l
The news in this pubii-
cation is released for the
press offi receipt.
XHE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
NOVEMBER 5, 1924
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE ONIVEESITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. XL NO. 1
E Jitoriul Bixird* B. C. Braifton. S. H. Hobba, Jr.. L. R. Wilaan. B. W. KnlBht, D. D. CJarroll, J. B.BallJtt, H. W. Odum.
Baterod aa second-clBaa matter November 14.1814, at the Pesteffice at Chanel Hill, N. C., under the actef Ausust S4, 1912
PORT TERMINALS FOR N. C.
IT LOWERS FREIGHT HATES
Does water transportation lower
freight rates? This is the most impor
tant single question before the people
of the state today because if water
transportation does not lower the freight
costs, then the proposed state system
of public port terminals and waterways
will fail of its purposes. If “water
competition h^ nothing whatever to do
with freight rates, “ if “rail rates are
based on dry-land distances alone,” if
“long and short haul discriminations do
not exist—were wiped off the statute
book four years ago—are ancient his
tory,” then public port terminals in
North Carolina and other water-front
states are useless.
The statements are untrue. The facts
are (1) water transportation does lower
transportation costs because it is the
cheapest transportation known to man,
has always been so and is likely to re
main so to the end of time; (2) the story
of transportation in every land is the
story of rail-rates lowered to meet wa
ter competition wherever water competi
tion is made effective; (3) rail-rate struc
tures in the United States were long
ago based on ports because ports are
points where rail carriage must corn-
destructive to life and business. These
destructive discriminations exist main
ly in the long and short haul charges of
the railroads. These long and short
haul discriminations were not abolished
by the law of 1920. What is true is that
the ICC was clothed with discretionary
authority to abolish such discrimina
tions. But such discriminations have
not been abolished and they still exist
all over the United States. Hence the
Gooding Bill in Congress to withdraw
the discretionary power of the ICC • in
long and short hauls rates. Birmingham
hardware can be hauled through Ral-
.eigh to Norfolk and back again for less
money than it can be dropped off at
Raleigh on the northbound trip. The
same thing is true at Ogden, Utah, It
is cheaper to route eastern purchases
through to San Francisco and back
again across three states than it is to
bill eastern goods direct to Ogden.
Why say these things do not happen
when they actually are happening to
day and every day in this state and
every other state?
Fourth. Rail-rates are not based on
dry-land distances alone, regardless of
water competition. Mr. Eastman a
member of the ICC is simply proposing
pete with water carriage, and this bas-: such a basis for rail-rate structures,
is of rail rate structures still exists al-! His proposition will be argued before
though the Interstate Commerce Com-! ^CC a few weeks hence. Dry-land
mission is empowered by law to regulate j distances alone as a basis of rate-mak-
it, (4) but also the ICC must rule in ■ ^ng is a thing of the indefinite future,
every rate case with two declared poli- [ Whatever the decision may be, it must
cies of Congress'clearly in mind, first i be made in the face of two necessities
the railroads must not.be wrecked and j imposed by Congress on its direct ex-
second water transportation must be ecutive agency, namely, that rail-rates
developed and protected, both being es
sential national necessities. The discre
tionary power of the ICC is therefore
very great, and properly so.
And now for instances, cited in the
order above indicated.
First. Water carriage immensely
lowers transportation costs. Boots and
shoes from Portland, Maine to Portland,
Oregon are carried by the all-water
route with a saving of $1680 i* freight
charges on carload quantities, counting
26 tons to the car. The savings on simi
lar quantities of print paper and canned
goods amount to $450 and $475 respect-
ivfly. Another instance. The water-
rate saving on grain from New Orleans
to Tampe^ Florida is around $180 on car
load lots; with similar sayings on other
Western farm products at this and
other Florida ports. And yet it is often
stated that water competition has noth
ing to do with freight rates
Second. But perhaps such statements
refer to rail rates and not freight rates,
Even so. Here again the fact is that
water competition does lower rail-rates,
Take a single instance of it within the
last two years. Water competition by
public carriers on the Mississippi-War-
rior rivers lowered the rail rates on
sugar between competing points; also
the rail-rates on ores and smelting
material—from $6.00 to $3.00 and $3.50
per ton. See Hoyse Report 6647, 68th
Congress, Ist session, or the reprint in
the Port Terminals Campaign Leaflet
No. 17. Another instance nearer home.
