Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-11

| Manchester were satisfied with the cost.
! They say the canal has saved Manchester's
| business life. Before ii was built the town
| was the down grade the great factories
| were failing and many of the shops were
being transferred to Glasgow. Since that
| time prosperity has returned. and now you
| will not find more enthusiastic business
man than him of Manchester.
| was surprised at the work It took to
hui, d the Manchester canal. although IL was
! comparatively small in respect TO our job at
= Panama The ground is almost level and
| the excavation not difficult. part of the
canal was dug along the course of the little
River Irwell. but some of II was from
the solid rock. Miles OF embankments
Were erected along the shores of the Mersey
| to keep back the sea, and great locks We're
| put in, which by means of steel sluice gates
raise and lower the ships to the height or
depth of sixty feet. There are five such
| locks between Manchester and the Mersey.
| Manchester is about sixty feet above Liv-
| erpool, and the ships have to climb up these
| five steps to get 10 the latter port.
This canal goes right through some of the
| most beautiful farming country of England.
| In Manchester we are surrounded by great
! warehouses and factories. There are many
! docks and ncosed basins filed with
! shipping, and everything a0out us is smoky
and busy. Passing out of the city We go
| through q country as green as Ohio In
! June. The fields hedged and upon the
| grenn grass fat cattle are feeding Every
| now and then we pass a village or great
, manufacturing town. We go under rail-
! ly pass out into the Mersey, with It's vast
| shipping from all parts of he world. BY
means of that canal our Texas cotton Is
! taken direct from Galveston to the factories
of Manchester.
On China's Grand Canal.
Ny next picture is painted on the other
| side of the world. II is on the Grand Canal
of China. I have seen 1t where 1t starts
at Picking, the Chinese capital; / have stud
ut,
| ern part of the Celestial empire. and have
| Travelled upon it at its lower end on the
| southern side of the YanEtse.
This canal is in many respects greater
wonder than the Chinese wall. 1t de-
serves to be ranked as one of the Won
ders of the world. 1t begins at Hang
chow, south of the Eangtse, passes
through Soochow and cuts the iangtse
near Chnkang. From Chinkiang it goes
northward $3.50 miles without a lock, and
farther on it is carried over the country
on stone embankments twenty and more
feet high The canal at some of these
places is 200 feet wide 1t has flood gates
managed by soldiers and is fed by creeks
and rivers At one point river was con-
Quoted into it, and the Chinese say that
100000 men worked seven months to turn
the waters of that stream. The Grand
canal cuts the Yellow river as well as the
Yangtse Kiang. 1t is in many places lit
tie more than a great ditch and nearly
everywhere it is now in bad repair. 1t is.
from New York TO Chicago. and II passes
through a territory containing about
three times as many people as the United
States.
A Great Tax Route.
One of the chief uses of this Chinese canal
has been to carry the tribute rice to Picking.
At certain times of the year long fleet
of boats moves northward carrying rice.
The government taxes to a large ex-
tent collected in kind, and every year the
farmers send about 133,co0, coo pounds Of
rice to the emperor. Along the banks OF
the canal I great barns filled with
rice awaiting shipment and l was told
that nearly every town on the canal
had its government barns. OF late much
of the rice has been shipped to Picking by
sea- the steamers on the Yangste carrying
It more cheaply han ii can be taken by the
canal. When the railroads have been built
connecting Picking with the southern part
of the empire a large part of such traffic
will 20 by them. As the canal now is, nav
igation in some parts is difficult, and 1t
REQUIRES several months for rice boat 10
make its way from the IanEtse to Picking.
Japan is a land of canals built both for
traffic and for irrigation. One of the most
wonderful is the Bwa canal, which was