The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-11
Railroads and Canals.

Railroads and Canals.
One Of the things which impressed
Ex-Governor Bookwaltcr, ot Ohio, on
the occasion OF his recent Journey
through Russia ana Siberia. and Sub
ject upon which he comments freely in
his very interesting volume siberia
and Central Asia" is the liborality with
which the Russian government has
protected navigable waterways and
constructed canals so as to utilize to
the uttermost the natural opportunities
for water transportation. Every
where" he says, "one sees the river
beds dcepened by dredging, the cham
mel widened, the banks carefully walled,
and the shores suitably jettied, and
every means employed to render them
suitable for navigation. So thoroughly
is this done that little bits of streams
only a few rods wide are by suitable
flash dams and other means converted
into excellent channels for boats" He
shows how in consequence of this pol
icy it is possible for boats to go through
the center of France into the Mediter-
ranean sea and through the middle of
European Russia from the Baltic to the
Caspian sea and he continues
1T is with sorrow mingled with dis
gust that one recalls the shameless
neglect of our mighty river systems,
the grandest on the globe-the Mississ-
ippi, the Ohio, the Missouri and scores
Of other rivers with their tributaries
and even the complete abandonment Of
the Wabash, the Illinois and many
others that in early days were so valu-
able and serviceable. With the noblest
| river on the globe permeating with its
| many tributaries almost the entire re-
| gion from whence our eXportable agri-
| cultural surplus has been derived, and
| which could be carried entirely by
| water to the consumptive centers Of
| Europe, we today discover the as
| founding situation that our country is
almost exclusively dependent upon the
railways to carry this great surplus to
| the seaboard. Were our main rivers
| only, to say nothing of the smaller
| streams that other countries would
| readily render serviceable, improved
and utilized to anything like the de-
| gree of the Seine, Rhone, Garonne and
| Marne of France; the Elbe, Rhine and
other streams of Germany; the Danube,
| the Don, the Nolga and for that matter
| even the Obi of Siberia, no nation on
| the globe would possess such facilities
for cheap transportation to foreign
countries so that no matter what nat
ural advantages OF agriculture they
| might possess in Siberia, Argentina,
India or elsewhere, we should be placed
beyond competition in foreign mar
kets."
There is, of course, another side tC
this proposition The building up OF
rail in place of water transportation
has carried civilization and its advant'
ages to thousands of localities which
would never have been reached under
a system of transportation by water
and if we have lost opportunities il
foreign markets by reason of thu
higher cost of rail commerce we have
immensely gained them in the greater
development which the railroads have
rendered possible in our domestic mar
kets. Nevertheless it is a mistake t
suppose that in order to have pros
porous railways there must be n,
canals. There is business enough 70
both systems of haulage and tim
must come when there will be genera
and imperious insistence upon NOR
thorough utilization of the possibil
tiles of internal communication b,
waterways, natural and artificial.