Dearborn independent. [volume], March 13, 1920, Page 9, Image 9

About Dearborn independent. [volume] (Dearborn, Mich.) 1901-1927

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
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DULUTH
BOUNDARY
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IN HAND I r yy0"10
MILWAUKEcPl DITRonQjLJ
, CHICAGO TOLEDO cKjveland
THE WAY
At the Soo
Depth in Locks 24 Yx feet.
Unith of Locks 1350 feet
Connecting Waters
Channels 20 to 21 feet.
THE WORK
At Nia&ara
The New Welland
30 Foot Locks
25 Foot Channels
Total Lift 326 Feet
The rest of the job
"A Short Stretch of Tumbling
Rapids in the St. Lawrence"
Ontario to Tidewater - - 181 mi.
Navigable River 135 mi.
To Be Improved 46 mi.
Total Lift 221 ft.
Estimated Cost
International River $60,000,000
Canadian River - - - 50,000,000
Estimated Power
International River 2,000,000 hp.
Canadian River - - 2,000,000 hp.
I he Problem of (living Lake Steamers Clear Passue to the Ocean.
"Do you know that the highest paid laborers in
the world live here, that here is the largest machine
shop in the world and hundreds of others not so large,
botllmost, and that the man who pays the third highest
income tax in the world does his work, and makes his
home here?
MDo you, Oh yon representative of the effete and
lelf-sumcient Kast, know that these things are true?"
There were many of these things I did not know,
but, ifter all, there Wtre KMBC things that editor him
self did not know, and could not anticipate, one of
which was that instead of looking forward to the proud
distinction of o(KMHM) souls, the city of Detroit in this
day and age would be laying claim to a population of
1390,000. Nor did he know that Cleveland, once aspir
ing to the distinction of eclipsing Detroit but now with
letter honors, would make the tremendous gains it has
in Bitters of industry and population, and that other
Great Lakes cities would produce the avalanche of
products they have poured forth in recent years.
Hearings for About a Year
ANT) now these grave and self-contained gentlemen,
sitting about the big mahogany table in that New
York hoteL were calmly talking about converting these
selfsame cities into seaports, with ocean carriers ply
ing regularly between them and the great foreign marts
of the world, calmly ignoring even Xew York.
Wouldn't you have expected to see someone excited?
Wouldn't you have awaited the arrival of important
personagi a growing red in the face and gesticulating
wildly over this contemplated marvel?
But th e only person who seemed to be excited was
a newspaper man from one of the big lake cities who
kept assuring the members of the commission that a
desperate fign1 was impending between the proponents
of the St. Lawrence project and the big interests of
the Easl but without succeeding in causing much of a
flutter ong the members of the tribunal themselves.
"Do you think this thing will go through?" I asked
Obadial I iardner, American chairman of the commis
sion; but the massive Xew Englander from Rockland,
e., m smiled soothingly.
"It d ends on how much sentiment for it there is
UBOng I people of the fourteen states who aro said
to be in favor of the project," he replied, cautiously.
Charles . McGrath, the Canadian chairman, a stately,
white ha ed personage who does not go in much for
C( ny n, said nothing but nodded his head.
buying an elephant till you know you've
iot w for him to do," sententiously added the Amer
jcan chairman, smiling. "The commission will hold
Wings, probably in most of the cities affected, and
Some of the (treat Lakes Tonnage
The latest figures as to the comparative
quantities of various commodities passing
through the "Soo" Canal were compiled in
1913, the last complete year during which
statistics could be compiled before the war,
and they are as follows:
Commodities Tons
Iron ore 48,109,353
Coal 18.622,938
Wheat 6,144,645
Other grains 3,488,147
General Merchandise 1.770.860
Flour 1.770.860
Lumber 900.000
Manufactured iron and pig 402,912
Salt 180,997
Copper 85,378
Stone 6,181
Comparative values of the same products :
Products Value
General Merchandise $265,000,000
Wheat 184,000.000
Iron ore 158,000,000
Grains other than wheat 85,000,000
Coal 58.000,000
Flour 47.000.000
Manufactured iron 30,000,000
Copper 20,000.000
Lumber 14,000,000
Salt 547,000
Pig iron 141,000
Stone 61, OCX)
then draw its conclusion from the testimony. The
hearings probably will take the better part of a year,
and meantime engineers representing the American and
Canadian governments will make surveys."
The proposal to create an all-water route for ocean
carriers from the Atlantic to the lakes will be opposed
bitterly by powerful forces in the Kast. But it is being
fought at present, so far as possible, with the weapons
of silence. The reception accorded the International
Joint Commission on its visit to Xew York was ac
cepted as proof of this by many persons supposed to
be experts on the subject.
Hut on the other hand the friends of the under
taking are well prepared to conduct a vigorous public
campaign, as was proved by the mass of material al
ready in the hands of the commission. Among this
material is a vast amount of data bearing on the grow
ing traffic of the lakes, and the savings to shippers and
consumers that would result from an all-water route.
One of the interesting points brought out by this
mass of material is that the cities in the lake region
have been growing much faster than those on the At
lantic seaboard, the figures since 1870 showing 850 per
cent for the interior municipalities as against 350 per
cent for those on the coast. In the matter of tonnage
of shipping, the figures are equally impressive.
Great Saving in Freight Charges
THE arguments already laid before the International
Joint Commission is that the extension of the Great
Lakes system to the seaboard will save five cents at
least on each bushel of wheat shipped out of the Great
Lakes region, and corresponding proportions on other
commodities such as meats, provisions, dairy products,
fruits and other western products.
"Carriage by the Great Lakes goes at an average
rate of one-tenth of a cent per ton mile and rail rates
average three-fourths of a cent a ton mile," one of the
briefs sets forth.
"Extending the Great Lake
substitute cheap water carriage
to the seaboard will
for the costlier rail
haul and eliminate one pair, sometimes two pairs, of
terminal charges.
"Direct imports via the lakes is a reasonable ex
pectation. When the coast line is extended to the heart
of the continent, ocean traffic will follow it as surely as
the Mediterranean traffic flows to Italy and Asia Minor.
"Remove the barrier that separates the Great Lakes
from the sea."
The cost of the proposed development has been esti
mated, as already explained, at $250,000,000. but this
expenditure, it is predicted, will be more than made up
to the two governments by the new power that can
be developed along the St. Lawrence in connection with
the plan to provide a seagoing channel. Under the
proposed agreement it is proposed to pool this power
supply, aggregating about 2.000,000 horsepower, and to
apportion the revenues equally between America and
Canada.
Thus, it is contended, the project can easily be paid
for by the development of the new power, and a
"thousand miles of new coast line" added to the United
States.
Will the Great Lakes people need Xew York's con
sent? And can they get it? They may. but it will be
difficult. And certainly not before the opponents of
the plan have subjected it to a severe test of the "silent
treatment."
3
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Rotable Improvement of International River Two Dams to
(Jrown the rapids and furnish po er Costing about $60,000,000.
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Probable Improvement of Canadian River Ship Channels to
replace present canals Costing about $50,000,000.