Mt. Pleasant Pyramid | 1926-01-15 | Page 2 | Man who Talks of Finish Fight between River and Rail is Shortsighted

Man Who Talks of Finish Fight Between River and Rail Is Shortsighted By DWIGHT F. DAVIS, Secretary of War. The man who talks of natural competition and a finish fight between river and rail is shortsighted. There's not the remotest danger that the river carrier will drive the rail carrier from the field. As an example, I need only point to our most extensively developed river the Monongahela. It carries 25,000,000 tons a year, and its locks are worked at about two-thirds two-thirds capacity; yet a prosperous railroad line rnns on each bank. Can anyone doubt that the same situation will exist when the commerce of the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio and their tributaries is similarly developed ? Successful river traffic is dependent on railroads. Eailroads are and will remain the backbone of inland transportation. Efficient waterway traffic cannot in most cases flourish without them. Co-operation with, and not opposition to, our railways, must always be the backbone of our unified transportation system that is to give us as nearly an ideal transportation system as the mind of thinking man can conceive. i : '