Some idea of the progress that is being made on a national scale may be gleaned from the following condensed statements by department officials in touch with different fields of activity:

ELIMINATION OF WASTE IN RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION

[By EUGENE S. GREGG, Chief, Transportation Division]

One of the most important contributions to the elimination of national waste has been the remarkable improvement in railway transportation during the past five years.

The first factor in that improvement was the provision of adequate transportation itself. The periodic car shortages of many years past have practically disappeared, although the tonnage loaded has increased more than 25 per cent since 1921. The waste imposed on carriers and public in those periods of shortages in transportation was far larger than is commonly supposed. The derangement of production and employment in all industries, the widening of prices between producer and consumer, due to repeated strictures in transport which created glut in supply and scarcity in consumption, amounted to hundreds of millions annually.

Some very important economic effects have resulted from full, prompt, and reliable delivery of goods. The necessity for carrying large stocks as a protection against transportation failure has largely disappeared, and in consequence the capital required in the Nation's distribution has been considerably reduced. Scarcely a single retail house is to-day carrying as large stocks in proportion to turnover as formerly. While one effect has been to burden the manufacturer with "short orders," nevertheless the change has been highly beneficial, for it has greatly lessened the likelihood and danger of price fluctuations.

A second improvement, aside from direct increase in facilities, has been the very great and fundamental increase in efficiency of operation. Since 1921 the average weekly car loadings have increased from 693,533 to 986,475, the number of miles per car per day from 22.4 to 26.9, the average trainload from 656 to 731 tons. The traffic is being carried with relatively less employees, the ton-miles handled per employee being 221,203 in 1924 as against 182,477 in 1921. This fine accomplishment of the railway managers has been distinctly aided by the large measures of cooperation with shippers established by the railways through effective regional committees.

There have been many other savings in transportation during the past few years in addition to those accomplished in the operation of the carriers. Better packing has been an important factor in the 48 per cent decrease in railroad claims between 1921 and 1924, a decrease of from approximately 92 to 48 million dollars. Standard

ization of the forms used in associated industries of transportation has also had its effect in reducing the distribution costs. Special studies have been made by the department during the past year in the handling of certain classes of freight. The working out of the suggestions arrived at by these special studies has been a contributing factor to the lessening of terminal delay in loading and unloading freight, and to the more rapid movement of carload and lessthan-carload merchandise.

There are many problems yet to be solved in transportation, notably the coordination of railway and water facilities and the working out of the economic relation between motor truck and lessthan-carload railway distribution. Further study in domestic packing and efficiency in terminal loading and unloading of railway cars will bring good results. Our terminal facilities for handling perishables (not wholly a railway question) must be greatly improved. The astonishing growth in consumption of fruit and vegetables has created difficulties in terminal distribution which very greatly increase distribution costs and create great wastes in these commodities through deterioration. The cost at the terminal markets between the door of the car and the door of the retail store often exceeds the entire freight.

IMPROVEMENT OF OUR INLAND WATERWAYS

[By PAUL S. CLAPP, Special Assistant]

The Department of Commerce has given continued attention to the vigorous improvement of our inland waterways for cheaper transportation of bulk commodities; also, to the fuller utilization of the water resources of our rivers for all purposes-navigation, irrigation, and power-and has pointed out the benefits of storage in enhancement of these values and in overcoming danger from floods. All these improvements lead to eliminations of waste in fuel and labor, reduced transportation costs, and increased national efficiency.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER SYSTEM

Shifts of profound importance in the relative advantages of different parts of the country with respect to transportation have resulted from the war. The necessary advances in rail rates from the Mississippi Valley States to the Atlantic seaboard have distorted economic relationship of that area to the rest of the country and the world. Because ocean rates are practically upon a prewar basis, the opening of the Panama Canal has given the eastern seaboard competitive advantages over the Mississippi Valley in the supply of manufactured goods and agricultural products moving

between the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. These distortions are one of the fundamental difficulties of the great agricultural heart of the United States lying between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains.

In consequence of this, it is of the utmost importance that we accomplish the earliest possible completion of the Mississippi system of waterways in order that cheaper water-borne traffic in primary and bulk goods within this great mid-west area and in its egress to the sea may contribute to restore its economic relationships to the rest of the country. This can be accomplished without harm to our great railway systems, the growth of whose traffic with increasing population will in any event tax their powers.

The formulation of a comprehensive plan urging rapid development of the Mississippi Valley streams into a completed system of trunk and lateral waterways was made by Secretary Hoover in an address at Kansas City, in October, 1925.

GREAT LAKES TO THE OCEAN

Some progress has been made toward the ultimate foundation of the project to open a route between the Great Lakes and the ocean, thus enabling deep-sea vessels to penetrate the interior of the country, with great advantages to our farmers, our manufacturers, and particularly the whole of the people in the 18 States adjacent to the Lakes.

