The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-19
THE PEOPLE OF THE SEA.
THE DAILY POPULATION OF THE
ATLANTIC.
Last Year-CurIOus Statistics Conn
piled by IA German.


piled by German.
From the Philadelphia Times.
An ingenious German named Boysen,
who seems to have plenty OF time on his
hands, has been engaging in very curious
Investigations the results of which APP
pear in a pamphlet he has published IN
Berlin. 1t occurred TO him to regard the
thousands of vessels that throng the At
lantic as so many inhabited
cases in the vast desert of
waters, and the novel problem he set
himself to solve was the average density
of human population on the Atlantic
ocean, So he went to work with all Ger
mans patience and industry TO study this
interesting question. First he spent a long
time collecting statistics from every port
showing the number of ships plying be-
tween The various Atlantic ports, the num-
Der of persons on board of them, and the
number OF days spent at sea. He gather
ed all obtainable data on these points COW
ering an entire year and by sklllful combi-
nation of his facts he was able to reach
some interesting conclusions, though, in
the nature of things, he could not attain
able, for instance, to obtain satisfactory
data concerning warships and the fishing
fleets on the Atlantic, and so he left them
entirely out of his calculations.
Herr Boysen found that for the year un-
der investigation there was daily aver
age of 1861 sailing vessels al SEA with A.
S99 men in their crews. Every day, also.
1904 steamships, with crews numbering
SO 263 men and 81, 565 passengers were afoat
ha IafI
age for the year of 5,155 vessels and $780,
727 persons spread over the whole Atlantic
surface.
Herr Boysen had no easy nut to crack
when he attempted to work out from these
statistics and the manifold paths of all
these vessels in the sea the density of pop
ulation throughout the Atlantic In fact
he found no density of impressive proper
tons. OF course, there are wide areas of
the ocean which are seldom visited by YES
sells. and for the entire Atlantic Herr
Boysen found that the average density of
population for the year he investigated,
was only 0.002 per square kilometer, which
is comparable with the extremely small
density of population among the hunter
and fisher folk OF the northern half OF
North America, The density was more
considerable, of course, along the we'll
Travelled ocean routes, and Boysen found
lndt DtlWeEu tIt bIltlSii CuhSlS diiu NOIln
America the mean density of this nuctuat-
ing population was 0.01 per square kiom-
eter which is about equal TO the density
of population along the Arctic coast Of
Siberia, where there are a good many va
kuts and Chulkchees; and upon the route
from England to Gibraltar the density
was OOPS per square kilometer, as in
Patagonia and Terra del Fuego. The most
thickly populated part of the sea- the
Ts-b alaa NH he 4s.Fa
sity is 007, Is comparable with the popu-
lation scattered over the province of va
kutsk, Siberia.
The color scheme on Herr Boysen's map
to show the various denslties VIII be like
" to deepen it's tnts if the immense
changes in transportation continue. With
in the past fifteen years ocean carriage
has been practically revolutionized in
point of cheapness and speed. Last year
two shipments of lace on the steamers st.
Louis and ST. Paul from Southampton,
were placed on the shelves of merchants
in New York and Chicago within eight
and ten and a half days from the time
they left Calais. ba.e of sea island cot
ton is now put down at Liverpool or Man
chester at a little more than the cost of
delivering It at New York Many facts of
this nature induce British manufacturers
to regard the United States as cconomi-
cally nearer to Great Britain by sea than
Glasgow Is 10 London by rail II costs
the Germans only $l67 to move a ton Of
wheat several hundred miles on their river
routes but thousands of tons of wheat
have been transported from New York
to Hamburg for $l.43 ton. No wonder
that German farmers find II almost i'm
possible 70 compete with American grain.
The enormous decrease in ocean freight
charges is one of the most potent causes
Of agricultural distress in Europe In 1879
the cost of carrying a ton Of wheat from
New York 10 Hayre was Sl0.si. Ten years
later the cost per ton was Sl94.
Our industries and arts are not embar-
raised by The fact that the home supply Of
sulphur is inadequate to their needs when
san Francisco can draw directly upon the
boundless supplies Of Sicily, shipped around
Cape Horn at freightage cost of only
50 50 per ton.
Surprising as these low figures Of freight
carriage seem, there Is one phase of our
inland transportation that is cheaper sun.
The Ohio and Mississippi rivers can safely
boast the cheapest carriage IN the world
This Is accomplished by the system oftows,
fla tboats dashed together and propelled by
stern-wbeel steamers. One such tow con-
sisting Of thiriy-eight hatbOats, has been
sent down from Louisville to New Orleans
hauled by a single steamer; and a great
deal OF coal ~ tdtllcI IA Alila way from
Pitrsburg TO New Orleans, 1000 miles, at GO
cents a ton. The marvellous cheapness Of
this hatboat transportation Is the reason
1vhv the amount of freight moved on
steamers in the Mississippi valley has de-
creased fully one-half in the past twenty
wears. while the amount moved on fiat
heats by the tow system has increased
about threefold In the same time
returning 70 ocean transportation. we
end that the remarkable decrease In
freight charges within twenty years is al
snogt wholly due tc inventions and inn
nrovements IN machinery. improvements
r. steam engines now enable vessels bound
Cor line orient to go from Great Britain
"a The continent direct 10 the Suez canal
stthout coaling al any intermediate port !
srechuical progress now makes one pound
20 coal furnish as much steam az three
ENDS twenty years ago. mother words
~ cost Of steam power. owing 10 improve /
,nents IN engines, boilers and CRATES, has
been reduced fully two-thirds. Less lime
ie now required 10 build freight steamers I
than formerly; their carrying capacity h |