RIVER AND CANAL 197 



and time of arrival she is uncertain. Neither does the farmer want 

 to forward goods to a stranger who may reject them or may fail 

 to pay for them. Parcels post marketing thus means entirely 

 new business habits on the part of the public who may use it. 

 This process will take time, much time. 



Interurban Electric Lines. Certain sections of the country, 

 such as that about Indianapolis, for instance, suggest the proba- 

 bility of a great development of electric lines as freight and pas- 

 senger carriers from country to city. The initiative for such lines 

 seems to come entirely from the city end. It would seem feasible 

 for farmers themselves to organize corporations and construct 

 their own lines in case their community is not already adequately 

 served. This form of transportation is yet in its early stages, 

 but is full of promise for the future. 



Lake Transportation. While there are numerous lakes in the 

 United States employed in transportation of passenger and goods, 

 yet these all dwarf into insignificance in comparison with the traffic 

 borne on the Great Lakes. There is no more important highway 

 of commerce in the world than the chain of northern lakes. One 

 aspect of this economic condition is the phenomenal growth of the 

 large cities situated on the shores of the Great Lakes. While 

 lumber, coal, and iron ore figure prominently in this lake traffic, 

 yet grain is one of the commodities of first importance. 



A large share of our surplus grain is produced in the region 

 tributary to the Great Lakes. The transportation facilities of 

 this waterway have given better and cheaper service than is 

 possible by rail. A large freight vessel, loading in bulk from an 

 elevator in Duluth will load 300,000 bushels of wheat in three 

 hours. Some of the larger boats carry over 400,000 bushels. 

 Freight rates by water, like freight rates by rail, have tended 

 downward for the last forty years. The average rate on wheat 

 from Chicago to Buffalo by lake was, in 1901, one-fourth of what 

 it was in 1871. The all-rail rate on wheat, Chicago to New York, 

 was in 1901 only forty per cent of what it was in 1871. 



In 1871 the rate on wheat per bushel by lake from Chicago to 

 Buffalo was 6.3 cents. In 1909 the average rate was 1.4 cents. 

 The water rate fluctuates from day to day, with the supply and 

 demand of vessels. The rail rate is about twice the average 

 lake rate. 



River and Canal. There is little to be said on this subject 

 at the present time. Once our inland boat service was an impres- 

 sive thing. Now these canals are almost as extinct as the stage 



