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Show Ifi? ; ,. y II. , . . i . il -"fi'T H r"1 1 1S Owing to the level condition of the rountry, the construction of a canal In Holland Involves tut comparatively little labor and expense. Many of the cunals are used constantly as mibBtt-tutes mibBtt-tutes for public highways, and In the winter their frozen surfaces offer convenient con-venient roads for the skaters who throng them on their way to nnd from market nnd about their varlonn occupations. occu-pations. So complete la the canal system that by means of It a resident of Rotterdam could breakfast nt Delft or The Hague, dine at I.cyden and up at Amsterdam, or return to his home before nightfall. Since not only the surface but the bods of many of Holland's canals arc above the level of land, the drainage Is of the greatest Importance. ThlH Is effected by means of pumps worked by the windmills that are such a characteristic feature of the Dutch landscape. The banks of the canals are maintained by the fam-'llles fam-'llles that live along them, each being assigned a portion to keep In repair. Kmory It. Johncon, profeanor of transportation and commerce In tha t'jilverslty of Pennsylvania, who recently re-cently mado a study of European wa-terwi wa-terwi as the gpeclul representative of the National Hlver and Harbor congress, con-gress, calls attention to the way In which Germany, France, Holland and Ilelplum have cooperated In establishing estab-lishing standard dlmensdons for their canals and barges, and connecting their nystems. In this manner the through shipment of International traflic has been facilitated. "Another feature of the waterway policy of these European countries." he says, "Is that care la taken to provide waterways wa-terways with adequate terminal and harbor facilities, and to make such physical connections between railroads rail-roads and waterways at all Inland harbors as to guarantee the easy and economical transfer of traffic from cars to boats and water to rails. It Is realized that terminal facilities and rail connections are as essential a part of the projects for making waterways useful as are reliable channels of adequate ade-quate width and depth. The Rhine river, for Instance, has G2 harbors equipped as fully as commercial needs require, with storage and transfer facilities. fa-cilities. At 43 of these terminals the direct transfer of goods from trains to boats and river to rail Is possible. Many of the harbors Include large basins, some of which are used for the transfer and storage of commodities, commodi-ties, while others are constructed to enable big Industrial plants to locate on water frontage. Each city constructs con-structs Is own harbor with but little, If any, aid from the state, the expense being borne by the city, aided In some Instances by private Interests." ;: :il ! mmmm. V - mt. mm m 1" -C 1 -. rr-,, i.-lv, J 'hi h .hi . ,t-! " . A ' ... i v . i ' ..." ' f : 1 '" ' rrwsf.vctj or me cxamz: A wat-rway expert has said that there are too many small craft on the German Ger-man canals to keep the cost of transportation trans-portation down as low as It might be, but the government's charges for lock- i OiAAZ- SIT AA h -M-v. I t 1 1 J eawi5- age are small so that rates are very reasonable and the total of heavy traffic traf-fic Is large. Through close and effective study of economical transportation, Belgium has built up an excellent system of canals and canalized rivers, 29 In number. num-ber. These are used partly for transportation trans-portation and partly for Irrigation, l'.oth the Muse and the Scheldt are navigable throughout their entire length In Itelglum, and many of their tributaries have been canalized. In addition ad-dition to these natural advantages, there are canal systems that unite lirussels and Louvaln with the Rupcl, Brussels with Charlerol and Mons with Conde. Then, too, there are two fine ship canls which by uniting Ghent and Bruges with the sea coast have restored to those cities much of their old time commercial Importance. Mention of Holland instantly cre- ates a mind picture of canals, and indeed in-deed that little land of dykes and ditches Is completely cut up Into small Islands by its extensive system of waterways. Thpy cross and Interlace Inter-lace one another like the threads of some large Ashing net. The North Holland canal was considered, until recently, to be the finest of the kind In Europe. The southern part of the country la especially favored by nature, na-ture, for the Rhine, entering Holland, divides up Into numerous arms, the chief of which are the Waal, the Lek and the Yssel. The Meuse Joins the Waal, thus mingling Its waters with those of the Rhine, and all of these rivers carry an immense traffic. Four-fifths Four-fifths of the river trade of Holland Is carried on the Rhine and the Waal. The Scheldt has Its et-tunry mainly In Holland and carries ocean vessels to Antwerp. - K fHK American tourist who l flits rapidly and carelessly careless-ly across the continent of Europe, looks upon the 1. canuls of the countries lie V'!1 13' jj, passes through as being ' the t11"1" mere plctur-jMwufJj'j plctur-jMwufJj'j esque features that nd-l f V1 to the Interest of the V landscape, but have been rendered practically obsolete obso-lete in a commercial nense by tlio building of railways. He sees barges upon them, to be sure, and In winter he Is delighted by the night or the people of Holland skating along the frozen water courses. lint he would be astonished If he knew the Important Import-ant part the canals and canalized rivers, play in the economic life of European nations. Canals, as they were originally constructed, con-structed, cannot compete with railroads, rail-roads, but as the latter have spread over the bind, the waterways have been altered to meet the new conditions. condi-tions. Their chief mission In these days is to connect the centers of population pop-ulation and Industry with the coasts to make thorn seaports-and this has been accomplished to an extent that Is surprising to the uninformed. The pressure of international competition com-petition Is mainly responsible for the extensive Improvement cif waterways In the continental European countries