10 DOCUMBNTARY HISTORY OF THI FLOBIDA CANAL

Division A-Continued.
 Part II. Commerce (cargoes):
 Section a. Comparative anlvais of water-borne commerce of Gulf ports.
 Sections 1 to 18, inclusive. Tonnage of exports and importsm
 Section 19. Comparative tonnage tables of foreign and domestic com-
 mares.
 Section 20. Water-borne passenger traffic.
 Section 21. Water-borne commodities.
 Division B. Rates and traffe, including distance and time savings:
 Part I. Freight rates and traffic.
 Part II. Distance and time savings:
 Section 1. Coastwise distance and time saving
 Section 2. Trans-AtlanUtic dl (areu A).
 Section 3. Pilot ehrt--C laW t ow filing lines
 and currents.
 Section 4. Pilot chart-North Atlantic Ocean, showing filing lines.
 Division C. Vesel operating eosts:
 Section 1. Aggregate savings in operating costs.
 Section 2. Savings in time and money by dead-weight tonnage groups of
 vessels. .
 Section Operating costs of vessels.
 Section 4. Savings n time by dead-weight tonnage and speed groups of
 vess.
 Division D. Aggregate savings:
 Section Summr tteent of savings
 Section 2. Statement of savings on fixed charges.
 Section 8. Other miseelanems savings.
Division E. Commodity studies and potential new trade:
 Section 1. Paper, pulp, and forest products.
 Section 2. Minerals.
 Section 3. Agricultural product.
Division F. Comparative -eantages of barge and steamship transport.
 Each of these divisions contains not only its appropriate detail but a summary
statement or review thereof as welL Because of its technical nature and volume
an extended and careful study will be required for a thorough appreciation and
understanding of our report, but in the succeeding paragrap of this section an
effort will be made to briefly review the most important and controlling facts and
conclusions
 Comunacu
 8. First fundamental question.-Reverting to the first fundamental question,
vis: What commerce, present and prospective, will benefit from the construc-
tion of a waterway across the peninsula of Florida? It is to be noted in the
first place that by far the greater part of the Gulf commerce is outbound. The
commodities find their markets either in the American,. Canadian, or European
north Atlantic ports, or in other portw-South Atlantic or Pacific-all involving
overseas voyages t possible for barge traffic. Furthermore, there are no
reliable statistics as to traffic that might be carried by barges, but, even if there
were, our studies go to show that it would be relatively small and of a rather
local or intra-Gulf character for the reason that, in comparison with costs of
transport by vessels operating in the open Gulf, the costs of barge transport even
in the tideless intercoastal waterway along the Gulf coast are such that the barge
cannot compete with the ocean vessel except for shuttle service purposes between
nearby ports.
 9. A very detailed analysis of the comparative advantages of barge and steam-
ship transport will be found in division F of our extended report, but we empha-
sise the fact that, while a barge canal will not serve ocean vessels, a ship canal
on the other hand, will serve barge traffic even better than a waterway predicated
solely on the requirements of barge and towboat traffic.
 10. Statistics and defnitions.-It is to be noted, in the second place, that we
have found in numerous and various bureaus of the Government rather com-
plete statistics on the gross commiWi of our ports but, unfortunately, these data
ave not always been in full agreement nor have they been so arranged as to
permit of direct segregation between traffic that might profit by the proposed
waterway and that which would not use it in any event. Available statistics
as to cargoes are variously reported in terms of shbrt tons of 2,000 pounds each
often called net (cargo) tons, and in long tons of 2,240 pounds each, often called