此计划包含整理黄河及其支流、陕西之渭河、山西之汾河暨相连诸运河。黄河出口,应事浚渫,以畅其流,俾能驱淤 积以出洋海。以此目的故,当筑长堤,远出深海,如美国密西悉比河 [23] 口然。堤之两岸,须成平行线,以保河辐之划一,而均河流之速度,且防积淤于河底。加以堰闸之功用,此河可供航运,以达甘肃之兰州。同时,水力工业亦可发展。渭河、汾河亦可以同一方法处理之,使于山、陕两省中,为可航之河道。诚能如是,则甘肃与山、陕两省,当能循水道与所计划直隶湾中之商港联络,而前此偏僻三省之矿材物产,均得廉价之运输矣。
The expenses of regulating the Hoangho may be very great. As a paying project, it may not be very attractive but as a flood preventive measure, it is the most important task to the whole nation. This river has been known as "China's Sorrow" for thousands of years. By its occasional overflow and bursting of its embankments, millions of lives and billions of money have been destroyed. It is a constant source of anxiety in the minds of all China's statesmen from time immemorial. A permanent safeguard must be effected, once for all, despite the expenses that will be incurred. The whole nation must bear the burden of its expenses. To deepen its mouth, to regulate its embankments and to build extra dykes are only half of the work to prevent flood. The entire reforestation of its watershed to prevent the washing off of loess is another half of the work in the prevention of flood.
The Grand Canal, the former Great Waterway of China between the North and the South for centuries, and now being reconstructed in certain sections, should be wholly reconstructed from end to end, in order to restore the inland waterway traffic from the Yangtze Valley to the North. The reconstruction of this canal will be a great remunerative concern for it runs right along from Tientsin to Hangchow in an extremely rich and populous country.
Another new canal should be constructed from our projected port to Tientsin to link up all the inland waterway systems to the new port. This new canal should be built extra wide and deep, let us say, similar to the present size of the Peiho, for the use of the coasting and shallow-draft vessels which the Peiho now accommodates for other than the winter seasons. The banks of this canal should be prepared for factory sites so as to enable it to pay not only by its traffic but also from the land on both sides of its banks.
As for planning and estimating these river and canal works, the assistance of technical experts must be solicited.