INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1875. ccli 



from which it may be reasonably inferred that, at the rate 

 of increase which has hitherto taken place, the Suez Canal 

 will in a few years more have achieved, from a commercial 

 point of view, a most brilliant success. 



At the last session of Congress an appropriation of $300,000 

 was made for the improvement of the Great Kanawha River 

 from the Great Falls to its mouth, a work which, when real- 

 ized, will complete a very important link of what is known 

 as the " Central Water-line," connecting the James River at 

 Richmond with the Ohio River at the mouth of the Kanawha. 

 The distance from the Great Falls of the Kanawha to its 

 mouth is 94-1- miles, and the cost of improvement has been 

 estimated at $3,000,000, which Congress will doubtless be 

 called upon to appropriate in annual installments. In order 

 that the money already appropriated should be used to the 

 best advantage, the Secretary of War appointed a Board of 

 Engineers with instructions to give the matter careful ex- 

 amination. This body, after a thorough investigation on 

 the ground, decided to recommend the construction of stone 

 locks, and to expend the $300,000 in building the first on the 

 flats below Charlestown, Western Virginia. This lock is to 

 be 300 feet long and 50 feet wide. 



From abroad we may record that the Italian government 

 has been engaged in the consideration of plans for the im- 

 provement of the Roman Campagna, a work which is warm- 

 ly championed by General Garibaldi. A number of plans 

 to effect the drainage of the numerous marshes, and the 

 prevention of the frequent inundations of the Tiber, have 

 been proposed, but thus far no definite plan of operation 

 has been adopted. The experiment of introducing the ma- 

 laria tree {Eucalyptus globulus) on a large scale is likewise 

 said to be seriously contemplated, although the experi- 

 ments already made in Italy have not proved satisfactory. 

 The plan advocated by Garibaldi contemplated among 

 other objects the construction of a canal from Rome to 

 Ostia. This canal is to be available for navigation and 

 irrigation purposes. The cost of construction is estimated 

 at $6,000,000. 



The problem of opening the interior of Africa to commerce 

 has been earnestly advocated in certain quarters during the 

 past year. Our last year's Record contained a brief allusion 



