Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-12-03
NATIONAL GREATNESS.
THE IGNORANCE THAT PREVAILS
IN EUROPE IN REGARD TO US.

Lack of European Newspaper knowledge
Concerning America-SmaI Size of Con-
tinental Rivers-Our Great Railroad
System-our Large Cities.
An American is not born egotist. When
he is abroad he speaks of his country with an
honest pride, and as he meets many persons
who know little about it he finds himself often
| obliged TO tell something of its extent, its
population, its means of transit and its re-
| sources. The ignorance that prevails in
| Europe in regard to us is astonishing The
| London Times is really the only European
| newspaper that has an American correspond
| ence worthy of the name The cablegrams
| OF the other London newspapers are the
| brietest possible paragraphs, entirely unsatis-
| factory 10 the American abroad who desires
| to keep himself au courant with what passes
| at home. There is not a Partisan journal
that maintains correspondent in America,
| though some of them have an occasional let
ter from New York. They generally trans
| late the meager dispatches to London, often
with the unpleasant result not only that the
| information contained is brief, but that they
often take with them from the British editorial
writers an unfriendly tone and color.
| This is not fault of which French jour
nais alone are guilty, because able foreign
| correspondents OF American papers residing
in London and deriving their knowledge of
| continental politics from the journals of that
metropolis, lapse often into British prejudices
| The American on the continent has to supple
mcnt the scanty information of the news
| ba Ial h.,
| finds made by the inaccurate statements of
| travellers. The German newspapers maintain
no correspondents in America, though like
| those OF Paris, they have occasional letters
| Still, the German element being so large in
America, private means of information are
not wanting, and now and then some dis
| gruntled German sends to his home paper
some malicious letter about our politics which
is sure to be copied freely by the journals of
the PRINCIPAL German and Austrian cities.
| What idea can European have of the size
of rivers who has seen only the Seine, the
| Thames. the Lore, and possibly the Rhine
| the Elbe, and the Danubea The Thames is
| pretty pastoral stream above London. Below
| it is a part of the sea. The French know
nothing Of inland navigation except from the
| Lore. ON which small steamers would run in
certain stages of the water if the railroads
| had not taken all the business, or from the
Seine, with its little passenger steamers,
which are one of the means of local transit at
Paris, and the tugs and barses that come up
from the channel and suggest that there is a
sea somewhere The yellow TiberH has Just
| about the same commercial capacity. Little
steamboats,, or tugs, come up from Ostia to
| the mouth of the ancient Cloaca Maximi,
| into which they might enter at certain stages
| of the water if they saw fit The Rhine is
shallow stream with boats not so large as
those that run on the Mississippi river above
| st. Paul. The Ellie cannot be nayigated to
| any great distance without locks and dams.
| Boats like those used in American canals can
ascend the Spree to Berlin. The Spanish
rivers are useless for commercial purposes.
The Danube is navigahle to some point con-
siderably above Vienna, but the entire dis
tance to which boats can ascend it is sonsid-
erably less than that of boat navigation on
the Ohio and not much greater than that of
several of the rivers of the gulf states, while
the boats are small and inconvenient. Such
boats as are found on the Hudson and Con-
necticut among our smallest nayigabie
streams, would astonish Europe, not alone by
their grace of model and beauty of finish, but
by their size and the idea that we had rivers
large enough to float them. The Arkansas
md the Red rivers have commercial avail
ability incomprehensible in Europe, while to
tell a foreigner that you can travel 5000
miles on the same stream, from the mouth Of
the Mississippi to the sources of the Missouri,
makes him open his eyes and mouth with IN
feigned astonishment He never heard of it
before.
The extent of our railroad system is to
European as surprising as anything that can
be told him. 1t seems strange to hear that
we have more miles of railroad than ali the
countries of Europe combined. and more
marvellous still TO hear that it takes six DAYS
and nights of constant travel to gofrom New
York to San Francisco To the American
this long trip suggests great deal Of COM
fort and some luxury. To the Frenchman,
not knowing how many means are supplied
for making the American traveller comfort
able, it means six days and nights Of pro-
lonCed misery 4 tourist departing from
John 0Ciroat's can, in less time than that,
find himself on the Nile, in Siberia or on the
Caspian The traveller leaving Paris is in
two days and half in St Petersburg. A
single day enables him to reach Berlin, and
a trife more time to get to Vienna, Rome or
Madrid 1t required nearly as much time to
go by rail from the northern boundary Of
the country TO the southern, though if rail
roads were everywhere in existence the
whole of Europe might he spanned at any
point within less time. Thus do we compare
with Europe in respect to area or quantity.
As to quality it is matter for separate con-
rI,ly IL
countries as Germany, France, Spain and
Austria do not differ greatly in size from
several Of our larger states. As to the smaller,
they can only be compared as regards area
with the larger counties of California. The
Netherlands would be lost in the basin Of the
San joaquin, Greese in the valley Of the
Sacramento. Diligent search would have to
be made for Italy if it were transferred
bodily to the Mississippi valley.
Yet to a European his ordinary distances
seem great He is used only to railroad
JOURNEYS that can be made in few hours
Though Belgium is 20 near Paris, five or six
hours only being required to make the trip,
comparatively few Belgians have visited the
great French metropolis. Tho average
Partisan has never visited London. The av-
craze Londoner has never been in Paris
The distance can he accomplished IN eight
hours, but that is a long trip in Europe
Few Americans who have lived within eight
hours of New York are able TO say they have
never visited it. Familiarity with mag
nlficent distances makes travel easy to our
countrymen.
Another sign Of our greatness and pros
peritv is the number of our large cities. We
have no one city as large as London or Paris,
but no country in Europe has SO many of
over 300 900 inhabitants. We have over 800
cities that number nearly 600. France has
not to exceed 10 of the same size, and many
of these rather represent medieval decay
than modern prosperity. France has not
bali dozen cities that exceed 100, 600 The
state of New York alone has as many. The
Austrian empire has only four-Vienna.
Buda- Pesth, Trieste and Prague. Italy has .
few more We have in fact nearly as many
that exceed this number as the whole Of
Europe. and every one has grown naturally
to supply the wants Of the surrounding popu-
lation. None of them have been founded by
kings or have behind them ages upon ages Of
LIS. pp,n,3unitiaS Whop ,.nrnac IN citica