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Details of a Plan to Provide 27 Feet of Water From Eastern End of Barge Canal to the Sea—Great Saving in Freight Charges By Frank E. Williamson HEARING was held in Albany, A N. Y., on Sept. 15, before Major M. J. McDonald, of the federal engineering department, to consider deep- ening the. Hudson river between Hudson god Troy, N.Y. to 27: feet. Some 200 delegates from various cities adjacent to the Hudson river and Erie canal were present. The object of this hearing was to determine whether the army en- gineers shall make a preliminary survey of the river with a view to deepening the channel, thereby making Troy and Albany great inland harbors, would relieve the congestion in New York harbor, proving of incalculable benefit to Troy, Albany and the capital district merchants and manufacturers as well as business interests of all cities located along and adjacent to the new barge canal from Albany to Buffalo. . In the event of a favorable report ty the engineers, the secretary of war would take the matter under advise- ment and if he deemed it wise an order directing the survey would be made. The next’ step in order would be to have a bill drafted and presented to congress for the necessary appropria- tion to proceed with the improvement. It is manifest to those who have in- terested themselves in the subject that by deepening the river between Hudson and. Troy so as to permit ocean going vessels to dock at Albany and Troy the advantages to be gained and the bene- fits derived therefrom will mean much to the nation and the public at large. The history of European canals has been that the ports on the canals enjoy practically the same water rate as the sea ports. Manchester is a notable ex- ample. As a regulating medium of all rail rates, water transportation is recog- nized a controlling factor and since the completion of the Panama canal, the competition for Pacific coast traffic via this route has extended as far west as St. Paul and Minneapolis, the western lines only recently having filed applica- tion with the interstate commerce com- mission for permission to reduce the all- rail rates on a large number of com- modities to California terminals on the grounds they are unable to secure for their lines a fair and reasonable share of the traffic offered on account of the low rates prevailing via rail to New York, thence via water through the A paper read at the Great Lakes Water- ways Conference, Detroit, Oct. 28-29, 1915. canal to the California terminal cities. The completion of the Panama canal has decreased the distance by water to the western lumber district by about 8,000 miles and permits lumber to be delivered to the Atlantic seaports in about three weeks time, less than half | the time required to bring the lumber across the continent by rail. The saving in freight rates is about $8.00 per which | A Deeper Hudson A deeper Hudson would attract to the United States an increased movement of grain from the west . and southwest which is now so profitable to Canadian ports. Al- bany as a seaport city would be placed 150 miles nearer to Buffalo, 71 miles nearer to Chicago, St. Paul and Duluth, 212 miles nearer to Detroit, 100 miles nearer to Cleve- ‘land than New York City. Under the present rate adjustment to and from Central Freioht Association and Trunk Line territories, the rates to and from Albany are consider- ably less than to and from New York. . Upon the completion of the barge canal commerce moving via the Great Lakes and via rail would seek the port of Albany as against New York City on account of the large saving in freight cost, to say nothing of the advantages offered in the way of tmcreased dock and terminal facilities which Albany and Troy would have and thus obviate the congestion’ which now obtains at the port of New York. The rates to and ‘rom Albany are approximately 80 per cent of the rates applying between Boston and New York and Chicago. It does not require much imagination to see what an enormous sum this saving would mean to the shippers and manufacturers of the country at large. thousand. This rate permits west coast lumbermen to sell their lumber at about $13 base, and compete with spruce and hemlock at $20 base, in the east. It will be seen that by deepening the Hudson river to 27 feet to Albany and Troy, this lumber can be brought through to Albany and Troy and then distributed to the interior through the barge canal and Great Lakes and by the railroads at a considerable saving to the ultimate consumer. The waterway project is not antago- nistic to the railroads; the various in- terests are identical, namely, to keep business inthis country ani not let it 450 be diverted to Canada through the co- operation of the Canadian government and its railroads and canals. The Cana- dian government and the governments of other foreign countries are expend- ing millions upon the improvement of their waterways, while our government is lying practically idle, the amount ex- pended for such purposes being negli- gible as compared with the amount ap- propriated by Canada and other foreign nations in the development of their waterways. Fifty million dollars is be- ing expended by the Canadian govern- ment upon the Welland canal, increasing the depth to 22 feet to enable the largest lake steamers to navigate through to Montreal in connection with the St. Lawrence route. It is confidently felt that if Albany | and Troy are made. seaport cities through the deepening of the Hudson river to 27 feet, and upon the comple- tion of the barge canal we could suc- cessfully compete and to a large extent control the grain movement by the Great Lakes as against Montreal, as the rates would be lower than the Montreal rate, while to New York under the new conditions the rate in all probability would compare favorably with the Montreal rate. At present, due to the high all-rail rate from Buffalo to New York, we are placed at a con- siderable disadvantage with Montreal and we cannot hope to secure a rate all-rail east of Buffalo sufficiently low to divert the grain from Montreal to. the New York port. It is, therefore, desirable that the deeper Hudson project be pushed through to completion. Five first class passenger tickets are to be provided on each of the steamers of the Russian-American Line, sailing from Archangel to New York and re- turg every week, .for the use. of wotinded and convalescent Russian army officers who may be benefited by the sea trip. The offer to contribute in this manner to the assistance of the Russian army officers who have been. disabled while serving their country on the bat- tlefields was made recently by M. Benis- lavski, managing director of the Rus- sian-American Line, in a letter to the Russian war office at Petrograd. The offer was accepted with thanks in a telegram received from General Alex- ieff, aide-de-camp to the czar.