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Show The necessity and importance of the Great Lakes and ocean harbor improvements, with the possible exception of some minor projects, are generally conceded. The criticisms of expendi- tures on our inland rivers and canals (other than the Great Lakes System) are that they are waste- ful; that these waterways are not needed and are not truly economical; that the development of water and highway transportation, in addition to rail transportation, creates a surplus of transpor- tation facilities not needed in the present or future public interest, which is merely a burden on the country as a whole; that the cost of transporta- tion on the inland channels is not lower than transportation costs on the railroads if entire eco- nomic costs are computed; that the rivers are not used sufficiently, after the facilities are built, to justify the cost of improvement. Further criticisms are that the main purpose and effect of river improvements is to force re- ductions of railroad rates rather than to use them as actual channels of commerce; that such use of the rivers as has developed is principally for a few bulk commodities for the benefit of a few large industries, and the public does not partici- pate in the transportation savings; that even the savings on these few bulk commodities are illusory in that the facilities are provided by the Federal Government at the general taxpayer's expense and there would be no savings if the users paid the full cost. Critics also state that subsidized water transportation is unfair and unjust to the railroads and the users of rail transportation; that the improvement of our inland waterways for transportation takes water needed for other bene- ficial uses, such as irrigation and power; that our inland waterway expenditures are made without proper comprehensive planning with regard to either a soundly conceived national water pro- gram or national transportation program. As a result of the expenditures made to date we have 10,000 miles of modern channels of 9- foot or greater depth, which comprise the com- mercially used waterways, and 17,500 miles of channels as yet insufficiently improved to have any considerable commercial value. The cost of the 10,000 miles of modern standard channels is roughly 1 billion dollars, or about $100,000 per mile. The average distances over river routes are about 50 percent greater than the shortest rail or highway distances. Expenditures for river and harbor improve- ment have been made during the past decade at the average rate of 50 million dollars per year or less, which is about the same as the 8 years 1925-33, and less than the annual rate from 1933 to 1940. The combined expendi- tures for river and harbor improvement and maintenance from 1925 to the present have averaged under 100 million dollars annually. In the same period, new investment of the railroads in roadway and structures averaged nearly 500 million dollars annually to 1930, and slumped to less than 100 million dollars in 1933. Since then it has risen, reaching 356 million dol- lars in 1948. Similarly, the sum of new invest- ment in railway road property plus maintenance of way and structures, which averaged 1.4 billion dollars annually in the late 1920's, and which dropped to less than a half billion in 1933, in- creased by 1948 to more than 1.7 billion dollars. In the same period, the sum of rivers and harbors improvement and maintenance kept below 100 million dollars annually, except from 1935 to 1940 and in 1948, and even in those years was less than 200 million dollars. Highway con- struction and maintenance increased between 1935 and 1938 from 1.7 billion to 2.6 billion dol- lars, and after a slump to 1.3 billion dollars dur- ing World War II, spurted to 3.3 billion dollars in 1948. The present rate of growth of inland waterways traffic indicates that tonnage increases will be larger than the rate of increase of the country's total commerce. Waterway expenditures, how- ever, have not increased, especially since the de- pression years of the 1930's, at the same rate as capital expenditures for the railways, the high- ways, or the country's transportation as a whole. 201 |