A half million dollars worth of fish goes
year by year through Elizabeth City to
New York. The all-rail rate used to be
. $3.06 per box. A joint rail-and*water
rate is now $1.80 a box. It is the di
rect effect of active water competition
through the Currituck Cut of the In
land Waterway. What is claimed can
not be done under the law is exactly
what is done—is done by consent of the
ICC acting under discretionary power
with which Congress has clothed it—
done in order to reduce transportation
costs without destroying railroad divi
dends on the one hand and water com
petition on the other.
Third. Rail-rates are based on ports
of entry, the distances of inland towns
from rate-basing pofts, and their loca
tion with reference to through trunk
lines to such ports, and so on and on. It
has always been so since the first days
of railroading in America, and is still
so. As a result, interior towns in terri
tories without direct rail connection
with nearby ports are still subjected to
freight discriminations that destroy
their commerce and lay heavy burdens
on the producers and consumers in their
trade areas—not because rail rates are
high to such places but because they
are unequal, unjust, and therefore are
must be made high enough to save the
railroads from bankruptcy, and low
enough to allow inland and coastwise
water competition to develop. The ICC
has a hard job. It is facing Plato’s
paradox, namely, “the reconciliation of
opposites,” and every proposed change
is fought to the last ditch by the con
tending interests.
But no matter what the decision is,
North Carolina will not be relieved of
rail-rate discriminations—cannot be re
lieved without her own rate-basing
ports and her own inland waterways
developed to the fullest capacity. There
is no other way of relief. Every other
water-front state knows it, and North
Carolina must learn it.—E. C. Branson.
BENEFITS MAINE
The state-owned and operated termi
nal facilities at Portland, in operation
a little more than one year, already
have caused the railroads to petition
the Interstate Commerce Commission
for permission to reduce their rates to
meet water competition induced by the
presence of the terminal, according to
Ralph 0. Brewster, youthful Governor-
elect of Maine, who is in North Caro
lina making speeches in the interests of
the national Republican ticket. Mr.
Brewster said:
“1 am interested in the consideration
which you are giving in North Carolina
to the port development although I
know nothing regarding the local con
ditions or your rail or water connections
nor to what extent your ports have al
ready been developed.
“In Maine we have recently built i
state owned pier at a cost of $1,160,000
with the site presented by the city of
Portland at a coat of $350,000.00.
This has been in operation now some
thing over a year and has paid all ex
penses of operation but thus far has not
paid anything on the interest or sinking
fund.
“This give us a total state" debt of
$13,000,000.00, the remainder of the is
sue having been spent for war purposes
and for highways.
“The pier is now used to capacity
with coast traffic and traffic to the
Pacific Coast, as well as a substantial
amount of foreign commerce, originat
ing in various parts of Maine and Can
ada. !
“Our water rates to the Pacific Coast
are about half the rail rates and have
enabled us to compete to great advan-
age with Mississippi Valley products
with which we are in competition, parti
cularly with shoes and canned corn. The
rates from Mississippi points ta the
Pacific Coast are about twice the rates
from Portland by water.
“The railroads have now petitioned
the Interstate Commerce Commission
THE FEDERAL POLICY
If North Carolina expects to have
ports and waterways improved by
thd Federal government it is abso
lutely essential that public termi
nals be provided. The statement is
confirmed by the River and Harbor
Act of 1919 as follows: “It is here
by declared to be the policy of con
gress that water terminals are es
sential to all cities and towns lo
cated upon harbors or navigable
waterways and that at least one
public terminal should exist, con
structed, owned and regulated by
the municipality or other public
agency of the state and open to the
use of all upon equal terms, and
with the view of carrying out the
policy to the fullest extent, the
Secretary of War is hereby vested
with the discretion to withhold un
less the public interest would seri
ously suffer by delay, moneys ap
propriated in this act for new proj
ects adopted herein, or for the fur
ther improvement of existing
projects, if in his opinion, no water
terminals exist adequate for traffic,
AND OPEN TO ALL ON EQUAL
TERMS.”
The policy and practice of the
Federal government is to co-operate
to the fullest extent by deepening
rivers and channels, when states or
municipalities provide necessary
port terminal facilities. Senator F.
M. Simmons is on record as assuring
the people of North Carolina that
an investment by the state of $7,-
000,000 in publicly owned terminals
will enable him not only to have the
Inland Waterway extended from
Beaufort to Wilmington but to se
cure from the government money
sufficient to make the 26-foot chan
nel in the Cape Fear river as deep
as any future volume of commerce
requires. The extention of the In
land waterway to deep water, com
bined with state-owned terminals,
will solve forever North Carolina’s
freight rate problem.
for permission to reduce their rates be
cause of the effect of the water com
petition.
