| Show failure to develop inland waterways reduces volume of out our foreign trade by SENATOR R JOSEPH E RANSDELL of 0 loulin louisiana we can never reach the comple test development of all our resources unless we have available the cheapest possible transportation and one might as weft aeu deny tie correctness of the multiplication table as to deny that a completely improved and thoroughly equipped waterway can furnish transportation more cheaply than any other method known to man there are enormous resources in the united states which will X never ever be developed until thoy have water transportation V av available ai lable because they cannot stand the cost of transportation either by road or by rail and there is food for serious thought in the fact that during every one of the twenty years ending with 1913 the foreign commerce of germany a country much smaller than the united states with less wealth much less population and vastly inferior resources exceeded the foreign commerce of the united states by hundreds of millions of dollars and the excess was steadily growing greater as the years went by in a country the farthest point of which is only as far from a great seaport as pittsburgh is from new york the farseeing statesmen of germany have thought it wise to develop an intricate network of connecting waterways in order that cheap transportation should enable the development of the resources of every part of tho the empire in this country practically the whole interior of the continent is today dependent upon rail transportation and the I 1 failure to develop our waterways will not only limit the total amount of foreign trade which we can secure in competition with nations better supplied with transportation facilities but will have a tendency to concentrate all manufacturing for export at points on or near the seacoast to the detriment of the interior of the country |
