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study of the two plans by engineering experts must precede attempts to de- cide the question intelligently. Pend- ing that decision, it is obvious that the right 'to use portions of the lake front in the future for harbor pur- poses should not be surrendered. RAILROAD CONTROL OVER LAKE TRANSPORTA- TION. "For the transportation of the bulk commodities that constitute the great- er portion of the tonnage of lake com- merce--iron ore, grain, coal and lum- ber--there is keen competition among tthe lake carriers. Under the stress of this competition rates for carrying the great bulk commodities thave gone down markedly during the past 20 years. Despite these reductions in. rates, it is the testimony of men fa- miliar with conditions that the vessel business on 'the great lakes for a pertod of years past has been profit- able. . "Chicago's great interest in lake transportation is that between this city and Buffalo. 'The traffic consists prin- cipally of grain and package freight east and coal and package freight west. The importance of the package freight business to Chicago has al- ready 'been pointed out. : "Now tthe package freight 'business between Chicago and Buffalo is 'han- dled exclusively (with a single excep- tion 'to be discussed later) 'by boat lines owned by railroad companies. Any vessel that is equipped for the service and can get the orders from the shipper may carry ore, grain, coal and lumber. That fact doubtless ex- plains the reductions in rates on these commodities. But only boats owned by the railroads may engage in the package freight business between Chi- cago and Buffalo. If these two cities were both destination points for traf- fic, of course non-railroad vessels could not be excluded from competi- tion. But Buffalo is not a destination point. It'is a transfer station. Goods reaching Buffalo by lake must go east by rail or canal. Likewise, freight .from the east reaching Chicago water- borne' must be brought to Buffalo by rail or canal. The railroad makes with its own 'boat lines a through route and a joint rate from Chicago to the eastern destination, or vice versa. The local rail rate between Buffalo and the eastern destination is so high that little would be left the independ- ent boat for its lake haul after paying the local rate for tke rail haul. More- over, the railroad would not give the independent boat the benefit of its 'boats is "TAE. MARINE. REVIEW dock facilities in Buffalo, either for discharging on taking on cargo. The independent boat would 'be required to unload at some other dock and team the goods to the receiving sta- tion of 'the railroad. To make matters still worse, the railroads own nearly all the water front property in Buffalo available for dock punposes. -Much of it lies idle and unimproved. The de- liberate intent of 'the railroads to dominate the lake traffic. situation through the control.of the Buffalo wa- ter front can hardly be mistaken. WHAT ABOUT THE ERIE CANAL, "But, it will be asked, What about the Erie canal? The railroads dom- inate that, too, so far as possibilities of through traffic are concerned. Be- sides, the canal is so small and the number of boats operating on it is so few as.to dwarf its importance. A few years ago the boats on the canal numbered four or five thousand. To- day there are scarcely more than 350 or 400 serviceable 'boats in operation. It is hardly to be expected that many new 'boats will be put in service until the enlarged canal is ready for use. "At best the methods of Erie canal business are primitive, The boat own- ers are fon the most part men of nar- row outlook. The business thas not been organized along modern lines. Until recently, the legal limit of capi- talization for companies engaged in the canal business was $50,000. The limit is now $4,000,000. "The principal business of the canal carrying grain east. Such through canal and lake service for package freight business as exists is supplied by the lake 'lines chartering canal boats and making rates to the shipper for the through service. In that way 'the lake lines, which are owned by the railroads that are sup- posed to 'be competitors of the canal, control the Erie canal service that is of interest to the Chicago shipper. "The canal boat owners, with a few exceptions, are organized into a union. The claim is made--and there is much evidence to support the claim--that the boatmen's union acts in harmony with the railroads and refuses to have busi- ness dealings with independent lake boats that may seek to give a through lake and canal service in competition with the rail-owned lake lines. SIGNIFICANCE OF LINE CONTROL. -- "The foregoing indicates how the railroads east of Buffalo practically control the package freight business between the seaboard and Chicago and other western lake ports. 31 "Now as to the signifiance of that control. "The lake lines operating between Chicago and Buffalo are as follows: Erie & Western Transportation Co. (Anchor Line), owned by the Penn- sylvania railroad; Western Transit Co., owned by the New York Central; Le- high Valley Transportation Co., owned by the Lehigh Valley railroad; Union Steamboat Co., owned by the Erie railroad. The Baltimore & Ohio and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroads also maintain a lake and rail service, but do not own their own boats. The Western Transit Co. sup- plies the boat service for the Lacka- wanna road, and the Union Steamboat line furnishes that for the Baltimore & Ohio: The Mutual. Transit Ge. owned jointly by four railroads (Le- ~ high Valley, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Erie, and New York Cen- tral), operates 'between Lake Erie and Duluth, but sends no boats to Chicago. The foregoing are known as_ the Standard lake lines. In addition, there are two differential lines, that is, lines that maintain somewhat lower rates because of their roundabout routes and slower service. The Canada Atlantic Transit 'Co. is a Canadian concern, owned by the Grand Trunk railroad. It operates boats tbetween Chicago and Depot Harbor, in Georgian bay. The other differential line, the Rutland Transit -Co., now controlled by the New York Central railroad, is the lake connection of the Central Ver- mont railroad. The boats of this line operate through the Welland canal and Lake Ontario and make their terminus at Ogdensburg, N. Y. The Chicago & Duluth Transportation Co., operating between Chicago & Duluth, carrying iron ore one way and package freight the other, is independent of railroad control, but is accorded railway con- nections at both ports which neither it nor any other independent boat line could secure at Buffalo. "The present rates, in cents per 100 pounds, by classes, all rail, from New York to Chicago, are as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 75 65 50 35 30 2 "The foregoing have been the pub- lished all rail rates without change for the past 20 years. Rates have been increased, indirectly, by changes' in classification, but as the lake and rail and all rail lines use the same classi- fication, the lake and rail rates have been subject to like increases on this account. é "Prior to 1901 the standard lake