The chief canal in the Russian empire is that of Vishni Volotchok, which connects the Baltic and the Caspian Seas, and thereby affords communication with Siberia and China. In the early years of the century the principal part of the internal trade of the empire was conveyed along this canal. In 1777, the number of barges that passed through this canal was stated to be 2641. Twenty years later, the number of vessels that navigated its waters was returned at 6264,[298] conveying merchandise of the weight of over 8 millions of poods, and yielding tolls of the amount of 34,192 roubles (6840l.). The tendency of late years has been to divert the lighter and more expensive traffic from the canals to the railways where the latter were available; but to this day, all descriptions of traffic make use of the canals of Russia, and usually at remarkably low rates of freight.
As we have elsewhere pointed out, however, the preference for one form of transport over another is not always a mere matter of rates. If proof were needed of this fact, it would be furnished to the fullest extent by studying the history of the struggle that has been waged for many years past between the New York State Canals and the various railway systems that connect that city with Chicago, for the wheat supplies intended for export to Europe and consumption in the Eastern States. The rates of freight have all along been much lower on the lakes and the Erie Canal than on the railways. Usually, indeed, the water transport has not cost more than one-half what has been charged by rail. And yet the amount of traffic forwarded by lake, river, and canal has diminished, while that carried by railway has enormously increased. In other words, freighters have been for some years past content to pay 12 or 14 cents per bushel to the railway companies when the canal companies offered to perform the same service for 6 or 7 cents. The question naturally arises—Why should the canals not absorb the whole traffic? The answer is that the inconvenience and uncertainty due to interrupted navigation, and the inevitable slower rate of speed, have been sufficient to induce the American wheat grower to pay double the sum in order that he might secure quick and certain despatch. The same phenomena may be witnessed elsewhere. But much, of course, depends upon the traffic. Wheat may afford to pay a few cents more under the circumstance stated, when coal and lumber could not. It is manifestly more important that wheat should be carried to its ultimate destination in good condition, and without preventable delay.
The Density of Traffic on Waterways.—One of the most interesting problems connected with the working of either railways or waterways, is that of the density of the traffic transported, or, in other words, the quantity carried, relatively to the length of the line. The law of averages, which is very often inapplicable, and likely to lead to erroneous conclusions, is, in the case of the density of traffic, capable of being applied with some amount of success. But even in apparently so simple a matter as this, it must be applied with caution, and with certain rather important reservations. It must be borne in mind, for example, that as railways are performing the double function of transporting both passengers and goods, their traffic per mile, measured in terms of merchandise, cannot be fairly compared with that of canals, which carry goods traffic alone. Nor can the traffic of a canal, where the speed is necessarily slow, be rightly compared with that of a river like the Thames or the Rhine, where there is almost no limit to the speed that may be safely applied, except the limits imposed by mechanical laws.
The density of traffic on waterways has a very wide range of variation. On the Thames, where the annual tonnage of the entrances and clearances of vessels amounts to about 18,000,000 of tons a year, it may be put at something like 1,000,000 tons per mile, if we take the average distance between the mouth of the river and the docks as about 18 miles. This, however, is a case that stands alone. No other waterway has anything like the same amount of traffic, and for purposes of comparison the Thames may be disregarded entirely. The same remark applies to the Mersey.
The complete statistics of the inland navigations of France and Belgium enable comparisons to be made of the different waterways, which are very interesting. We find that some canals have a very considerable traffic, while others have only a traffic of limited dimensions. From recent returns relative to the canals of France, we have abstracted particulars which illustrate these differences, and which are given in the tables that follow.
The following French canals have an exceptional density of traffic:—
| Name of Canal. | Length in Kms. | Tons of Traffic Carried in 1886. | Average Traffic per Km. in Tons. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aire (Baudin to Aire) | 28 | 2,255,000 | 80,535 |
| Bourbourg (Guindal to Dunkerque) | 13 | 1,042,000 | 80,123 |
| St. Denis (Paris to La Briche) | 4 | 1,722,000 | 430,500 |
| Deûle, Haute | 38 | 3,652,000 | 96,105 |
| Mons to Condé | 3 | 705,000 | 235,000 |
| Neuffossé (Aire to St. Omer) | 11 | 1,198,000 | 108,999 |
| Oise (Janville to Chauny) | 21 | 2,804,000 | 133,523 |
| St. Quentin (Cambrai to Chauny) | 58 | 3,606,000 | 62,172 |
| Seusée (Etrun to Courchelettes) | 16 | 1,955,000 | 112,187 |
| Totals and average | 192 | 18,939,000 | 98,129 |
These are, for the most part, short waterways connecting important centres of industry or population. The larger canals, however, are by no means so well provided with traffic, and on some of them the traffic is almost ludicrously small. On 1125 miles of these longer canals, the average density of traffic per kilometre was only 2724 tons, as compared with 98,129 tons per kilometre on the 192 kilometres of shorter waterways contained in the above table. The particulars are appended:—
| Name of Canal. | Length in Kms. | Tons of Traffic Carried in 1886. | Average Traffic per Km. in Tons. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berry (Fontblisse to Noyers) | 88 | 384,181 | 4,365 |
| Burgogne (Laroche to St. Jean de Losne) | 151 | 424,559 | 2,811 |
| Est (Belgian frontier to Troussey) | 170 | 648,471 | 3,820 |
| Est (from Messlin to the Saône) | 75 | 276,065 | 3,680 |
| Garonne (Toulouse to Castel) | 134 | 243,815 | 1,819 |
| Midi (Toulouse to Thau) | 152 | 167,985 | 1,105 |
| Nantes and Brest | 167 | 111,558 | 668 |
| Ourcq (Port-au-Perches to Paris) | 68 | 528,048 | 7,765 |
| Rhone au Rhin (to German frontier) | 120 | 279,957 | 2,332 |
| Totals and average | 1,125 | 3,064,639 | 2,724 |
FOOTNOTES
CHAPTER XXXII