The Cecil Whig., 1881-06-11

p
/ ca apply with quite equal cogency to the
subject of inland navigation. Probably
next to the question of production is
/ that nj transportation. involved in navi-
| CATION, in the immensty of its proper
| tions. The Importance of this branch Of
our subject can very easily be seen to be
vast both to producer and to consumer:
more, if possible, to the latter than to
the former. The battle of life for the
producer, surrounded with plenty to eat.
and needing less expensive raiment, as Il
| rule, than the consumer, and having lit
| tie or no house rent to pay, is necessarily
| and naturally Il less intense and anxious
one. Now when we remember that by
rules in common USe among engineers it
is demonstrated that eight pounds of
| traction are required To move 4 ton by
rail and that less than one-fourth of that
/ amount Of traction is necessary to move
/ a ton atiuat in still water, we have the
! factors which enable us to know that, let
| freight be rolled as cheaply as honest adj
miEiStration of the railway interests shall
| make possible, it can still be more cheap
! ly tloated on waterways. If we visit
some of the American streams, which
undoubtedly truthful and accurate early
records show to have been used extcn-
! shall find some of them so feeble that no
miracle would be needed to cross them
dry shod. They may be passed over by
stepping on the tops of stones as they
| naturally lie there in the beds Of these
| now feeble water courses. These streams
| only need to be restored to their old
| strength, aud improved by 4 system of
intGrlocking canals similar to the system
| long in use in England. to enable lis to
| float the great bulk Of the freight we
have, or ever shall have to move. exccpt
in the ice bound season of the North.
BY her combination Of streams and ca
nals England has inland water lines we'll
nigh equal in length to her railway lines
| We have III the United States over sew
enty thousand miles Of railway. When
our railway lines are as complete in pro-
| portion to our territorial limits as are
| those of England, we shall have about
| six hundred thousand miles. Many
probably moSt-of the streams by which
| Britain secures her grand system of i'll
land navigation are small that in our
| III =,
worth trying thus to utilize. Many of
| them are spoken of as ''broolls' in the
pre-railway Parliamentary acts which
gave the rights to companies to improve
| and use them. One of these combined
canal and river courses take freight at
| the southwest of England from tide
water at the Severn, up beautiful and
| historic little Avon. which it leaves at
| Bath. in Somcrst shire by canal across
Wiltshire, to the Thames at Reading. in
! Berkshire. and on down the Thames to
London, and to the sea again in the
southeast. SO minute and comprchen.
Sive is this system that it is said no point
| can be found in all the South of England
which is fifteen miles from some such
line of transportation. When We do
make our creeks and small rivers thus
available. as we surely shall. it will be
| necessary to improve many "f them by
the application Of the slack water ar
rangemeut, and this in turn will add to
the numbcrand the distribution of water
powers just where they will be most
essentially available for the purposes of
our manufacturing interests These
streams, SO improved, and used in con-
junction with such rivers as our magnifi
cent Hudson and those Of the South and
Vest, will constitute Il system which will
be just cause for honest pride. There
will, of course, be many places where
locking up and down the streams and
over summit levels will be necessary
And mountain ranges may be crossed by
section canal boats, as they now are, and
for more than Il century have been, in
Pennsy lvana and New Jersey. BY meaus
Of these boats. mounted on cars and
rolled over by rail. the highest ranges
can be Surmounted successfully and eco
nomically. This age of steam and of
almost inspired ingenuity enables us to
add the wings of speed also. Already it
has been proved that double the rapidty
of canal navigation which was possible
for freight boats three years ago is quite
practicable now. All this will no doubt
be improved upon, so that III a very few
years the difference between the speed
attained by steam canal boats and that
of the average railway freight train will
be very materially reduced. The miser-
able economy which prevents the i'm
provement of our larger rivers will be
replaced by a broader and more intelli-
gent one. and the demand for increase of
the number and the speed and splendor
of their floating palaces will result in the
production and use of many more. The
first step i'll the march to realize all this,
however is the adoption and practice of
forest economies which will restore our
H'iS'h Nptil SIS. -Notillit, tlSC VIII VI CttH
restore them.
Territory required for agriculture does
not need to be sacrificed for culture of
trees for the benefit of navigation or of
hydraulic power On the contrary, the
Identical conditions of rain and dew fall
most favorable to both the latter are Just
the ones most needed by our vast grain.
fruit, and stock-growing interests. These
last are suffering from meteorological IL
Irregularities quite rs much, and if posi-
BILE even more than the others. AlltheSe
great interests are, in the economy of
nature, most intimately and intricately
intCrlaccd and inter dependent. Seasons
seldom pass i'll which a majority of those
engaged in agricultural pursuits would
not have from one-fourth to three -fOurthS
added to the results of their labor by
more equal distribution of the rainfall.
Long heavy rains i'll the spring time re-
tard the operations of sowing and plant
ing, and often not only retard the ger
mination of seeds, but actually cause
them to rot in the ground. Then, after
the work of putting in the seed is done
over again, the earth becomes las iron
beneath. and the sky as brass above"
through the long continued absence of
rain, till the poor struggling plant life