'■‘The Eastern Steamship Company,
an old established line, handles various
services along the Atlantic Coast and
regular lines have been established to
the Pacific Coast. It is probable that
seed potatoes will also be shipped to
southern ports because of the advan
tages over rail rates.
“Eighty per cent of the traffic over
the pier originates at points in the state
outside of the city of Portland where
the pier is located. Five rail lines have
long served Portland and this makes it
a very convenient port of exchange.'
Byron Ford News Service.
“Wichita doesn’t pay a higher rate
because it costs any more to haul
freight to it, but because it must make
up-the railway deficit caused by the
low rate to Kansas City. Likewise,
North Carolina does not pay excessive
rates because the cost to haul here is
greater, but because it must make up
the downward discriminations made in
favor of other states which have rate
basing pores.
“Port terminals will go far toward
solving this state’s freight rate prob
lems. Water transportation is bound
to lower freight rates when water
transportation is given a chance. Un
til recently railroads were permitted
to throttle water competition by un
fair methods Now we haven’t a rail
road-controlled Interstate Commerce
Commission at Washington, and every
encouragement is given to and every
protection is thrown around water
transportation.”—Byron Ford News
Service.
FLORIDA PUBLIC PORTS
towns might enjoy can be reduced to a
minimum by terminals charges that
shippers cannot afford to pay, by costly
delays that punish private ship owners,
by poor service in general, by refusing
joint rail-and-water rates on through
bills^lading, And so on and on. For in
stance, our largest seaport city has 73
well equipped wharves and piers, but
they are privately owned, and the own
ers would be angels not to use them for
private profits. The city owns two
street-ead woode* docks, 66 feet wide,
pronounced by the harbor engineers to
be “generally in poor condition.” They
are used by the city ferries,-.city fire
boats, local truckers, fishermen and fire
wood vendors. A sea-going vessel long
er than 100 feet could not tie up at any
city-owned dock. Without adequate
public port facilities, with ocean traffic
discouraged and rail freights diverted
to distant cities, this seaport does not
serve the state as it might otherwise
do. Practically the same conditions and
obstacles exist in all other coast cities
wherever private interests are tempted
to destroy water competition for traffic.
FAVORS PORT TERMINALS
Water Transportation honestly ad
ministered will lower freight rates, ac
cording to former Governor Henry
Allen, of Kansas, who was in Raleigh
today on his way to Smithfield where
he later addresses a large gathering in
the interests of the national Republi
can campaign.
Governor Allen, publisher of the
Wichita Beacon, , has waged a vigorous
fight for water transportation in the
interests of Kansas farmers. The St.
Lawrence project is one of his hob
bies. It means a saving of 9 cents a
bushel to wheat^ growing farmers in
Kansas whose w^eat is shipped to
Liverpool and other European ports, he
said.
No one can argue that water trans
portation does not have its effect upon
rail freight rates, the former governor
declared, “because the history of
transportation refutes any such state
ment. I buy my print paper from
Wisconsin points. Kansas City papers
buy from the same places. Although
Wichita is much nearer.‘[the shipping
point than Kansas City, publishers
there get a much lower freight rate.
This is due to the fact that when freight
boats plied the Missouri river Kansas
City enjoyed the advantage of water
transportation. Railroads lowered their
rates to kill water transportation, and,
although there have been no boats on
the Missouri for nearly fifty years, the
competitive rate to Kansas City is still
in force.’’ To quote Governor Allen:
X)
Publicly owned port terminal facili
ties and publicly improved waterways
have been the salvation of and are the
greatest factors in the present progress
of the state, said C. C. Chillingswortb,
a lawyer of West Palm Beach.
Mr. Chillingsworth’s home town is
just completing a million-dollar project
consisting of piers, two jetties and a
harbor. The improvements will give
the harbor a depth of 16 feet where
there was practically no water before.
“Already, ” he said “we are assured
that the project will pay for itself in
freight savings in two years.”
This project is financed by the Palm
Beach tax district, whose population is
less than26,000 and whose total wealth
is less than $40,000,000.
Saves Millions to State
Florida’s publicly owned port term
inals at Jacksonville, Miami, West Palm
Beach, Tampa and Pensacola have sav
ed millions of dollars to Florida, Mr.
Chillingsworth declared, and so have
resulted in opening otherwise inaccess
ible markets to the shippers of the
state. Water transportation has
grown to such an extent, he said, that
now a great deal more than^ half the
products of Florida farms, forests
and factories is hauled by water.
