INLAND WATERWAYS—CHISHOLM. 353 
great quantities of bulky produce to be taken up and delivered at 
individual points on the same or a connected waterway. And yet, 
singularly enough, by far the most important article of commerce 
on the most magnificent system of inland waterways in the world is 
one of great value and small bulk. I refer to the rubber trade of the 
Amazon, which, it may be remarked, is a water trade solely because 
there is too little opportunity in that region for trade in bulkier 
commodities to justify the introduction of railway competition. 
In order to realize the possibilities of inland water traffic it will be 
well to examine in the light of the foregoing considerations what has 
actually been done under some specially favorable conditions. For 
this purpose I am able, through the courtesy of Messrs. Longmans, 
Green & Co., to show a map of the German waterways,’ which to a 
large extent speaks for itself. It may be added that the improve- 
ments sanctioned by the act of April 1, 1905, are intended to pro- 
vide waterways on all the sections indicated west of the Oder for 
barges of 600 tons, on those east of the Oder for barges of 400 tons. 
Of all the waterways shown on this map there is probably none 
more worthy of study than the Rhine. It has peculiar advantages 
under all the heads mentioned except the last, and there is something 
to be said on the last head also, that is, with regard to the nature of 
the competition it encounters. It is (1) capacious enough to be regu- 
larly ascended by fairly large seagoing steamers as high as Cologne, 
by smaller seagoing vessels as high as Remagen, about midway be- 
tween Cologne and Coblenz, and occasionally as high as Oberlahn- 
stein, on the left bank of the Lahn above Coblenz, where they go to 
load with mineral water. Since the improvements in the gorge at 
Bingen were completed in 1899, barges of more than 2,000 tons have 
been known to reach Mannheim, and those of 800 tons can reach 
Strassburg. (2) The distance of Mannheim: from Rotterdam by 
water is 351 miles. The river in a large part of this stretch is (3) 
remarkably free from windings. The river distance is only 41 miles, 
about 13 per cent, greater than that by rail. (4) Powerful steamers 
can be used for carriage or haulage. (5) There are no locks as high 
as Strassburg, the present limit of Rhine navigation. There is only 
one to Frankfort-on-Main. (6) Below Strassburg the rapidity of 
the current of the Rhine offers no serious hindrance to navigation, ex- 
cept perhaps in the narrowest part of the channel at the gorge of 
Bingen, though it is everywhere sufficient to make a marked differ- 
a@ With regard to the French and Belgian waterways shown in this map, it 
should be stated that those drawn in thick lines are those with a minimum 
depth of 2 meters, and that not all of these are navigated by barges of as much 
as 400 tons. 
