Evening star., 1912-03-17

little over thirty feet deep, but 1t will
soon be thirty-five feet from one end to
the other. Within the past year or so
many millions of tons of earth and mud
have been taken out of the bottom, and
there is now talk of widening 1t, or or
building another by the side for the sur
plus traffic.
1t is not a far cry from Suez to Greece.
It lies on the other side of the Mediter-
ranean, and not long ago was composed
mostly of what is now the mainland and
the PelOponnesus, which was Joined to 1t
by the Isthmus Of Corinth. In 1898 this
isthmus was cut through by the Corinth
canal, and lower Greece was thus turned
into an island. This shortens the journey
from the Adriatic to the Piraeus by over
two hundred miles. and the canal should
be one of the trade routes of the Med1-
terranean. 1t is not. When l visited II a
year or so ago there was comparatively
little shipping going through, and l was
told that the canal is so situated that 1t
forms a huge air shaft which makes it
unsafe for steamers.
The walls of the Corinth canal are two
or three hundred feet high. and the canal
itself is only about SO feet wide. Its
depth is only % feet. and the biggest
of steamers cannot go through it. A
new company has recently taken posses
sion Of it, and 1t is said that 1t will be
deepened and made available for vessels
Of heavier tonnage. This company bought
the canal for less than $4,000. although
The Corinth canal Is a beautiful ditch
with great green walls on each side. and
breakwaters and lighthouses at either
end. The canal is spanned by an iron
bridge 10 feet high, and this Is crossed
by the chief trunk railway, which runs
from Athens to Patras.
Our next trip will be across Europe and
into Great Britain. We want to see the
ship canal at Manchester, which connects
the chief cotton milling center on earth
with the Atlantic ocean. Only q few
years ago our cotton was all landed at
Liverpool, and it had to be carried to
the Manchester factories by rail. Now
the steamers can go right up the Mersey
and thence through great locks to
the doors Of the factories. The Manches-
ter canal is thirty-five miles long. 1t Is
twelve miles shorter than our, canal at
Panama. Within that distance the ships
are lifted UP about sixty feet, and that
in five great locks which rise one over
the other.
This canal goes through some Of the
most beautiful farming country of Eng
land. Leaving Manchester, you sail out
OF region of mighty warehouses and
factories, into land Of farms as green
as Ohio in June. The fields are divided
by green hedges. and upon the rich grass
fat cattle are feeding. Every now and
h
You go under one great railroad bridge
after another, and finally drop down to
the Mersey river. with its vast shipping
from all parts Of the world.
The Manchester canal Is in many re-
spects like that of Panama. It is a
lock canal, and 1t was cut out of the
rock. The excavation. however,
amounted to only 64.000,000 tons, which
was q bagatelle in comparison with
the hundreds Of millions we have had
to take out.
The canal was begun with the idea
that 1t would cost about forty million
dollars. 1t really cost over seventy-f1ve
million dollars, and nevertheless the
Manchester men told me that they
thought 1t a paying investment. Be-
fore 1T was built the city was falling
off in business and commerce. Since
then it has grown like jimson weed
or the tabled gourd Of old Jonah. At
the beginning the traffic on the canal
years later 1t had tripled in quantity, and
in 1907 it was more than 5000. 600 tons.
It Is estimated that 1t now saves in
freight rates three or four million dollars
a year to the trade Of Manchester. and
thus enables that cotton center to compete
with the others which lie on the seacoast.
Before the canal was built the large
manufacturers were leaving Manchester
for Glasgow and elsewhere, but since
then many industries have been started
and ten thousand houses have been built
to accommodate the incoming people.
The city MAS constructed great docks
there in the heart Of the land; and these
have a water space Of 258 acres, while
the length Of the quays is more than 1--WE
miles. There are large elevators, built
by Chicago men, filled with grain which
has been hoated down our great lakes
and across the Atlantic. There are ware
can meat is brought in by the shipload.
I took a flying trip to Europe this last
summer and ran through some Of the