INLAND WATERWAYS—CHISHOLM. 355 
ence between the rate of upstream and downstream navigation.2. The 
geographical conditions also tend to reduce the interruptions to navi- 
gation, from irregularity of flow and from ice. The fact that the 
upper Rhine is partly glacier-fed and lake-regulated tends to limit 
the variations of high and low water, and the westerly situation of 
the river is against its freezing. According to an official publication, 
the navigation of this river “ is, on the average, annually interrupted 
by high water for 8 days, by ice 17 days, by low water 17 days; in all, 
accordingly, 42 days.”® (7) At the mouth of the Rhine is Rotter- 
dam, a world port, and accordingly a great collecting point for all 
kinds of commodities, bulky and other. On the banks of the river 
within Germany, up to and including Strassburg, there are ten com- 
munes with a population exceeding 50,000, five of these with one 
above 100,000, and to these may be added Frankfort, all great con- 
suming centers at least for imported grain. Further, the river 
actually divides, below the point to which seagoing steamers regu- 
larly ascend, the most productive coal field on the mainland of Eu- 
rope, and this fact creates a demand for enormous quantities of im- 
ported ores. (8) Among the commodities grain is one that notori- 
ously can be handled with peculiar facility, and ores, too, are com- 
paratively inexpensive to handle. The German coal is, indeed, more 
likely to be damaged by handling than the harder English coal, but 
this is not enough to invalidate the overwhelming advantages of the 
Rhine for a trade in coal of local origin. : 
These considerations may serve to prepare one for the figures given 
below, stating in thousands of metric tons (each 2,205 pounds) the 
total traffic on the Rhine at Emmerich, close to the Dutch frontier, at 
the adjacent harbors which serve as the outlets of the Ruhr coal field, 
and at Mannheim, the terminal point of navigation for the larger 
craft. 
“Some details may be of interest. The average speed of a train of four 
barges, carrying in all about 4,000 tons, is given at 3 to 5% miles upstream and 
§ to 11 miles down. When the necessary night rests are allowed for, the voyage 
from Rotterdam to Mannheim is made in summer in from 8 to 9 days, in winter 
in from 10 to 11 days; that from Mannheim to Rotterdam, in either case, in 
about 5 days. Express goods steamers, stopping at intermediate stations, as- 
cend from Rotterdam to Cologne (190 miles) in about 386 hours = 5.6 miles an 
hour, and descend on the return voyage in about 19 hours = 9.3 miles an hour. 
On the rare occasions on which a long voyage is made without stoppages, a speed 
of 5.3 miles an hour may be attained between Cologne and Mannheim (161 
miles), and one of 13.7 miles an hour between Mannheim and Cologne. Nasse, in 
“Die Schiffahrt der deutschen Stréme,” herausgegeben vom Verein fiir Social- 
politik (Leipzig, 1903), vol. 3, pp. 142-143. 
> Jasmund, “ Die Arbeiten der Rheinstrom-Bauverwaltung von 1851 bis 1900,” 
p..54; quoted by Nasse in the work just cited, vol. 3, p. 188. 
