On the fourteen principal waterways in Germany, including the Oder, the Spree, the Elbe, the Rhine, and the chief canals, the 17½ million tons of traffic carried in 1887 was transported in 132,863 boats that were full and 35,989 boats that were not full. The average tonnage carried on the same waterways between 1881 and 1885 was 14,318,000 tons. As compared with the vessels employed, and the tonnage carried, in preceding years, there was an advance of 15·4 per cent. in the number of the boats, and of 22·7 per cent. in the amount of traffic carried.
| Cities. | Number of Inhabitants. | Tons of Goods Carried. | Number of Tons per Head of Population | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By Rail. | By Water. | Total. | |||
| Berlin | 1,200,000 | 3,504,000 | 3,348,000 | 6,852,000 | 5·71 |
| Breslau | 270,000 | 1,237,000 | 350,000 | 1,587,000 | 5·88 |
| Hamburg | 410,000 | 1,191,000 | [75]3,221,000 | 4,442,000 | 10·7 |
| Magdeburg (including Buckau and Neustadt) | 165,000 | 1,650,000 | 1,118,000 | 2,768,000 | 16·7 |
| Dresden | 220,000 | [76]1,411,000 | 534,000 | 1,945,000 | 8·8 |
| Bremen | 112,000 | 776,000 | [77]184,000 | 960,000 | 8·5 |
| Ports of Rhine— (Rhurort, Duisburg, and Hochfeld) | 70,000 | 5,427,000 | 4,107,000 | 9,554,000 | 136·0 |
| Cologne, (including Deutz) | 160,000 | 1,132,000 | 314,000 | 1,634,000 | 10·0 |
| Mannheim and Ludwigshafen | 75,000 | 1,776,000 | 2,041,000 | 3,817,000 | 50·0 |
In the year 1878 it was announced that over 1045 miles of new canal navigation had been ordered throughout Germany, in addition to the 1289 miles then open, and the 4925 miles of navigable rivers available.[78] This fact sufficiently indicates the great importance that is attached in Germany to adequate water communication, and it is all the more notable that very few countries are possessed of equally cheap railway transport.
FOOTNOTES
CHAPTER VIII
[71] Those who are interested in perusing this Report will find it contained in a volume of pamphlets in the Library of the Royal Statistical Society.
[72] The different river basins contributed the following proportions:—
| Basins. | Tons. |
| The Elbe | 7,767,000 |
| The Vistula, Niemen, &c. | 2,227,000 |
| The Oder | 861,000 |
| The Weser and Ems | 394,000 |
| Lake of Constance | 338,000 |
| The Danube | 210,000 |
| Total | 11,797,000 |
[73] The distribution of this navigation is as follows, according to basins:—
| Basin. | Miles of Navigation. |
| The Rhine | 931 |
| The Elbe | 870 |
| The Oder | 497 |
| The Weser | 280 |
| The Danube | 248 |
| The Ems | 196 |
| Other waterways | 372 |
| Total | 3384 |
[74] On the railways of Germany in 1886 coal traffic was 48·5 per cent. of the whole; timber, 5·8 per cent.; stone, 7·5 per cent.; and grain 6·2 per cent. About 84·7 per cent. of the whole was heavy traffic. The total railway traffic was about 5½ times that of the total water traffic of the empire.