10 BULLETIN 1i, V. S. DEPAKTMENT OP AGEICULTUBE. 



LOCAL TRAFFIC. 



The steamboat routes thus described illustrate the fact that river 

 traffic is generally local. A few hundred miles is usually the maxi- 

 mum length of the route of any one line of steamboats. In fact, it 

 may be said that a run of 400 miles or more is exceptional. Of the 

 92 routes specified in Table 4, only 16 are more than 250 miles in 

 length, which is slightly more than the average length of haul for aU 

 freight carried on railroads in the United States. In other words, 

 steamboat traffic is distinctly short-haul traffic. The business of the 

 boats in general is to concentrate at important centers freight picked 

 up at local landings and to distribute to those landings commodities 

 shipped from the trade centers. Again, it is to be noted that this 

 applies to the river trade in general and not to such movements as the 

 barge traffic in coal from the Pittsburgh region. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF STEAMBOAT FREIGHT RATES. 



There is a great variety of freight tariffs for steamboat river trade. 

 The unit of quantity in some cases is 100 pounds or the short ton, 

 and in others the package. Some boats quote rates for carlots lower 

 than for less than carlots, as is done in railroad freight tariffs. Spe- 

 cific conditions give rise in many cases to specific rates. A certaia 

 commodity may be carried in one direction for a lower rate than in 

 another, if the trade in the favored direction is large enough to 

 justify special concessions in order to obtain it. Distance frequently 

 has little or no influence upon the rate charged by boat. Sometimes 

 over an entire route the same rate wiU be charged between any 

 two landings regardless of distance. 



The minimum charge for a single shipment by water is by no 

 means uniform throughout the country. In Louisiana the minimum 

 charge for a single package is 1 cents and for a single shipment is 

 25 cents, but if the boat has to make a special landing for a single 

 shipment the charge is at least 50 cents. The steamboat tariff 

 authorized by the State of Alabama specffies a minimum charge of 

 15 cents on a single shipment. 



An example of the variety of packages taken as bases for steamboat 

 freight rates is afforded in the Potomac River trade, between landings 

 down the river and Washington. Rates on apples are as follows: 

 30 cents per sugar barrel, 25 cents per flour barrel, 15 cents per half- 

 barrel basket, 12 cents per bushel basket, 10 cents per box, 15 cents 

 per bag, and 13 cents per small carrier; also 15 cents per two-basket 

 carrier, and 8 cents per basket of five-eighths of a bushel. 



ILLUSTRATIONS AFFORDED BY THE NORFOLK TRADE. 



A large amount of freight is carried between Baltimore and Norfolk 

 by bay steamers. This traffic, except where commodity rates apply, 

 is subject to the Southern Classification, which ranges from 10 cents 

 per 100 pounds for class 6 to 26 cents for class 1, and from 10 cents 



