VII. CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS 93 VIII. WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES 104 IX. ENGLISH CONDITIONS 119 X. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 142 APPENDIX--THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE MISSISSIPPI 151 INDEX 157 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (in the distance) _Frontispiece_ WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN: COWLEY TUNNEL AND EMBANKMENTS _To face page_ 32 LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES " " 42 WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT " " 48 WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN: SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL AT CHESTER " " 70 "FROM PIT TO PORT": PROSPECT PIT, WIGAN " " 82 THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA " " 88 A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI " " 110 SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS " " 114 WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS: BELVIDE RESERVOIR, STAFFORDSHIRE " " 128 MAPS AND DIAGRAMS INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS " " 54 CANALS AND RAILWAYS BETWEEN WOLVERHAMPTON AND BIRMINGHAM " " 56 SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS " " 98 BRITISH CANALS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY The movement in favour of resuscitating, if not also of reconstructing, the British canal system, in conjunction with such improvement as may be possible in our natural waterways, is a matter that concerns various interests, and gives rise to a number of more or less complicated problems. It appeals in the most direct form to the British trader, from the point of view of the possibility of enabling him to secure cheaper transit for his goods. Every one must sympathise with him in that desire, and there is no need whatever for me to stay here to repeat the oft-expressed general reflections as to the important part which cheap transit necessarily plays in the development of trade and commerce. But when from the general one passes to the particular, and begins to consider how these transit questions apply directly to canal revival, one comes at once to a certain element of insincerity in the agitation which has arisen.