Hardening Artery

Along the silt-yellow Rio Magdalena the talk was of hard times. "There's not enough water, not even for alligators if there were any," said one dark-skinned boga de agua dulce (freshwater sailor) squatting idly on a pier. "They hunted alligators to death," remarked another, "and now the ghosts are cursing this river."

Six steamers of the Naviera Colombiana, the biggest river operator, had been stuck in the mud for days; rain last week raised the river enough to float them. Meanwhile government dredges kept up their running battle with mudbanks and sandbars, but the dredges were badly outnumbered.

Chickens & Whistles. Ever since the Conquistadores, the long (1,071 miles), broad Magdalena has been Colombia's chief traffic artery. It was always silt-laden, a river continually chewing at its banks. The coming of steam made things worse; woodburning stern-wheelers stopped to cut into the tropical forests for fuel. That made for greater erosion, and also for a quicker rain runoff, with the result that the river could be high one day, low a few days later. Sandbars piled up so fast that steamers could not follow the same course from one day to the next.

Now, although the river still handles 40% of the country's shipping trade, the traffic is irregular. Two weeks ago, because of the low water, not a steamer moved on the upper river. Such delays, by stretching out trips, cut deep into the profits of the Magdalena companies.

The bogas are partly to blame for the river troubles. In 1937, they formed a union and loudly protested that their steamer captains did nothing "except eat chicken and pull the whistle cord." Within three years, they got shipowners to boost crew complements from 35 to 50, cut hours, raise wages, provide meals--and extras between meals.

Profits & Losses. On top of these added costs, traders disgusted with shipping delays began switching from the Caribbean port of Barranquilla, at the Magdalena's mouth, to the Pacific port of Buenaventura, which is linked to Bogota by train and truck. Result: Naviera Colombiana's operations, which once yielded a profit averaging a million and more pesos a year, showed a loss of 212,000 pesos ($123,000) in the first half of 1948.

The stockholders, ready to throw in the sponge, voted to liquidate. But the government had already taken steps that it hoped would change stockholders' minds before this week's final vote. It had issued three decrees: 1) cutting featherbedding; 2) promising mechanized cargo-handling equipment; 3) providing for government operation of the river steamers, with compensation for the private owners. Snorted the board of directors: "Frankly confiscatory."

But somehow the Magdalena had to be kept open. Much of the nation's economic life depended on this hardening artery. Said El Colombiano: "Paralysis of the Magdalena would mean a tremendous blow to Colombia. The Magdalena system must be saved from ruin."

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