The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

August, 1917 in the same ratio as that of Japan. The opportunity was present, but only a few daring captains of finance and industry decided to invest in ships. The government’s attitude in previous years was the deterring factor. How- ever, some tonnage has been added to the Stars and Stripes in the last three years, but that on the Pacific consists largely of wooden, auxiliary power schooners, built for lumber carrying. At present, the seized Ger- man vessels are being added to the carrying fleet of the Pacific. This tonnage. is being rapidly absorbed and freights continue their upward flight. In Table II is an eloquent story, telling how the Japanese have profit- ed by the conditions of the past two years, with another tale of how the THE MARINE REVIEW United States has failed to seize the opportunity. These figures show the tonnage of each nationality engaged in the Pacific trades from the North Pacific just before the war and at the present time. Will Hold Upper Hand The loss in American tonnage is due largely to the withdrawal of the Great Northern steamer MINNESOTA and the retirement of the old Pacific Mail company. The British have withdrawn their vessels, as they have been required elsewhere. The in- crease in Norwegian tonnage is due solely to new vessels built on the Pacific for the hardy Norserfien. The table shows how the Japanese saw the opportunity and seized it. Before 275 conditions become normal in the dis- tant future, high freight rates and profits in ships are likely to make rich nations of the Norwegians and Japanese, because for several years they ‘will hold the strategic hand in the great international game of ship- ping. In the meantime, until the govern- ment announces its fixed policy and the allied nations determine whether or not they are to commandeer the fleets of all the countries aligned with Great Britain, chaos reigns supreme in the charter market and no one can predict the outcome.’ There is but one certainty and that is this: Those nations which prepared for themselves a merchant fleet will reap rich re- wards for at least the next 10 years. RANSPORTATION — economy | throughout the drainage basin of the Mississippi river, which is served by more than 13,000 miles of navigable waterways, has passed through two distinct periods, and is now entering a third. First, in the order of their development, there was the raft, then the temporary barge, and finally the great steamboat with its extravagance and waste, and the steam towboat and towed barges. In this period, floating craft en- joyed a complete monopoly. It had no competitor. There was no impell- ing incentive to do things in an eco- nomic way. It mattered little to the boatowner that the rain spoiled cargo at unimproved landings since the shipper paid the loss; or that the shipper complained of the service, since the shipper must continue using the boat, as there was no other way in which he was able to move his commerce. Cities developed on the banks of the streams where most convenient to the boats, and these cities con- trolled all of the interior commerce. The movement of commerce was north and south, the natural channel of least resistance. Influence of the Railroads Next came the railroads. There be- ing no concentrated commerce except that along the navigable streams which the boats had developed, the railroads began seeking means of taking over the business the boats had. The railroads soon found that out- lay for rails, equipment and overhead made the per ton mile cost of trans- portation by rail greater than by water. They also found that the cost By Walter Parker Special Assistant to Secretary Redfield of handling freight to and from boats, which had practically no terminal facilities, was excessive and that the cost of handling commodities to and from railroad cars could be greatly reduced through the building of con- venient and ecomonic terminal facili- ties. Railroads Take Boat Business Then began the systematic develop-- ment of the railroad terminal at the little towns and the big cities, and at the ports. Shippers soon found that such facilities were very convenient. The railroads found them not only profitable, but a great advantage in controlling freight movement. Sys- tem in the solicitation of freight be- came a big factor in behalf of the railroads, and freedom to quote any rate that might be found necessary to take business from the boats devel- oped into a far-reaching power. East and west railroad systems were built, and the handicap of mountain ranges was overcome by terminal efficiency, by systematic business methods, and -by free play which they had in the making of rates. Under such conditions, the boats were starved into the junk pile, the north and south trade route of least natural resistance lost its controlling factor, and a large volume of valley commerce moved over the new artifi- cial east and west routes. As the western half of the country developed under the influence of the railroads, valley trade centers began to grow in a remarkable way. St. Louis, by.rail, the west than is any Atlantic coast trade center. The same is true of other valley trade centers. Conse- is 1000 miles nearer’ quently, the west traded with the developed valley cities, and the growth of the Pacific coast country helped them to a very important extent. This system of transportation worked splendidly for most of the Mississippi valley, until a few years ago, when the influence of two new factors began to exert a strong and important effect. Nonriver towns began to chafe un- der higher rates than the rates en- joyed by the river towns, and to ask for relief from the interstate com- merce commission on the ground there were no boats on the rivers and that the river towns had no right to ex- pect continued low rates at the ex- pense of interior towns. The opening of the Panama canal opened the way for a water route between the east and west coasts of the country which, in normal times, make the all-water. haul from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast cheaper than the all- rail haul from a valley city to the Pacific coast, which completely upsets valley transportation economy. War Gives Opportunity Then came the war. By imposing an increased burden on the American railroads the war has necessitated the use of additional means of transporta- tion. By imposing a monster debt burden on practically the entire world, the war has. forced the people of the United States, along with everybody else, to eliminate waste and to con- duct their affairs in an economic man- ner. And so it follows, that the third period in Mississippi valley trans- portation’ economy is now beginning. This cannot fail to result in two