TR ?RT 1TION AND roM)UNiC.vTION. One of -t faetors in the industrial develorment of Pn,--ia has been the excellen is of its inland water ron-en and railroad line,, which supple /. eat in-tead of ri‘alinJ one another. An enor o 0 rinage is carried on the great river-, on their canalized tributaries. and on the canals. mbich connect the river-. -0 that the waterways as well as the railroad- gri lsrd n Prns-ia, nerving corm[ erce between the ea-t and west as well as between north and south. steel lighters of large tonnage and -mall have replaced heavy wooden boat- on the canals. The Government expends enormous -urn- in the improvement and maintenance of the waterways. in the thirteen ending in 1903. the public trea-ury dis bursed .s5s.3ss.750 in the river-. canal-, and wagon roa is, and new canal projects or river im provements are con-tantly under w ay. T1 e Kaiser Wilhelm Canal saves two day- t f steam travel between Hamburg and the Baltic port, a, com pared with the old route around Jutland.
The Prussian railway system covers not only the entire territory of the kit 'dom. but also that of minor German states, thus c(m mantling the commerce of all Northern Germany. Since 1S97. when the I'm--ian railway system was combined with that of He-se. Prussia has cifeeted an entrance into the southern territory of Germany. I see GERMANY. paragraph on Rua
irfimI In 1902 there w, re 21.110 miles of rail road in operation in Prussia. of which the State owned or administered 19.440 mile.. Government ownership and operation has proved a complete success from a financial and commercial point of view. The Government derive- nearly one-fourth of its entire revenue from the profit- of it- rail way operation, and is able by the manipulttion of freight rates to Conte to the aid of industries in need ( I special encouragement.
Prussia is one of the -ix German State. pos se —ing merchant marine. It ranks third, ing exceeded by Hamburg and Bremen. Stettin. the largest Prussian port, is far behind. The Baltic ports are frozen ever in winter. but that of stettin i- kept Open by ice-breaker-. It is the nearest port to Berlin• and one of the present canal projects is to connect them IT a waterway. Danzig i- a large outlet for the cereal- of North east Prussia. I rther rtant seaport- are K.?;nigsberg. Memel. and Altona. The merchant marine in 1900 compri-ed 531 steamers. of 193. 411 tons net capacity, and 1543 -ailing ye--el-, Of 76.'03 tons. Prussia carries on about one-third of the total German foreign trade.