Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-08-21
VALUE or WATERWAYS.


4fonad many times of late in the re-:
ports OF the battles in Poland and the
capture OF Warsaw. the largest city
on IT'S banks Now the German por-
ton Of the river furnishes an item
Which h worthy Of note, although 1t
II peaceful instead Of warlike: For,
although considerable work remains
TO Be done before 1t IL entirely COM
pleted, the waterway which connects
the vistu1a with the Oder has recent
" been opened to trafhc.
This new waterway, which takes the
place Of an older and much smaller
one. is 1872 miles long and consists al
most entirely of canaHzed rivers.
Starting at Custrin, fortified city on
the Oder some sixty miles almost due
east Of Berlin, it follows up the WARTIME
and Netze rivers, crosses the summit
level BY canal seventeen miles long
and then goes down the Brahe. past
the CITY of Bromberg, to the Vistula.
Through this waterway boats carry
ing 46O tons can pass from Berlin
to the seaport of Danzig and the city
OF Koenigsberg
The statesmen of Germany, even IN
the midst of the greatest war IN all
history. are not only maintaining ana
onarating the waterways they already
have but are actually building more.
This fact shows more plainly than any
words could do that waterways are
considered to be Of vital importance
TO German interests.
Germany. as is pointed out IN re.
mort BY United States Consul General
Thac1xcra Ia fully alive to the fact
that transportation facilities are az
tina very foundation Of tho industrial
prosperity Of any country. and appre-
ciates the advantage Of compete
and unified system Of Internal trans
portation, both by land and water. On
the faee of 1t, It looks like absolute
tony for q nation to spend hundreds
~ millions of dollars In building wat
arvays to compete With It's state OVID
cd railways, in which It has billions
~ doIlars invested and on which It de-
nanda for the greater part OF It's reve
ma. hut Germany has been doing that
yerv tf,ine for forty years. And the
resa1ti7 Nothing in all history has
ever eoualed. or approached, the mar
valnns growth in commerce and IN
duatrY which has been made By Ger
many within that time. Volumes
mirht be written but q single compari
son must sumce.
In Every one Of the twenty years
ending with 1913 the foreign com
merce Of Germany has exceeded that
Of the United States. Fast as our
commerce has grown, that Of Ger
many has grown faster still. me
aveFage annual excess OF German com
merce for the hve years ending WIN
1884 was SCOT ,O00, 900: In the next nve
Years the average rose to S22l, 0oo,ooo
IN the next hve to $500, 100000; ana
IN the NEXT ia 3712, 100000. For 1912
the excess was 9ss3, 100000.
There would be nothing in these
nn,res for the United States to boast
Of H the two countries were equal N
.i,e and resources. But compared
with Germany the United States IS
more than seventeen times az large
Ia. ATTY per cent more population,
more than twice as much accumulatea
wealth and natural resources at least
ton times as great. Yet IN the race
for commercial supremacy Germany
nassed us twenty years ago ana. untl'
the war broke out, was steadiiy lea''
inr us farther and farther behind.
Cheap transportation is just - vitai
u industry and commerce as smmu
milton to an army.