clamations at the port of Puteoli, carried no such large cargoes, although such as they did carry were so necessary for the support of the inhabitants that their vessels were accompanied by an escort of war galleys and hailed as "auspicious" and "sacred."

May the time never come when the needs of our population will be such as to make this nation dependent on any other for the necessaries of life. The enormous traffic of cereals, flour, rice and other edible commodities over the waterways of the world is such a distribution of food stuffs as to supply the wants of millions of people out of reach of railway transportation, as may be judged from the following facts:

The Yangtse river, navigable for 680 miles from the sea for ocean-going steamers and for ordinary steamers 370 miles farther, and for junks 440 miles still farther up its channel and for small river craft, 500 miles higher still, aggregating 2,000 miles of navigable waters, is the great artery of commerce and conveyor of life-sustaining products for millions of Chinese. The Yellow river, navigable in sections by thousands of river boats; the Wang-poo, the Han, the Si-Kiang or West river, the Huai-Ho, the Pei or Canton river; and the Grand canal, carry millions of tons of traffic annually to and from the densely populated portions of that empire.

The water-borne commerce over the waterways of European Russia in 1897, as given by Major F. A. Mahan of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, was 27,800,000 tons, of which 52 per cent. was in the basin of the Volga, 15 per cent. in the basin of the Neva, 12 per cent. in two parts of the Dnieper, 6 per cent. in that of West Dwina, 5 per cent. in that of the Niemen, 3 per cent. for the North Dwina and the Don, 12 per cent. for the Bug, I per cent. for the Narova and I per cent. for all other streams. Consul Heingartner of Riga reported in 1907 that the Russian Government was planning to construct a canal from the Baltic to the Black sea and to intercept some of its rivers which together would increase its waterways 1525 miles in length at an estimated cost of $130,000,000.

In 1901 there were 7397 miles of canals and canalized rivers in France, which cost $329,258,000. The tonnage over these in 1906, aggregated 33,739,302 tons. AustriaHungary has approximately 1500 miles of canals and 2500 miles of navigable rivers. Belgium has 1350 miles of navigable waterways, the Netherlands 1907 miles and Germany 1709 miles of canals and 1515 miles of canalized rivers. In 1900 the tonnage of the Rhine was 9,285,000 kilometric tons, that of the Elbe 4,195,000 kilometric tons and that of the Oder 1,603,000 kilometric tons. Through the great Rathenow lock, whose dimensions are 210 meters in length and 9.6 meters in width, built recently, there passed in the year 1900 from the Elbe 8,915 vessels, carrying 1,500,000 tons and to the Elbe 8,363 vessels carrying 585,000 tons. There were locked through the Brandenburg lock in 1900 from the Elbe 17,900 vessels carrying 2,458,000 tons and to the Elbe 17,465 vssels carrying 1,062,000 tons. This is some indication of the extensive commerce over the waterways of Germany, whose improvement is now going forward under the supervision of commissioners and Dr. Leo Sympher, "Geheimer Oberbauerat," of Berlin, concerning whom I speak later in this paper.1

In his "Die Entwicklung Der Preussischen Wasserstrassen" Dr. Leo Sympher (p. 189) says: "Ein Vergleich beider Zusammenstellungen ergiebt Folgendes:

"1. Die Transportleistung der Wasserstrassen hat sich in 25 Jahren von 2,900,000,000 auf 11,500,000,000 Tonnenkilometer erhöht, ohne dass die Länge der wirklich befahrenen Wasserstrassen wesentlich zugenommen hätte. Dagegen stieg bei den Eisenbahnen, deren Länge von 26,500 km im Jahre 1875 auf 49,600 km im Jahre 1900 zunahm, die Güterbewegung in demselben Zeitraum von 10,900 auf 36,900 Millionen Tonnenkilometer.

"2. Von dem Gesammtgüterverkehr Deutschlands, der im Jahre 1875 13,800 Millionen und 1900 48,400 Millionen Tonnenkilometern betrug, entfielen auf die Eisenbahnen 1875, 79 und 1900, 76 vom Hundert, auf die Wasserstrassen im ersten Jahre 21 und im letzten Jahre 24 vom Hundert."

Translation: "A comparison of the two methods of transportation: The transportation over the waterways has increased in twenty-five years from 2,900,000,000 to 11,500,000,000 kilometric tons without any increase in the length of navigable waterways; while the unit length of railroads has been extended from 26,500 km. in the year 1875 to 49,600 km. in 1900. The freight carried in that time increased from 10,900 to 36,900 million kilometric tons.

"Of the total tonnage of freight carried in Germany, which amounted to 13,800 millions ton kilometers in 1875 and in 1900 to 48,400 millions ton kilometers, 79 per cent. was moved by rail in 1875 and in 1900 76 per cent., and there was transported by water in 1875 21 per cent. and in 1900 24 per cent."