Thirty years ago, when the Palm
Beech lawyer went to Florida, Jackson^
ville, the principal port, h ad a draft of
less than 8 feet of water. It is 26 miles
from the ocean on St Johns river. It
now has a draft of 30 feet —ample
depth to accommodate the largest
coastwise vessels and most of the
trans-Atlantic and Pacific steamers.
The same is true of most of the
Florida ports, he said. As the need
for greater depth has been felt, it has
been provided—mostly at Federal gov
ernment expense.
Ports Attract Vessels
Florida has found that vessels will
come to the ports where public termi
nals facilities are provided. The com
merce of the state has increasedjwon-
derfuDy, its towns are growing, its
farms are being developed.] § Water
transportation, Mr. Chillingsworth con
tended, was largely responsible for this
growth and development. He could
not understand how any North Carolin
ian could oppose the plan as suggested
to the Legislature by the port termi
nals and water transportation com
mission. “Terminals have been a boon
to Florida,” he continued, “and I
would like to see North Carolina, the
South’s most progressive state, profit
by the oppor^nity offered through the
proposed development of its^^^water
transportation potentialities.”
CAN SERVE NORTH CAROLINA
The voters of North Carolina will de
termine on November 4 the most in-
portant business question they »have
ever considered. This is the referen
dum to decide whether North Carolina
-will help herself by establishing termi
nals at deep water and inland water
way points, and by a general develop
ment of water transportation. These
are essential methods of securing re
lief from present discriminations in rail
rates that now cost North Carolinians
millions of dollars annually.
Cheap Transportation
Experts figure that freights can be
carried by water for three miles at the
one mile cost by rail. The more water
transportation is utilized by our state
the greater the saving to the citizen in
the interior through reduced rail haul
costs. Increased volume of business
will give the rail carriers the revenue
they are entitled to and will justify a
rearrangement of rates to conform more
closely with the economies of water
transportation.
The Territory to Be Served
Practically all water borne commence
that North Carolina receives comes
either through Norfolk on the north or
Charleston on the south. A map will
convince the most skeptical that North
Carolina coastal points can well serve
the state. Loyal Tar Heels should uti
lize for their own good purposes the
waters which God gave them. The
map shows that the Cape Fear basin
lies approximately 220 miles in an air
line-282 miles ocean distance-from
Norfolk the nearest northern port, and
about 160 miles from Charleston the
nearest southern port. The Morehead
City-Beaufort-New Bern sections are
about equally distant from Charleston
and Norfolk, thus enabling these North
Carolina ports to serve the intervening
territory to great advantage.
Meaning of Port Locations
WHY THEY D0;N0T.SEHVE
The reason why our coast cities do
not serve our state as other coast cities
serve other states is adequately explain
ed in the following statement from the
Headquarters of the Port Terminals
and Water Transportation Commis-
“The port terminals of our coast cit
ies are now and have long been pri
vately owned and privately operated
for private advantage. Rail freights
can, therefore, be routed past their
doors to distant ports for the larger
profits of longer hauls. The import
and export traffic, that our port
The foregoing means that North Caro
lina coastal points, susceptible of great
est development for the good of the
the state, are sufficiently removed from
the two ports in adjoining states to en
able them to serve interior North Caro
lina efficiently. But it depends on the
vote of our citizens to help themselves
and to save the money now going to
other states. Public port terminal fac
ilities will attract boat lines to carry
the vast volume of commerce brought
into and sent from our state. The map
will convince our voters that there is
an extensive territory, including all of
North Carolina and portions of South
Carolina and Virginia, which lie nearer
to our state’s coastal points than to
either Norfolk or Charleston.
Serve Other Countries
A circlejlrawn upon the map with
Louisville, Ky., as the center, shows
that the air-line distances from that
city to Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah,
and North Carolina’s coastal points are
practically the same, the extreme var
iation in one instance being less than fif
teen miles. Therefore our coastal points
can serve a great and productive terri
tory in the middle west equally with the
other points named. For traffic with
the West Indies, South America Cen
tral America, and all points on the
Pacific ocean via the Panama canal,
our coastal points have a more favor
able location than Norfolk, both as to
distance and safety in avoiding the
dangers of Hatteras and Lookout.
The Only Thin^ Needed
The thoughtlul voter will undoubted
ly realize that a majority vote for Port
Terminals and Water Transportation
means continued progress for North
Carolina and personal benefit for him
self.—Port Terminals and Water Trans
portation Leaflet No. 5.