The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-09-03

ernment and people independent finan.
cially Of foreign influences or complica.
tions, and not subject thereafter, as here.
tofore, TO- the disturbing control or in1lu.
ence OF foreign countries. 49,.
y. That erecommend the organization
Of greenback clubs in every State of the
Union, for the purpose Of carrying out
the principles and measures set forth. in
the foregoing resolutions. ~. .,.:::;
A Plan for Extonding tho Ocean
Over the Desert Of Sahara.
There is the element of physical mag.
nitude, if not of mental power, says the
Philadelphia Press, in the proposal to
run the Atlantic ocean into the heart of
Africa, SO that white winged commerce
may scatter her wealth, and; also its It,
tendant progress and civilization into the
desert of Sahara. If this can be done
and is done, so much the better. As to
the practicability-we have seen the con-
struction and success Of the Suez canal ;
We know that, with patient toll, calcu.
lating science, and not unreasonable Pc
cuniary outlay, the Haarlemmer meer
was drained, and thereby converted into
fertile meadows. We know that. even
in our own time what is called 1.-The Bed.
ford levcl'' was literally rescued from the
ocean in the east of England, and it is
well known that even now practical
scientists are confident that great part
Of the Zuydeer Zee can be pumped dry,
so as to recover for North Holland the
large district which was submerged BY
great inundations in the thirteenth CEN
tury.
At an. important public meeting held
in London the other day, and well at
tended by leading city men and others
interested in commerce, civilization and
science, it was shown by Mr.. Donald
Mackenzie, who has studied the subject
for years, with repeated personal exami-
nation of the ground, that nothing can be
much easier than to make cutting some
five or six miles long through the barrier
of sand at Cape JUDY, exactly opposite
the Canary Islands. so as to admit the
Atlantic into the great Sahara desert, a
very considerable portion of which lies
below the level of the ocean, by which,
indeed, geographers, geologists and tradi.
tions tell us it was covered in some re.
mote period of the past. The new idea
is to make short ship canal, or rather a
passage for the abounding waters Of the
Atlantic. We have assurance, from what
has been done by the cutting between
Port Said and Suez, whereby the Medjt-
e:ranean and the Red Seas have been
connected by canal navigable for steam.
ships and sailing vessels, of what may be
done at comparatively small expense and
trifling labor, for there are no engineer.
ing difficulties on the northwest coast of
Africa. The Suez Canal, deducting the
q miles of the Bitter Lake which NJ. de
Lesseps utilized for his purpose, consists
of 73 miles-the cutting from Cape JUDY
to the Desert of Sahara il calculated to
be only six miles in length.
Independent of the aid which the flood
ing of Sahara would give to the promo.
tion of civilization, religion, and the
suppression Of slavery, it is believed that
large trade with the interior Of Africa
would he developed. Timbuctoo for in.
stance, city upon the Niger near the
border of Sahara, is the entrepot for the
trade between the native, french, and
British occupants of the Guinea coast,
of North Africa. At present it is almost
inaccessible, but it would literally become
a seaport, if the proposed change took
place, easily reached by steam by the en-.
terprise of Europe and America: AS far
as it has been possible to ascertain, the
natives favor the plan, which cannot 60
for much, however, considering that their
conception oft must be vague and i'm.
perfect.
It has been asked, on the other side OF
the question: "Supposing the canal to
be made and the Atlantic water sent mer
rily running into the heart of Africa,
what If the soil should prove to be of such
treacherous character that it sucked up
it's liquid visitor as fast as it entered 2
This self.same query was put when the
Sucz canal was first proposed, and has
been practically answered in the negative
hy.the strong logic Of fact. There is not
much prospect Of the desert being con
verted into puddle. fit for neither cam
els nor steamboats,, nor, it may be
shrewdly suspected, is it at all likely, as
has been suggested, that, "worsc still, the
Atlantic might gradually ba drained dry
owing to which a series Of dreary mud
fats would extend between Galway and
New York, and Cunard steamers woult
be stranded as efectually as Noah's Arh
on the top of Mount Ararat." This j!
sharp and lively, but the fact is that a
one time the waters of the Atlantic die
cover the great Sahara desert.
Crop Prospects Abroad.
The Mark Lane Express, reviewing
the foreign grain market and crop reports