DURANGO COTTON IN THE IMPERIAL VALLEY. 19 



rate higher than that paid by the cotton belt. Attention may be 

 called, however, to the possible entry into the situation in the not 

 distant future of new factors which may result in a lower rate by 

 other routes. 



Granted vessel space, it would be possible to move the Imperial 

 Valley cotton to eastern United States and European markets 

 through the Panama Canal from the port of San Pedro. Calexico, 

 the southernmost point in the Imperial Valley, is 248 miles from San 

 Pedro, and the carload cotton rate from all points in Imperial Valley 

 to San Pedro is 40 cents per 100 pounds. Before the European war 

 an ocean rate of $7 per ton was available through the canal from 

 San Pedro to New York. If, after the close of the war, when a large 

 tonnage of vessels will be released for peaceful commerce, the ocean 

 rate is equally favorable, the freight charge by the canal route will be 

 less than by rail, even with the additional expense of marine in- 

 surance and the cost of transfer at San Pedro from cars to vessel. 



No figures are available to make a comparison of through rates to 

 European ports via San Pedro with those via Galveston or New 

 Orleans, but the rate via San Pedro under normal conditions would 

 probably be the lower. The rail rate from the Imperial Valley to San 

 Pedro is 65 cents less per hundred pounds than the rates to the Gulf 

 ports, and it* is not likely that the ocean rates from San Pedro to 

 New York and to European ports would exceed the rates from the 

 Gulf ports by so large an amount. 



The freight rate alone is not always the determining factor in the 

 selection of one route in .preference to another. Consideration is 

 given to questions of service, and an important element of service is 

 the length of time in transit. The present average time by the rail- 

 and-water route through Galveston or New Orleans is two weeks to 

 either of those ports, plus an additional week to New York. Records 

 of past sailings indicate that there would be an advantage in time in 

 shipping to New York via San Pedro through the canal. 



In connection with the water route through the canal, mention 

 should be made of the railroad now under construction between San 

 Diego and El Centro, the completion of which will give the valley an 

 outlet for its cotton through an additional Pacific port. Although 

 San Diego is 102 miles south of Los Angeles Harbor (San Pedro), 

 and therefore somewhat nearer the Panama Canal, yet in view of 

 the fact that the total distance from San Diego to New York is ap- 

 proximately 5,000 nautical miles, and that to Liverpool is in excess of 

 7,000 nautical miles, it is not likely that this slightly shorter distance 

 from San Diego will make any difference in the ocean rate. With 

 respect to the rail haul, however, the average distance from all cot- 

 ton-ginning stations to San Diego will be 85 miles less than to San 

 Pedro. If account be taken only of Imperial and Calexico, at which 