that have the highest degree of Industrial Indus-trial development. Every manufacturing manufac-turing country, district or city, If It Is to prosper, must be able to meet ttyls competition and to assemble materials as cheaply as possible from all parts of the world, and be provided with facilities for placing Its goods cheaply and readily upon the chief domestic , and foreign markets. The countries of the continent, recognizing this, have adopted the policy of providing with equal care for the development of both railroads and waterways. In Great Britain, on tb contrary, with the exception ex-ception of two canals In Scotland, the Inland waterways, both rivers and canals, have been Improved and are operated by corporation. The British Brit-ish government Is considering the ad-vlsabllty ad-vlsabllty of changing Its policy toward waterways. Of all the continental countries. France has spent the most on canal navigation, iler extensive plans for waterway development, adopted In 1S79, provided for a system by which the waterways should bo all connected connect-ed with each other, and with the chief centers of population and Industry. They are mainly owned or controlled by the state, but when 1j 1 tf M a law was passed provides for the construction construc-tion of new waterways, It Kilpulato.1 that the beneficiary parties or localities locali-ties must advmee at least half of tho total eoBt. The interests making this contribution are permitted to recoup themselves from tolls or dues, and from a monopoly of providing towage or traction. Three canals, one from Cette to the Rhone, one from Marseilles Mar-seilles to tho Rhone, and one from the coal fields to the Olse river the Canal du Nord are now being constructed con-structed under Ihese conditions. The most Important of the commercial commer-cial waterwiys of France Is the Seine river, and there Is an Immense traffic upon It between Havre and Rouen and I'aris. At large expense It has been canalized and provided with locks and lateral canals, while other canals con pert the river through Its tributaries with the Iihe, the Rhone, the Rhine, the Meuse and the Scheldt. Another elaborate system of main and lateral later-al canals that carries a vnst tonnage to Paris connects the capital with Dunkirk and Gravellnes. and between Paris and the Belgian and German frontiers there Is a perfect network of waterways. The western ami southern south-ern parts of the country are nearly as well provided with canals. The Canal du Midi, which, running from Bordeaux Bor-deaux to Ceite. connects the Bay of Biscay with the Mditerranean. enables en-ables the formr city to supply the whole of southern France with the products of foreign lands, and of the French colonies which It Imports. In connection with thin Canal du Midi, the French government has long under conslleratlon a most interesting and Important project nothing less than to convert the waterway Into a ship canal by which sea going vessels and the wanblps of France rnnA pass from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Medi-terranean without being expo-wd to the violent storms of the peninsular coast and without passing through the Straits of Gibraltar. The people of France never lose sight of the possibility possi-bility of war with Great Britain, and this ship canal plan appeals to them especially because It would relieve their navy from the necessity of steaming under the thousand guns that arm King George's tremendous fortress on the rock. So the project seems almost equally Important from a commercial and a military view, and doubtless will be carried out. Altogether, France has nearly 3.000 miles of canals and 5,000 miles of navigable nav-igable rivers, and In the last 23 years the rate of Increase as regards tonnage ton-nage and ton-mileage has bee n more rapid on the waterways than on the ruilways. In the Rhine and the Elbe, Germany possesses two commercial waterways of the llrwt magnitude. The Rhine is navigable for small river steamboats P j , J fv.-J.m . I ,r - -4 "H -' J cjcsisjv as far as Basel. Just across tho Swiss frontier, and small seagoing steamers steam-ers ascend it ns far as Mannheim. This mighty river baa been Improved by the Germans at a cost of more than UI.r.oo.tKi'), nnd Its waters bear an Immense Im-mense traffic In coal. Iron ore, Iron and steel manufactures and other heavy freight. Ttie Rhine valley, dotted with picturesque ruined castles and saturated with legend Bnd romance. ro-mance. Is also one of the busiest districts dis-tricts In all Europe, for It is densely populated and contains numerous Important Im-portant Ind istrl.-il cities. Canals connect con-nect the Rhine with the Meuse, Saone, Seine. Danube and Ems rivets. The Rhine-Rhone canal follows the course of the river froiii Strassburg almost to Basel, nnd Is generally used Instead of the river. The Elbe Is second only to the Rhine In commercial Importance. It Is navigable throughout Its whole course In Germany and along It He some of th chU'f silver and coal mlnen, salt fields, sheep pastures and beet-root areas In the empire. Moreover, More-over, .'t links Berlin, the capital, with Hamburg, the cbl-f port, by the canals of the Havel and Spree river systems. The WesT, the Oder, the Vistula and other rivers are of great Importance Impor-tance as commercial highways, and go to make up Germany's grand totat of nearly fi,oi0 miles of navigable rivers, riv-ers, of which about 1,400 miles are canalized. Germany's canals are many, their total mileage being something like l.r.oo, and targe kums are spent on their Improvement. The mnn Important Import-ant Interna'lonally Is the great North Sea and Baltic shlp'canal, which traverses tra-verses Schleswlg Holsteln. saving two day' time by steamer between Hamburg Ham-burg and all the Baltic ports of Germany. Ger-many. This canal was begun In 188? and was opened to traffic In 1?93. and Is a source of much pride to Emperor William. The Ludwlgs canal In Bavaria Bava-ria united the Danube with the Main, thus supplying continuous waterway water-way from the North sea to the Black sea. The Plauen canal connects the Elbe with the Havel, and there are systems connecting the Oder with tha Kib mad tba Memel with the PregeL |