The commission appointed by the German Government to decide upon the dimensions of the Rhine-Herne canal reported in December, 1907, adversely to the proposed increase of the locks from 10 to 12 meters in width to conform to the dimensions of the Rhine-Weser canal as regulated by a law enacted in April, 1905. This increase would have permitted the navigation of the Rhine-Herne canal by boats 80 meters long and 9 meters wide, with a draft of 134 meters, carrying 900 tons, or by those with a draft of 2 meters, carrying 1,000 tons; whereas boats 65 meters long and 8 meters wide carry but 600 tons. Recently boats have been built 67 meters long, 8 2-10 meters wide, with a draft of 2 meters, carrying 800 tons, and others with a draft of 24 meters carrying 900 tons. The dimensions of the locks on the Dortmund-Ems canal are 85 meters long, 12 meters wide and from 31⁄2 to 4 meters in depth, which are substantially the dimensions of the locks in the new barge canals.

No government has given more intelligent consideration to waterways than has Germany under such eminent engineers as Dr. Leo Sympher, of Berlin, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Berlin in June, 1905, and with whom I have since been in correspondence in relation to problems involved in canal construction. Most of these problems have already been scientifically solved in Germany. The topography of that country readily admits of waterway construction from Breslau, Posen and Bromberg on the east to Strasburg, Mannheim, Dortmund and Bremen on the west; and nearly every question in engineering, in lock construction, in hydraulic and electrically operated locks, in the rectification of river courses and their canalization, in steam and electric propulsion of vessels and in tractive resistance, the subject of extensive experiments under Herr R. Haack as well as under C. V. Suppau of Austria and F. B. De Mas, Minister of Public Works of France, has been studied in a thoroughly scientific spirit and practically solved.

In 1905 I inspected the Teltow canal, which connects the river Spree with the Havel, south of Berlin, to relieve the congestion of vessels in that city, and found it installed

with a modern electric equipment for hauling vessels along its course, which was considered a financial success on account of the immense traffic, whereas such an equipment might not be a financial success along greater distances with less traffic. Dr. Sympher expressed to me his disapproval of the scheme known as "the electric mule" as impractical as a means of canal propulsion.

The German waterways intercommunicate from the Oder, Spree, Havel and Elbe on the east with the Main, Weser and Rhine on the west, and it is possible to traverse nearly the entire empire in boats of 500 tons capacity. The hundreds of vessels on the Spree, the Oder, the Havel and on the communicating canals in and about Berlin, Potsdam and Spandau form picturesque flotillas and swell the commerce and intensify the life of the German capital, whose tonnage thus far wholly over interior waterways (the Stettin ship-canal not having been completed), exceeds 6,000,ooo tons annually, or nearly one-third of that of the foreign commerce of the port of New York.

Most of the countries above named are making or planning extensions and improvements in their respective systems of waterways. Some of these will be hereinafter described in this paper. The statesmen of these foreign countries realize their importance and, reflecting public sentiment as they do, are likely to suffer nothing to be done that would tend to their abandonment.

The possibilities of inland water navigation in the United States are hardly less extensive. There are approximately 25,000 miles of navigable rivers, 2,500 miles of canals, and several thousand miles of sounds and bays, which might be brought into navigable communication by the construction of connecting canals. The importance of this is shown by the traffic over the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, which during the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1907, amounted to 2,000,000 bushels of wheat, in addition to large quantities of other agricultural products.

The traffic over the waterways of the United States, as shown in the census reports of the year 1906, was 265,546,845 net tons, including harbor and coastwise traffic. Of this

vast tonnage there were carried on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence river 75,610,690 tons, and on the Mississippi river and its tributaries, 27,856,641 tons, and on other inland waterways 3,944,655 tons. There were transported on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico, 140,512,043 tons, and on the Pacific coast, including Alaska, 17,622,816 tons. Some of the principal commodities transported were: Coal, aggregating 49,109,605 tons; iron ore, 41,524,102 tons; petroleum and other oils, 30,029,513 tons; stone, sand, etc., 14,659,972 tons; lumber, 7,111,144 tons; grain, 5,792,612 tons; cement, brick and lime, 5,165,051 tons.

This enormous traffic was carried on in 37,321 vessels, costing $507,973,121, employing 140,929 men, the income of which vessels was $294,854,532, and the wages paid was $71,636,521. There were carried in addition to the freight 366,825,663 passengers over such waterways.

The importance and magnitude of transportation by water so impressed the President and Congress of the United States, that the President was authorized and did appoint, on March 14, 1907, a commission to consider the question of the control of the navigable waterways of the United States with a view to their conservation and improvement. That commission made its preliminary report to the President and the Congress of the United States on February 3, 1908, in which, among other things, they recommended "that the Congress be asked to make suitable provision for improving the inland waterways of the United States at a rate commensurate with the needs of the people as determined by competent authority, and the sum of $50,000 was appropriated by Congress for that purpose.

XI. RESOURCES AND REVENUES.

The builders of the Erie and Champlain canals were fully alive to the importance commercially of adequate and economical transportation facilities in this State and surmounted all difficulties as best they could without arousing unnecessary opposition or becoming hopelessly involved in personal