Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-05-08
Public Works in France.

~ fupllc WORKS in France.
From the Scientific American. 7,s.',"
While England is groaning under
the effects OF, commercial depression
which promises to be of long coutinu>
ance, France, though it has its share
in the general stagnasion Of trade, ).
is occupied with gigantic projects for
public improvements. The Republic,
scarcely less than the empire, adopts
the paterpal theory Of government,
and is setting 1tselfto work to add in>
calculably to the means of internal
intercourse and the facilities for. com.
merce while providing employment
for its labcrers.
This theory of government is by
some considered to be a false one, but
it can be easily shown what can be
done under it in the direction of pub>
lie improvements. So the drainage of
Harlem Lake was done, and that of
the Zuyder Zee in Holland is now be-.
ing done by the Dutch government,
which guaranteed the Investments
made by the capitalists. The only
question to make such governmental
management successful is whether hon>
est men can be found to direct it. Un-
fortunately, as the majority of our gov
ernment employees are politicians, and
these, as class, cannot be quoted as
examples of honesty and disinterested-
ness, it is better for US to keep the gov
ment entirely out Of all such enter
prises, which experience has proved
can be done quicker, cheaper, and
better by private contract,
M. de Freyclnet, the Minister of
Public Works in France, has outlined
a scheme of railway, canal, and harbor
extension, for 1879, which will cost
the enormous sum of $500, 600, 900,
and will probably have legislative
sanction for it in its entirety. The
money for these unparalleled works he
proposes to raise by an issue of three
per cent bonds, redeemable in seventy
five years ; and that he can get the
whole amount without trouble the ex>
perience Of all recent French loans af.
fords abundant proof: The new chance
for investment is eagerly awaited by
large and small ; for euor-
nous sums are now lying idle in bank
ers' hands.
One of the main features of the
plan, and that which will consume
the greater part of the vast appropri-
alton, is the extension of the railroad
system of France. The rest of the
money will manly 60 to the construc~
ton of new harbors and the improves
ment Of the old ones. Another great
public work which is urgently de-
manded by several Of the departments
is a canal from Creil>sur~O ~Oise to Beau
vais, Amiens, and Albert, with two
important branches. It is averred
that this extensive canal would be of
the greatest value to the north of
France and it would certainly be the
most considerable of all navigable
French water ways, and would have the
effect Of reducing by one half the pres,
ent freight charges from English ports
to Amiens, Paris, and beyond.
A scheme for the construction of
network of metropolitan railways in
Paris was hardly perfected before M.
de Freycinet stepped in and claimed
the perfected lines as be longing to the
category Of lines of general interest
Their concession has therefore been
transferred from the Municipal Coun.
Gil to the general government. The
cost of their construction is estimated
at nearly million dollars mile. The
Minister of Public Works has also OBJ
tanned tho appointment of supreme
commission on the treatment and util>
ization of French rivers, composed in
equal thirds of legislators, officials and
manufacturers or agriculturists. It
will consider irrigation, motive power,
inundation, water supply, sewage, and
similar questions. Add to all this bis
vast project Of harbor Improvement,
and We see that NJ. de Freycinet has
laid out a scheme Of public works for
France which will occupy the Repub>
lie for many years to, come, constitut~
ing system Of internal improvements
of extraordinary magnitude, which, if
it is successfully completed, will itself
make the new Republic memorable for
- ,,t..s p ~ 7Elsib%$. t+s -,
generations. -: =. T. -"
One Of the most interesting features
Of the plan is the construction Of what
are known as light or narrow gauge
railways, largely as feeders to the