Negotiations were initiated with Canada în 1922, at the request of Secretary Hoover, for a consideration of the improvement of the St. Lawrence River from Lake Ontario to Montreal, providing not only canalization for deep-sea navigation to the Lakes, but the development of large quantities of electrical power. National commissions were created in both Canada and this country. The St. Lawrence Commission of the United States, under the chairmanship of Secretary Hoover, comprises Charles L. Allen, William C. Breed, Charles P. Craig, James F. Davidson, Stephen B. Davis, James P. Goodrich, James R. Howard, and James P. Noonan. This commission has held several meetings during the year. A joint engineering board, under an appropriation by the last Congress of $275,000, also an appropriation by Canada, is actively at work on he engineering aspects and will report early next year. Concurrent with this, the Department of Commerce has in process a critical conomic study of the effects and benefits of this great project. The results of these studies, with the reports of the engineers, will be reviewed by the commission, and its final recommendations preared for the consideration of the country.

Arising out of these studies, Congress has also appropriated a sum of money for the study of an alternative route from the Great Lakes across New York State.

Irrespective of the route selected, there is urgent need of both Canada and ourselves for the regulation of the levels of the Lakes by works at the foot of Lake Erie, thereby providing greater depths for navigation, the lowered levels of which (in the main due to climatic conditions) have imposed great wastes upon Lake shipping.

GREAT VALLEY OF CALIFORNIA

Studies by the Department of Commerce into fuller utilization of water resources for irrigation, power, navigation, and flood control have been made in connection with the rivers of the Great Valley of California, involving the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers The need of better organization toward the full development of these streams, for their coordinate use by all interests, was summarized in an address by Secretary Hoover in Sacramento, Calif., in June, 1925.

COLORADO RIVER

The development of this great water resource having been retarded for years by the interstate conflict over water rights, a commission was created, representing the seven States involved, under the chairmanship of the Secretary of Commerce for the purpose of reaching an agreement in the matter. The Colorado River compact settling these interstate rights was signed at Santa Fe, N. Mex., November 24, 1922. The compact has not yet been ratified by all of the States involved, and in consequence the development of the river continues to be held up.

ELIMINATION OF WASTE THROUGH ENLARGED ELECTRIFICATION [By PAUL S. CLAPP, Special Assistant]

During the past five years there has been a notable advance in the electrification of the country and in the generation and distribution of power. This is being accomplished not only with an enormous saving in fuel but with large increases in productivity, reduction of physical effort and labor, and added comfort in the home. Since 1920 long strides forward have been taken in the development of widespread electrical power systems, which are increasingly becoming the enormous reservoirs of mobile and reliable power for all purposes, upon which in such large measure our national progress depends.

The advent of long-distance transmission and its sequence, the production of power upon a large scale in more economical plants at most advantageous points, is having a far-reaching influence.

Our electrical generating capacity increased from 14,280,000 kilowatts in 1920 to over 23,000,000 kilowatts in 1925, an increase of 60 per cent. This has been effected principally in large efficient units concentrated in carefully operated central plants, with gradual elimination of wasteful smaller plants. At the same time the development of water powers connected to electrical systems has been particularly active. Of the total of 8,300,000 horsepower now developed and connected to these systems, 2,500,000 horsepower, or 30 per cent, has been set to work in this period.

Interconnection of power plants, hydro and steam, has rapidly progressed, enabling maximum utilization of each with large economies in power production and distribution. Factory steam plants are being replaced with electrical power, the increased industrial load during the day being supplied from the same equipment as the night load of cities. The capital invested in idle or underloaded equipment has been effectively reduced. Water powers formerly too far removed from the market are now being developed and put to work. The steadily increasing base load upon large economical central plants and the shift from small electrical or industrial plants has resulted in great savings in fuel. The consumption of coal or its equivalent by electrical plants has been decreased from 3.2 pounds per kilowatt-hour as the average required in 1919 to 2.2 pounds in 1924, a total saving in this period of over 50,000,000 tons. To this can be added the saving of some 6,000,000 tons from the water power put into operation, making a total of 56,000,000 tons saved. The cost of power has been maintained at pre-war levels, the large economies in production and distribution offsetting the rise in labor and material costs.

In industry, there have been large increases in the power applied, and in the shift toward electrification, the source of supply increasingly becoming the interconnected systems. In 1919, 55 per cent of the total primary power in factories was applied electrically; this has increased to 70 per cent. Between 1919 and 1923, power used in industry increased from 29,300,000 to 33,000,000 horsepower; local installations of boilers and engines remained stationary, the total increase being in electrical drive. This enormous and effective application of power by our workmen has increased his productiveness beyond any other country; it has enabled us to maintain wage levels and to reduce the burden of human toil.

The interconnected electrical systems now stand ready to furnish the necessary power supplies for electrification of transportation, the accomplishment of which will increase carrying capacity of present channels, give added comfort in travel, and further reduce consumption of fuel. Terminal electrification has already given