tural interests solidified upon the
movement. declare public sentiment
from Ohio to Idaho is strongly in IA
vor of the seaway and that such pow
erful, eyer-growing sentiment cannot
long be ignored or denied.