The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-03-19

> 1t i - 60 ~
every lev miles. and some OF them
contain q million people OF more
There are own OF . iflnIred thou
sand each whose names are lno
in America. and Il fringe Of Villages
runs along it all the way from lien
tSin to HangchoW.
Mighty Stone Em~bankinent-.
From the Nangtse north the canal
flows for $50 miles without 4 lock.
This is over the great plain of north
China. Still further north there are
numerous sluiceS and locks and i'll
places the water is carried above the
country on stone elnbankments 20
! feet or more higher than the sur
. rounding plains, and that notNith-
standine the stream is zoo feet wide.
1t has stone food gates managed by
soldiers. 1t is led by rivers and
creeks. Vt one place a river is con-
Quoted into it. and the Chinese say
hat 800, ooo men worked seven
>months to turn the waters of that
Single strearn
This canal is now going to ruin. 1t
nSed to take all the tribute rice to
I'ekinG, and was then sailed by 1000
government boats every spring. Since
the advent Of the Chinese Merchant
Stea mship Company this rice has
been carried by sea, and the steam
ers have materially damaged it's
OllPf tIiut. II StIlt mas numerous
junls andsbat-Winged barges, and in
places it is traversed by
and steam launches.
rs a practical hin canal. however.
1t IS a thing Of the past, and it would
rennir hundreds OF millions of dol
lars to fit it for the transportation of
the present. Its value has SO dimin-
ished that the department for it's up
keep has been practically abolished,
I 4 ha n Fsn nf A.t - e +toa
grain transport/which had charge Of
it. having been discontinued about
five years ago.
The Suez Canal in 1912.
The next canal we shall see is the
{ most important of all. and the one
which will compete with our Dig
ditch at Panama. It is the Suez
canal. which nov has more shipping
:, and brings in more one than any
other canal upon earth. The tonnage
OF the vessels which passed through
it last year amounted TO more than
20, 900, 900. and the receipts were far
:, more than that many dollars. This
) canal is Just forty miles longer than
5 our canal at Panama, and, like the
| latter. it joins two mighty oceans.
If we consider the Mediterranean an
arm Of the Atlantic and the Red sea
f an arm of the Indian ocean the Suez
y >N~AH" - wv. ldSS INK
s many times through it. and it has
: cost the steamer each time high into
the thousands of dollars. There is {
charge Of 81 for every man. woman
and child on board, and, in addition
g every ship has to pay q tonnage due
| which now amounts to someWher'
8 between Sl.oO and s. a ton.
% For many years it was 81 a ton
so that a 10.Q00-ton ship would pa.
$4,000 for going through. The las
IL time | traVnrsed it the steamer too
= eighteen hours and the charge 70
80 the ship was idst about $500 an hour
u 1t Brings in Millions.
- The Suez canal has paid almOs
: from the start. and the canal stoc
Is as high AS anything sold in Wa
:, street. The bulk OF it is owned b
, Great Britain, and although tn
l., French nomlpally control the cana
"a its real direction ONES from job
~ Bull. AS it is now, no large bloc
IN CT he common stock appears to /
st owned by any individual or corpol
alton or other government. job
he Bull is said to have a large majorit
IT of the whole. and the next share
holder in point of ownership is
Is. Freedman who has only a lit
90 more than 1900 shares out Of I!
whole 400 900. AS | remember it TT
| British government bought 1856
he shares OF the old adj lSma
g PaSha. getting the same through
wv loan of $50, 900. 600. which was mac
by bY the Ro~thschilds originally. al
finally turned over TO the British go
IN That investment Of so
'er 100000 was one of the best Jof
'er Bull has ever made. The sto'
ne which he has bought is now Wor
he more than s150.00O. 900, and it h
no paid $50. 900. 900 or $4,000 900
rs dividends. If Panama should tn
out equally we'll it viii give Inc
- Sam a surplus big enough 70 10
the great lakes to the gulf by
similar waterway.
Versus Suez.
1t Beside the work Of building [
md Panana canal that or Suez seer
res little more than a chore. The Su
uts canal is only a great ditch throu
a the desert. where the earth is 81
sand and the ground is ~comparati1