Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-10-04
A letter FrGsa Commodore Marry.

tEG l4GNlSVHio OChSSAe'on~~AAU tseae
and tho INSTRUMENTATION by
Watef Through Virginia. l.s Ina
por.anca to al seoiiona~~Ihe
Whole Comaaerciai World Inter"
esicd,
Virginia Military. Institute, i.exing-
TOD, Va, Sept. 28, I8e9.---Dear Sir: 1t
will nos, zcgteb TO say, be convenient
TO accent she Invitation Of your CONS
sn,ttee 10 attend the louisville congen-
.ion. =
Among she many and important
questions which will doubtless engage
tho attontisp Of delegates, none, I am
sure, will be Of more general concern
or touch greater aumber Of pocket
ncrves throughout ths length and
breadth Of tte land than thoss rotating
10 tho early completion by raii and
water Of certain oon@oreial therynss"
fares between the waters Of ehe Ghesa'
saako Bay and tina Valley OF the
Nisaissipp|.
Aga work for TIA common defence,
as means for regulating commerce., as
measure for promoting the genera.
wcifare-dadaed. aa Am enterprise Vi
national necessity and Of overriding
Importance ia Its commercial, social
anti political aspects, none can exceed,
in tho magnitude and scope Of lis bear
Tags, the iree-toll ship canal berweaR
the James and Ksnawha rivera.
Through it the fasmsrs Of the Wess
are to fad their cheapest and best out
lie. for tLair supplies Of produce.
Through it the operatives Of New kng~
land ale to ba fed and tho grain mar
keta Of Western Europe 70 ha supplied
with the finest of wSeat.
BY visws as 10 tbs Importance and
pressing necessity OF this work as well
as Of she early completion of certain
links TO make the Pacific abroad Of The
6enth continuous line from ocean to
ocean, have bcfn expressed else where.
Eon will fad sorno Of them unfolded
in Preliminary Report, No. I, Physical
Survey Of Virginia, and it is useless 10
do mere in this note than cali your at
tentioa 10 shcra.
The opening ofany new commercial
route cf magnitude has worldwide Of,
feels, and | have often faacied that she
Suez canal is, with its influences, TO
touch the fasners Of tbs West, aud to
move them to cali still nero Justify than
ever upon their Governments to open
for them this great waterway to the
sea through Virginia.
The cry Of .ho Eas. has been bread,
bread ! Almost annually In India and
IN China ifrsm tho Indus to the Amoor}
famine RACES. Six nundssa millions Of
people dwell! there.
The opening Of this canal, which
takes place pow in q few weeks, ard
with a dspth--tweaay-si1 feet-~sntli-
eient for ships Of stso Sa,s caS eIsss. VIII
bring thessasin OF she Black Sea ten
thousand aoiyes nearer than 10 now is TO
these Starving nillions an1 mako it their
granary.
Now, their chief article of food is rice.
The rice-ea.els constitute more than
half the cnsresp population of the world.
Afford thcn an opportunity and 10 will
not take them long, l ween, 10 appfe-
eiate Indian corn. and othss Western
cereals. az articles Of food.
Hitherto the srain-growing eorn-
tries have been 60 far removed from
these people chat it was impossible to
secure them, even tn their most dire
famines, either by way Of the Cape Of
Good Hope or Cape Horn
The Sues canal. as it leads FROM
India, GebSuchos ssRaost OF the mouth
Of the Black Sea. yhis viii give the
Black Sea farmers the advantage over
The Americans Of mors tnan Slx thous-
and miles Of distance, in the markets
oil India, and as tho Indian grain mar
ket is opened,is win draw ixs, supplies
from the fertile river basins that are
strained into tae Black Sea, and thus
the preseRs gFanaryso Of Europe will be-
come the granaiy Of the East, and the
gFanary Of Europe will be transferred
from the basin OF the Black Sea and
planted in the Mississippi Valley, pro-
vided that the farmers hero have this
cheap water line opened 40 far as the
chesapeake bay, for then they can send
their grain 80 Europe without having
10 eat up for expenses on the read.
AT present the grain merchants Of
The Black Sea have. on the corn exc
changes Of England, tha advantage Of
thelr competitions In the Mississippi
Valley.
The former nave q clear and untaxed
waterway to market, while She iattes,
having aetual distance In their favor,
hut for the want Of This Virginia >water-
me, they are so iay removed that they
are undersold in the markets of ell
Western Europe.
The world wants food as we'll 90
clothing, and with free waterway OF
sufficient capacity from the West to her
natural seaport" Oh the waters OF the
chesapeake bay, there 10 no reason
wng the annual exports Of breaostuffs
from tho inland States of tbs Mississip~
p Valley should not exceed in vaiue
the Gotten of the South.
Thug the Sucz canal is destined I'll.
llmately to divert she Black Sea grain
from its present channels of consump-
tlon, and send it. to India ard the
maskets OF thc East for sale.
This will leave the provisions markets
os England and Western Eurspo gsusr-
ally open to tho farmers OF West al
most Without . competition,
IN shore, wafa nSt the feason which
slready cali for o cheaper read from
vac West TO the sea paramount liz their