Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-02-10
AGRICULTURE
LINKED With
WATER WAYS
Cheaper Inland Trans
~portation Designed
To Prove Boon To
Farm Interests

CHICAGO, Feb. 9.-Business In
chasing romance from the inland
waterways but u. the time is putting
dollars in the pockets Of the farmers,
manufacturers, shippers and con-
sumers in the territory tributary to
the Father Of Waters, according to
William X. Dawes, president Of the
Mississippi Valley association. Mr..
Dawes pointed out here today that
the cheaper transportation afforded
by the development Of the Missis-
way toward rectifying the burden
some competition imposed upon the
Middlewest by the Panama Canal.
Nowadays. when we talk about a
system Of inland waterways, we are
apt TO picture in our minds the old
fashioned, shallow canal. with IN oc-
casional tiny barge pulled slowly on
ward. by a couple OF mules Flooding
drowsily along a narrow two-path on
its banks" said Mr.. Dawes. I'VE re-
member reading about the famous
double-decked packet steamers plying
on the Mississippi in the Mark Twain
days, long, slim and high, built for
LAGA1k 8E WEAt as 41E 4tAAlb AQ14G4
almost to the waters edge with bales
Of cotton, and crowded with travel
ers in the quaint garb Of three quar-
ters Of q century ago.
Day of Romance Past
mot 50 with the modern waterway
system which we are building on the
great rivers Of q Middlewest. The
day OF romance on the river has Civ
- $3.50 - wNMsA AwmSnnmm Wmnl wkm
needs OF commerce.. In place of the
pennant-flying packet We have the
lcwly towboat, built for power and
not for speed. designed to. pull or
push 1000 ton barges laden with
grain, sisal. sugar. cotton, COAL or
other heavy commodities Of COM
merce. One Of these barges, operat-
ing in a channel having n nine foot
depth, will carry a cargo Of grain.
for example, equal TO n train Of fifty
cars loaded to forty tons each. One
Of the modern tow boats now In use
will handle four OF these loaded
barges-equal 70 two hundred cars OF
average capacity-al in one move
ment or trip. up or down the river.
"In these days Of fast and regular
delivery Of goods by railroad and
motor vehicle. why should we trrn TO
the development Of n slow movement
Of goods such as characterixcs water
borne trafficf
Lauds Rail Development
"The answer IL not 70 be found i'm
any a~ntagonistic attitude toward the
railroads. The railroads have per-
formed m heroic task in making pos
! sibie the rapid development Of our
country: We should not forget our
debt to them. They are valiantly
meeting the exigencies ~ the stu
alton, ever though handicapped by
high taxation and high operating
costs practically beyond their on
troll. IL IN the almost universal hope
that their problems may Be solved
within the limits of profitable. bust
ness.
~The answer I'm part ~ to be found
in the lower freight rates that nc
company slower freight movement
Aid to Agriculture
"Thr demand for an inland water
way system lies in the deep-stated
desire Of the agricultural ard In
dustrial west that Its principal Pre-
duets shall have an opportunity "a
move 10 points OF consumption by the
use OF the most economic form a
transportation. ft Ii the confident
expectation that by the use of our
rivers. through the fundamentally OF
successful barge line creraticn, goods
may be moved from the producer "a
the consume ut more equal and
equitable rates than possible under
our present forms OK land transporta-
ton. The saving Of eren q few cents
In freight 70 q Manufacturer or dis
tribntcr todsv u n matter or keer
concern. - the farmer who urodlcea
the food for the nation. restricted "a
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