Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-30
OUR MAIL POUCH.
Why He Backs a Great Grab.


To the Editor of The Dispatch:
What is the animus of your opposition to
the Nicaragua Canal? Do you not recog
nize its paramount Importance? Our local
Erie ship canal would be q very valuable
adjunct to our transportation facilities, but
unfortunately for the enterprise, there is no
water to supply canal of sufficient depth
to answer the wants of modern commerce.
The area of basin available as watershed
and the average annual rainfall in that area
at once demonstrate the impossibility of
securing such q waterway. This whole
question of a ship canal from Erie to Pitts
burg may as well be dropped at once. There
is nothing in it. The plan is impracticable
and incapable of realization unless you can
devise some plan whereby the watershed or
the Shenango can be increased. This you
know cannot be done.
In opposine the Nicaragua Canal you
array yourself in opposition to the most i'm
pOrtant enterprise of modern times, ana TO
the American people-an enterprise most
vital in its direct bearing on the question OF
our supremacy. II we build the canal under
the management and permanent control OF
the Government of the United states we
shall have by q single stroke converted the
Gulf of Mexico into an American lake. Its
islands must fall under the dominion or our
flag. This result is inevitable, and must be
apparent to you; The North Paclnc; 100
ence would be the dominating force over
its entire area, and the Sandwich Islands
would fall under our control from sheer
force of gravity.
Have you ever thought about the relation
the West India and Sandwich islands sus-
tain to us? Do you know that we have TO
own them? This much ought to be apparent
to you. Have you realizing sense OF the
greatness of the United States? Cannot YOU
see that our manifest destiny is the grandest
TO which any people were ever called or,
perhaps, ever shall be? What we need Is a
Craftsmanship broad enough to grasp in all
its force the full significance of the mighty
forces now at work throughout the world.
The great powers of Europe are allotting to
themselves scheme they have been en-
gagged in for half a century-and apportion-
ing the entire surface of the earth not pre-
viously controlled, claimed or owned by the
civilized nations. England is and always
has been the arch enemy of the United
States. The American name is fraught with
evil TO her and her aspirations. Her uni
versal sovereignty of the seas is threatened
by us, and she knows that sooner or later
her suAel ainty must cease and her glory
pale be lore the great name of America.
We are the greatest factor in the worlds |
history and 1t is time We knew it. What we |
want is possessions around the wide earth. |
Give us such possessions land this canal is |
an important step toward that end) in every |
zone and ere many years our sails will |
whiten every sea and our commerce DOM |
mate all the marts of the earth. We need |
nothing so much as n revival of our foreign |
commerce, as are now paying $50, 900, 900 |
annually for freight carried in foreign bot |
toms. This vast sum keeps the trade bal |
ance against us, and this balance we have |
to settle in gold. j. A. FIELD.
NEW CASTLE. May 81 |