Checking the Waste: A Study in Conservation

by Mary Huston Gregory

Lastly, railroad warehouses, terminals and machinery for handling freight are all much better than those of inland steamboat lines, except at some points on the Great Lakes where the traffic is very heavy.

Some of these disadvantages might be overcome by law. In France, where the waterways are managed better than in any other country, the law requires that railroad rates be twenty per cent. higher on all heavy freight than the rates on the same freight if carried by water, and in several countries railroad companies are not permitted to own or manage a steamboat line.

These measures are suggestive of what may be done by law to correct abuses, but laws alone can not accomplish everything. The rivers belong to all the people, and every one who wishes may operate steamboat or barge lines, but before these can become profitable, and before first class warehouses and machinery are installed, there must appear on the part of the people a desire to patronize them. The best results are found in those cases where there is harmony between the railways and the steamboat lines; those in which the steamboat lines relieve the railways of much of the heavy freight which they are not able to handle without greatly increasing their present equipment.

There should be coöperation on the part of the people. The towns and cities along the banks of many European rivers provide suitable terminals, warehouses and wharves with free use of the service. In other cases this is done by private capital with a charge for use to shippers. Sometimes it is done by the steamboat companies themselves, but unless one or the other method is assured all along the river it is not wise for the government to undertake the improvement of a stream.

Intelligent improvement of the waterways of the United States demands first that a careful survey of the needs of the whole country be made, then that a systematic plan be carried out providing for the improvement of important streams first.

The state and nation should work together, and any work that is begun should be completed as promptly as possible so that its full benefit may be realized.

Certain work, such as the improvement of the channel, should be done by the national government, since the waters belong to the nation; but the expense of constructing levees or dykes should be borne by the land owners along the banks, because the land thus protected is greatly increased in value; or by the state, which gets the return in increased taxes.

In many instances, the improvement of a stream would be a great benefit to one state or part of a state, but it would be impossible in many years to improve all the desirable streams, so that the larger ones of most general importance must be considered first.

In such cases the improvement is often undertaken by the state. Some navigable rivers have been thus improved and many canals are the property of states or of private companies.

Only a few rivers have a steady flow throughout the year at a depth sufficient to carry large boats. On most streams destructive floods at certain seasons and low waters at others interfere with navigation during a considerable part of the year. Most rivers have sand-bars, sunken rocks or logs in the channel, making the passage of boats difficult and dangerous. Others are well suited for navigation, except at points where rapids and falls make it impossible for boats to pass. The Ohio, the Tennessee, the Missouri and the upper Mississippi abound in such dangerous places and these should be canalized. It is the improving of rivers in these ways, dredging harbors to make them safer, and digging canals to provide a short passage between two bodies of water, that constitute what is known as the Improvement of Inland Waters.