St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-09-13
Our Mediterranean Sea.
WHAT THE GULF OF MEXICO WILL SOME
DAY BECOME

WHAT THE GULF OF MEXICO WILL SOME
DAY BECOME.
The Gulf of Mexico will some day be the
Mediterranean sea of the New World. As
the Old World sprang up around the
waters of the Mediterranean, and empires
of war and empires of commerce grew to
greatness on its shores. so will the waters
of the gulf be the next great theater of
human enterprise and endeavor. AS there
was but one Mediterranean in the Old
World, there is but one Mediterranean in
the New. The Mediterranean was not only
the scene, it was the nurse of the empire.
Its shores were empires, divided only by
the blue bays and seas of it's sinuous shore
lines. They drew their prosperity, the
very courage and hardihood of their war
riors, from its waters. The breezes that
bellied the Pbenician sails as they drove
from Tyre or Carthage to far Tarshish or
the Canthsrides, sent Greek and Roman
galleys over the Adriatic Ionian. and the
Tyrhene seas and filled the so diers of
Greece and Rome with that native daring"
which subdued the world.
Along the shores of the guilt the new
empires of the world will grow to power.
There is not on the globe sheet of water
so favorable to commerce and whose shores
are so richly endowed. The Mediterranean
in its glory, though more picturesque and
enhancing in the light of its great history,
was not SO blessed by the splendid prodi-
gality of nature. Beyond It's shores was
Cimmerian darkness and nothing more No
majestic Mississippi, the natural channel
for the commerce of the richest country of
the world. poured its treasures upon the
waters. And yet it nourished the night
est nations of the world aud hosted for
1000 years the gold laden ships of Pl eenicis
and Solomon, the olive and grape and
wheat galleys of Greece and Rome, the
magnificent argosies of Naples. Genoa and
Venice, and the galleons of Spain.
Consider for moment the great advan
tages Of the gulf, as Indicating by silent
prophecy the future of our Mediterranean.
waters and its shores. 1t is almost en-
closed by rich shores of continent and ISL
ands To the south is Yucatan. yellow
with bananas and oranges and lemons. To
the west is Mexico, richer to day than in
the splendid reigns of the Montezumas,
and with brighter hopes of still greater
prosperity, To The north is the most
favored country of earth - the United
States. From the Rio Grande to Cape
Sable the rich, warm coast incloses the
gulf in half embrace. To the east are
the West Indies, Cuba, gem of the ocean,
and to the southeast is the Caribbean, lead.
ing to the Republics of Centr.l Americs
and the Spanish repu blics of our sister
continent
These shores will yet be the scenes of
prosperity such as the world has not yet
witnessed That Is their clear destiny.
The most fertile lands in the world are in
that wide valley of the Mississippi. The
whole gulf coast is fertile, rich in semi
tropical. and even tropical fruits and for
ests. The world has no other islands that
will match the Antilles and no shore that
can rival the gulf coast of the United
States. ...
The gulf is not, like the Mediterranean,
dependent upon it's shores. The long,
broad sweep of the Mississippi drains not
only its own matchless valley, but bears on
its bosom the tribute from the Ohio, Cum
berland and Tennessee, draining the best
sections towards the east, and the Mis-
souri,, draining the exhaustless Northwest.
This traffic will yet send down the Father
of Waters to float on the gulf waves argo-
sizes of commerce richer than was ever
borne in the galleons of Spain or foated
under the guns of Dandolo.
Again, the gulf will yet be the ocean
highway of nations. 1t is the great natural
basin of two continents. 1t Is said that
two blocks of wood if dropped one each in
the fountain sources of the Amazon and
the Mississippi would meet on the waters
of the gulf. In a few years canal or ship
railway will connect the Atlantic and
Pacific, not at Panama, but at Nicaragua.
Over the waters, then, of the Caribbean
and gulf will pass the merchant fleets of
the world as they girdle the globe. When
these things come, as they surely and
shortly will, New Orleans will be the
Tyre, or Marseilles, or Constantinople of
the new Mediterranean, and the South will
be the Mediterranean shores Of the New
World.-Atlanta Journal.