Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 283, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1917 — WATERWAYS AGAIN IN FAVOR [ARTICLE]

WATERWAYS AGAIN IN FAVOR

By Imposing Increased Burden Upon Railroads War Necessitates More Transportation. Transportation economy throughout the drainage basin of the Mississippi river, which Is served by more than 13,000 iplles of navigable waterways, has passed through two distinct periods, and is now entering a third. First there was the raft, then the temporary barge, and finally the great steamboat, with its extravagance and waste, and the steam towboat and the towed barges. The second period was the advent of the railroad, which finally monopolized the valley transportation business, and starved the boats Into the junk pile. Then came the war. By imposing an increased burden upon the railroads, the war has necessitated the use of additional means of transportation. The third period, which Is just beginning, is a return to the use of the waterways, and the movement of commerce along north and south trade channels of least resistance.