4 BULLETIN 74, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
SOME ADVANTAGES OF RAIL OVER RIVER. 
While steamboat transportation is generally regarded as cheaper 
than rail, in practice the boats are at considerable disadvantage in 
some respects. A railroad car is free to move between any two 
railroad stations, while the steamboat is naturally limited to those 
places which it can reach. At terminals a car can be placed in any 
one of a number of advantageous positions. A car of wheat can be 
run into a grain elevator and unloaded over a grating, through which 
the grain is received by the elevating machinery and carried to the 
bins. A railroad car also may be placed alongside any one of a 
number of warehouses, to receive or discharge its load across a few 
feet of space ; and it may be held for a day or so, if not longer, awaiting 
a convenient time for consignor to load or for consignee to unload. In 
regard to rates, as will be shown later, the steamboats do not always 
quote lower rates than are quoted by railroads. 
SOME ADVANTAGES OF RIVER OVER RAIL. 
Since the river is a public highway, there is an opportunity for 
competition among carriers which does not exist with rail traffic. In 
railroad business the roadway and terminals are regularly under the 
same management as the trains which use them, so that competition 
between two or more carriers over a single railroad is not to be 
expected. The fact that the river is a public highway makes it possi- 
ble for persons of small capital to engage in transportation. Conse- 
quently sail vessels, gasoline launches, and small steamboats compete 
with larger boats for the traffic on many inland waterways. Sweet 
potatoes, watermelons, grain, and other commodities are brought into 
Washington and Baltimore from points from 100 to 200 miles distant 
by means of sail vessels and power boats. A considerable part of the 
produce sold at New Orleans is brought there by small boats, and on 
the river system opening into San Francisco Bay gasoline launches, 
sailboats, and other small vessels also share with the regular steam- 
boat lines in the carrying trade. The opportunity offered to persons 
or companies of small capital to engage in transportation is one of the 
advantages of river over rail. These public waterways are used also 
by farmers to transport their own produce to market. 
Another advantage of the river is the economy possible in a large 
part of the traffic, especially where relatively nonperishable articles 
are carried. The capacity of a boat can be increased or diminished 
greatly by attaching or detaching barges, so that a large load can be 
moved at a relatively low cost. In a large part of its business a boat 
can work much more cheaply than a railroad. 
Frequently river transportation is quicker than rail. A consign- 
ment once loaded on a boat goes direct to its destination without 
being subject to delays occasioned by transfer from one carrier to 
