The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-09-14
a STORY OF TWO CANALS

None of the great enterprises Of the
era OF canal building which eliminated
about two years ago were dedicated
under more apparently favorable au-
spices than the Manchester Ship Canal
and the Kaiser Wilhelm, better known
as the Baltic, or Nord-Ost-See, canal,
The unhappy undertaking whereby Man.
chester was to be placed in direct COM
mInication with all the ports Of the
world is On the verge of another OF It's
numerous financial crises The unpaid
interest on the f5,0OO,OO0 loan of the
city of Manchester TO the Canal com
pany now amounts to f5O6,250 and nor
withstandinS the forbearance Of the city
in permitting the default without COM
plant, the 'Ehope" of the directors that
they would be able TO pay the next sum
due Us interest on the first and second
issue Of debentureS is not justified by
the published statement Of the COM
pany's finances The canal is making no
Roadway. Il has been tried by shippers
of all classes and found wanting The
opposition Of vested railway and steam
ship interests centering at Liverpool
makes impossible n saving In freights
by using the waterway, and the many
other advantages which were predicted
have proved illusory- Even If the cap
ital invested in the undertaking should
be sacrificed and the canal thrown open
10 free navigation IN an attempt TO
realize the ambition of Manchester TO
become a seaport, such an effort could
probably be defeated by further low
ering Of combined ocean and rail rates
of freight for Manchester over the old
established lines of communication The
ruinouSneSS of so drastic measure,
however. removes it beyond the sphere
of practical business. That the net rev.
enues Of the canal will ever yield rea-
sonably adequate returns on the invest
ed capital at present seems extremely
unlikely.
The returns Of the Baltic canal dur
ing the first two years of lis existence
must be equally disappointing 10 its
projectors. 1t was assumed that sailing
vessels would avoid the canal. and that
steamers would avail themselves of its
benefits. Steamer traffic, of course. is
the most profitable because of the great
er relative tonnage of these vessels.
and the higher rates per ton Of the tolls
collected from them. Contrary to ex-
pectationS. however. sailing have taken
10 the canal. while the steamers that
Use it are relatively few in number. In
the first year Of the history of the canal
1851 vessels OF ,505. 1888 tons register
passed through. and in the second year
posi- vessels of 2036. SCI tons register.
The official statiSticianS expected n
yearly traffic of 1900 ships of 100000
tons, and receipts amounting to more
than 100000 marks. Ii will be seen.
therefore, that while the expected num-
Der of vessels was almost reached in the
first year. and was actually passed in
the second year, the tonnage fell consid-
erably behind the estimates. Still more
so the receipts, which for the first year
amounted 10 only S91. 451 marks. and
last year 10 10S6, 49, marks. The cause
for this, as above explained. was the
preponderance of sailing vessels in the
traffic of the canal. The extent 10 which
this preponderance affected the reven-
Ties VIII be seen from the statistics of
1867 when the tolls collected from a
comparatively small number of steam
ers amounted TO S16645 marks. while
the dues paid by other craft amounted
to only 269,1S7 marks. In theory this
saving of time made possible through
1.-The use Of the short cut between the
Baltic and the North Sea is OF far great