CANALS. 101 



The economic use of waterways makes raw materials cheaper, and thus 

 increases and extends industry ; increased transportation follows necessarily 

 on increased production ; by this means the development of waterway traffic 

 reacts favourably on railroad freights. The case of the canalization of the 

 Main certainly seems to point that way. It is, of course, possible that the 

 growth of traffic between Frankfort and Mayence may, in some measure, 

 liave been due to the recent general progress of the industrial movement in 

 Germany, but the total increase cannot, in my opinion, be thus explained. 



The British Consul at Stuttgart, in his Annual Report for 1 900- 1 901 upon 

 the trade of Wurtemburg (Foreign Office Annual Series, No. 2732), empha- 

 sises the importance attached in Germany to the construction of canals and 

 the utilisation of rivers as a means of cheap transport. From 1877-97 the 

 number of river and canal boats has increased from 17,653 to 22,564, an 

 advance of 28 per cent. ; the carrying capacity, however, has increased from 

 1,400,000 to 3,400,000 tons, or about 143 per cent. If this latter number, 

 3,400,000 tons, is compared with the loading capacity of the German sea- 

 going fleet upon January i, 1898, which amounted to 2,400,000 tons, it will 

 be seen that the carrying capacity of the river and canal boats surpassed 

 the loading capacity of the cea-going fleet by about 1,000,000 tons. A com- 

 ] 'arison of the relative size of the river and canal boats reveals that the num- 

 ber of small boats of 200 tons shows only a slight increase ; that the number 

 of those* between 200 and 400 tons has almost trebled itself (967 as com- 

 pared with 2,673) ; ^^^ that, finally, the number of large river and canal 

 boats above 400 tons has increased tenfold (from 137 to 1,541). The num- 

 ber of steamers shows also an increase, having risen from 570, with 35,000 

 horse-power, to 1,953, with 240,000 horse-power, including an increase of 

 passenger steamers of from 269 to 844, and an increase in tug-boats and 

 steam freight boats of from 301 to 1,109. This increase in the number of 

 boats and the increased utilisation of the loading capacity have reduced the 

 costs of transport on German waterways during the period of twenty years 

 mentioned above by about one-half, so that the present cost of transport 

 per mile and ton amounts to something less than ^/^d. 



A vivid illustration of the value of canals to agriculture is afforded by the 

 Yalue of Canals ^^^^ °^ ^^^ reclamation of the district of France im- 



,_..,, , mediately west of the Loire, known as La Sologne. 



to Agriculture and ^r. O'Neill, British Consul at Rouen, has admirably 

 Industry, described* this region and its transformation by means 



of the facilities offered by the Canal de Sauldre. "Nearly 1,000,000 acres 

 comprising no inconsiderable portion of the three departments, the Loir et 

 Cher, the Cher and the Loiret, lie within the westward bend of the Loire, 

 and they are composed of a soil that, unfertilised, is of absolutely no agricul- 

 tural value. In parts the clay appears on the surface, but over the greater 

 portion of its area the sand lies with some thickness upon a stiff impermeable 

 clay. Left alone," writes Mr. O'Neill, " it will produce nothing of value. It 

 is a country of sand and heather, broken up by innumerable ponds and 

 marshy tracts, as unhealthy as they are unprofitable. Immense efforts have 

 been made for forty years past to reclaim these lands by planting the sandy 

 tracts with pines, by draining the stagnant surface waters, and by the trans- 

 port there for intermixture with the sand of a calcareous marl, which is 



* In an excellent report on " The Fluvial Traffic of the Rouen and Waterways of the 

 Seine basin." [C. 7582 — 27 J Foreign Office Reports, Miscellaneous Series, No. 366. 



