Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-02
AMERICA ON THE RHINE
Europe's Picturesque River
as a Trade Route
FOR OUR INV ASIO N
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE LEADING
PORTS OF GERMANY.
Passenger Business on the River-How
Goods From This Country
Are Handled.
Copyright, 1903, by Frank C. carpenter)

Copyright, 1903, by Frank G. Carpenter)
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
COLOGNE.
I write today OF the Rhine. Not the
Rhine picturesque, not the Rhine romantic
nor the Rhine of castles and cathedrals
but the Rhine as a trade route and as the
great water avenue of the American inva
sion of Germany. During this trip in Eu-
rope l have studied 1t from its sources to
its mouth. l was near its beginning on
Mount Saint Gothard in Switzerland, 1 saw
1t rushing past Basel. the head of naviga-
ton, and watched the enormous traffic NOV
ing into it from Rotterdam near the sea.
It is 526 miles from Basel to the German
ocean. and throughout this distance the
Rhine is spotted with towns and cities; 1t is
cut by canals, which lead to the Seine and
the Danube. and others which bring it into
connection with the busiest section of this
busiest of all the continents. You can get
from Hamburg to the Rhine by canal The
ports of Belgium have access to it and a
network of railroads leads out from 1t to
every quarter of Europe.
Here at Cologne the Rhine IS about 1900
feet wide. and 1T is deep enough for boats
drawing twelve feet Of water. The fall is
slight from here to the sea, and the flow Is
go slow that 1t does not impede navigation.
A little further south the river narrows,
and in the Seven Mountains the current Is
80 swirl tfldC tne steamers make only a rev
miles hour. and so strong that the banks
have to be walled in with stones almost the
whole way to keep them from washing.
Cologne is the trade center of the Rhine.
It has about four hundred thousand
people and is largely dependent upon its
river trade 1t has built up great harbor
for handling the traffic and is now a gen
eral transshipping point for all parts of
Europe. Ships come here from London,
Bremen, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Rus
STA. There daily boats to England. and
three boats which run regularly between
Cologne and st. Petersburg.
America on the Rhine
The most of the goods from the United
States is transshipped at Rotterdam Am
sterdam, Antwerp or Hamburg, and a large
part of 1t is sent up the Rhine in barges.
I have spent much time on the river
now passing RATS of logs and boards
of American lumber, going by
strings of narrow barges, each two hundred
or more feet long. filed with American
wheat. and other barges piled high with
barrels of American petroleum. 1 have met
q few American travellers and one or two
of our drummers. but the most of the travel
Is European, and the most of our goods go
on German and Dutch boats handled by
German importers
Cologne Is a good place to study The
Rhine traffic. 1t is the headquarters of the
leading steamship companies The trade
is carefully watched, 1t steadily increases
from year TO year and it now approximates
million tons annually. Something like
four thousand passenger boats call at Co.
1ogne every year. and the freight boats
number many hundreds. There are also
sailing vessels. and an enormous traffic by
tugs and bargeS
/ saw my first Rhine barges at Rotter-
dam. They are built for the narrow parts
Of the river, and are 1 venture the longest
boats made In proportion to their width.
The average barge is about fifteen feet
wide and two or three hundred feet long.
1t looks like great black eel as it Is towed
up the river. AT the back of IT Is a little
cabin, with stoveppe sticking out Of its
roof, and about midway Is a hinged mast
so flxed that 1t can be raised and lowered
at the bridges. Each barge has a rudder,
sometimes so large that 1t Is moved by
horizontal cog wheel pushed around by the
sailors.
On many of the barges families Of boat
men live You see the washing hanging on
the line the women cooking at the sterns
OF the boats and the little ones playing
about over the cargo
The Passenger Business.
The Rhine has an immense passenger
business during the season. This is now
at its beginning. and it will continue until
late in the fall. There are two great
passenger companies which have regular
daily services to Mainz and Cologne and
Dusseldorf They are doing well. paying
regular dividends of per cent and over
ments and they are bought and sold on
the exchange.
1t is not the foreign travel, however
that makes the boats pay. That is enor-
nous, 1T is true. but it is nothing in COM
parison with the local traffic. The Rhine