By Barge—River Transportation's Confluence

Abstract

The United States is drawing a new transportation map, abandoning routes and canceling out transport services. On this new map, there will be more miles of inland waterways but fewer miles of railroads. All freight carriers are curtailing common-carrier services. The navigable rivers and canals played a principal role in settling America, were a factor in the industrial revolution, and helped decentralize industry after World War II. River-rail and river-truck trans-shipping facilities have multiplied manyfold as thousands of mass-production industries and mass-distribution agencies have moved to the inland navigation channels. Common-carrier barge lines are losing business to the contract and private carriers and have organized their own association to make common cause with the railroads and the common-carrier truck lines. Divided into two camps, the barge and towing vessel industry seems to be losing the battle against federal tolls on the river freight traffic, a battle which divides the South and Middle West against the East and Far West. Many great corporations—oil, steel, coal, electric power, farm co-operatives, cement, chemicals, building materials, aluminum, paper —have a stake in this coming legislative debate in the nation's capital. River men see more traffic in the future but no more revolutionary changes.