Equally interesting and conclusive
are some illustrations taken from the
experience of Germany. The canaliza
tion of the river Main from Mayence
to Frankfort was completed in the lat
ter part of the year 1886. As a result of
this improvement, which gave a chan
nel vastly better and deeperthan was be
fore available, the river traffic showed
an increase of 64 per cent in 1887 and
a further gain of 42 per cent in 1888.
Frankfort is abundantly supplied
with railroads, having, among others,
an independent line on each bank of
the Main all the way to Mayence. Did
these roads go into bankruptcy or suf
fer a serious falling off in their traf
fic? On the contrary, their business in
creased 36 per cent in 1887 and an ad
ditional 58 per cent in 1888. The river
traffic, which amounted to only 150,000
tons annually before the improvements
were made, had increased to 700,000
tons in 1891 and to 1,693,112 tons in
1896, while the traffic by rail, which
amounted to 930,000 tons in 1886, had
risen to 1,400,000 tons in 1891 and to
1,639,229 tons in 1896, being nearly
double what it was ten years before,
when the railways had a practical
monopoly of the freight business of
Frankfort.
The first locks at St. Mary's Falls
were opened in 1855, in which year the
registered tonnage was 106,296 tons.
