Mr. North. 
338 DISCUSSION : FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 
In 1887, the first year of thé admirable records kept by the U. S. 
Engineers at the “Soo,” the ton-mileage through those locks was 
4 458 544 804, which was carried at 0.230 cent, and the average rail- 
road rate was 1.034 cents. The saving for that year was $36 026 200. 
If we average the 21 years we will have a rough aggregate of more 
than $4 000 000 000. 
It would seem that a competent improvement of either the 
Lakes-to-Gulf waterway or of the proposed coastwise canal would 
result in a like increase of tonnage and an equal saving in the cost of 
transportation, for both routes are now offering much more traffic than 
was in sight or believed possible when the canal at the “Soo” was either 
projected or completed. 
For nearly 20 years attention has been directed to the difference 
in growth of cities on the Lakes and in the valley of the Mississippi, 
where but immaterial improvements in depths have been made. And 
note is also taken that the progress of our centers of gravity of manu- 
facturing values is following our centers of population, but about 
midway between the centers of population and the Lake front; which 
shows, without doubt, that the cost of transportation is a very important 
factor in the location of manufacturing plants. 
This influence is shown in particular by the nearly total with- 
drawal of heavy manufacturing from the New England States, where, 
from 1880 to the present, the freight rates have been about 50% higher 
than the average rate for the whole country. It is also shown by the 
ruin of the iron industries of Troy and Albany, with the depopula- 
tion of the counties about the head of navigation of the Hudson, con- 
sequent on thé successful effort of the Chamber of Commerce of New 
York City to prevent the deepening of the river channel above 
Coxsackie. 
The foregoing considerations have led to a growing insistence in 
the Mississippi Valley that the wealth of that section should be aug- 
mented by increasing the navigable depth of the river. The demand 
was growing too strong to be ignored when it was determined to com- 
bine any plan for improved navigation with one for “the conservation 
of our natural resources.” This is of loss and damage to the prosperity 
of the country through the delay necessary for the consideration of 
so large and complicated a project. This delay will be prolonged by 
the selection of our most able opponent of internal improvements as 
Chairman of the Inland Waterways Commission, who, after the en- 
dorsement of this extended plan at Washington in May, 1908, is under- 
stood to have announced that there would be neither Congressional 
consideration of the Atlantic coastwise route nor appropriations for 
surveys in the Mississippi Valley. At the same time, the declaration 
for improvements of watercourses to a “standard depth” forecasts an 
intention, on the part of the protagonists of this movement for econ- 
