Show MEAN LOWER RATES EFFECT OF WATERWAY competition ON THE RAILWAYS OF THE CO COUNTRY DIRECT AND INDIRECT SAVING conservative estimate Is that in a 2 single year it would be more than enough to discharge the entire national debt it was stated in a previous article that bat waterways produce both direct and indirect savings in the cost of 0 transportation arid and also elett nhat way may be called a creative effect AS rix an instance install ce of the direct savins saving it was shown that the tons tolls of 0 freight handled on the great lakes la in 1907 were carried for or less ihan it would have cost by rall rail it tile the opinion of the united states state army engine engineers rs Is correct and this opinion Is based upon results actually achieved on the rivers ot of europ li arop we have a number ot or rivers on which when ben properly improved freight call be carried for less thin than on the lakes and many rivers on which it ca call i be carried for much less than by rall rail if therefore the plan advocated by fihs ihs national I 1 rivers and harbors congress should be carried out which includes the improvement of 0 all our rivers to such extent as shall be found advisable after expert examination the direct savins saving in cost coit of transportation would be vastly increased it wot would d pro probably babey be increased tenfold but it if it were only doubled the direct saving in a single year would be more inore than enough to pey pay off the national debt but this is not the end of the benefits which the general improvement of our waterways would biang it Is only f the he beginning deade the direct saving there is an indirect saving which results from the effect of w waterways ater WaYs on railway freight rates for rates are ara always lower loner on railroads which meet water competition than on those hose which do not the amount of 0 trin saving Is not ever everywhere here the same owing to difference tit in conditions but wo we can get gee a good general idea of it from a study of some sample sarup a freight rates affected freight rates front from new york to salt sail lake or spokane are much higher than to sari san francisco or seattle alth although the distance is much less because goods can be carried to the pacific coast by water around caps cape horn while there Is no waterway of 0 any kind to the inland cities named it la is not the tha ocean alone that affects railroad rates compare the tha rates on first class be to river lona and inland towns situated about from st louis towns ou on the upper mississippi get a rate ot of 33 cents a hundred inland towns pay 63 cents tov loans as on the ohle ohio pay 41 cents inland towns in the same region pay ST 87 A still more striking instance and one showing the direct result of waterway improvement la Is to bi be 1 found on the columbia river before thet locks at the cascades were built freight rates on nails arid and that class of goods from froin portland to the dalles biere iere 6 10 per ton As boon as the cue bocim were finished and the steam boats could get et through the railroad raili oad rate dropped to two tao dollars per ton lebs than ono one third what it was before that the difference was nis due to he be river improvement la is shown by iha fact that rata rats s were not reduced be lyond 1 and the point to which thu this steam boats could run for binl instance tance the rate on salt in car load lots was per ton to the dalles and 1020 per tun toil to umatilla per ton for the ks 8 miles with water competition and per ton tor for the next miles 1 St hout these rates have since bern een reduced as s the improvement has proceeded ro ef eded and when the work li fint finished e and boats can run for far up the cola colum bia river and to lewiston Lo wlaton and other point la in idaho on its principal tributary the snake raver the people in all that region will benefit not only by the direct saving on goods carried by water but also algo by the indirect saving baying through the reduced rate on goods carried by rail Tt exactly ly similar re aults would follow the radical lav im provement pro of 0 rivers all over the united states state indirect saving large there Is 1 however no possible way of 0 finding out just how much this indirect saving laving would be kates on some freight would be reduced greatly on some freight slightly on some perhaps not at all but we can get some idea of the amount of 0 freight which might be influenced in the fiscal year ending june 30 1907 tire tha total amount of 0 freight handled by the railroads of 0 the uniti I states slates was wai tons some of 0 this wai baj hauled a short distance some a long lone distance arid and sailie was handlon handl hand lol I by more than one road but it wits was equal to 10 tons hauled oil UK e mile it the comprehensive improvement of our water waterways nays should mako art an average reduction of one mill per ton wile mile the difference in the rateb on salt gait given above in 18 70 time as much or seven cents per ton nille mile it would maka a saying saving of 0 over on the value of oc bue business hiess handled in the fiscal year at first g ancs ce tt it looks as it thil would mean disaster to the railways rall waya but that is the exact of the truth strange as it may seem the surest arid and sp edlest way to enlarge the iha business and increase the profits of the railways rail ways of the tha united state Is 11 to improve the waterways ways of tile the united 3 |