Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-28

waterways of the world, and our own city is
indebted to the rivers that skirt her borders
or pass within her limits for the sub
sfantial growth and prosperity that have
crowned the past. 1t is cheerfulv ad-
mitted that railroads have been efficient
helpers in securing these gratifying results.
dustrial fame had it not been for the Ohio and
tributary rivers. Water is the potent
agency in building cities and confining
prosperity.
Standing With Folded Hands.
Yet with an inheritance so rich in promise,
we have been all of these years standing
with folded arms and eyes so closed as to
indicate the paralysis of death with scarcely
an effort to utilize these flowing streams as
the burden bearers of Il possible commerce
so colossal as to dwarf the conceptions of
the most hopeful. Our proud iron kings and
mercnant princes whose giant plants chai-
1enge the admiration of the commercial
worlI have largely allowed a few rivermen
10 defend their highways of nature from
destructive encroachments.
If all of our citizens were alert in taking
advantage of providential alIotments Pitts
burg might now have moro magnificent
lines OF steamers than the ones of Dygone
years, which we remember th so much
pride when our esteemed fellow citizen,
C1plain Charlie, W. Bachelor, walked tho
hurricane deck the proud master of the
peerless steamer Allegheny. But forgetting
our delinquencies, let all unite in fostering
and developing our far-reaching watcrn avs
| that may eclipse all that has heretofore
been accomplished when the Pittsburg OF
the past will be forgotten in the mightier
and arander Pittsburg OF the future
orc'usive Evidence From France.
bravo then cited the canals of France
as furnishing conclusive eviden ce of the
vaiue of waterways to the prosperity of a
country, and to checkmate the aggressive
tendency of railway corporations. Contin-
uing, he said:
The people of the United States are
awakening to the urgent necessity of i'm
proving the rivers and securing artificial
water lines where nature has not pro-
vided. Constructed waterways uniting diff
ferent water systems and extending to i'm
portant inland points are commanding
earnest and Intelligent consideration. The
nation has already entered upon an era of
| enlarged activity in the interest of free na-
tional highways. Rivers are being in
proved, canals are being and will continue
to be built until the wants of the people are
met in ample provisions for the cheap trans
| fer of the products of farm and shop from
| farm to city and from city TO farm. Canal
| enterprise is justified by the statistics of
been an efficient contributor to the pros
| perity of New York state and city, and its
ENLARGEMENT to a ship canal will be
uniting Lake Huron and Lake Superior
has an annual tonnage traffic two fold larger
| than the Suez Canal. In seven months of
| passed Detroit, exceeding the aggrega te ton
| mage entering and clearing from the poris Of
London and Liverpool during the entire
year. The Government engineer in charge
| OF the work on the lake canals says: "For
nearly IS years have watched the increase
of lake traffic, but neither myself nor any
body else within my knowledge has been
able to eXI and at the same rate. The wild
est expectations OF one year seem tame to
the next. This lake freightage has been
done at an average charge to shippers OF 1.s
| road are averaged by the Interstate Com
merce Commission at 9.22 mills per ton per
mile"
Importance of the ship Canal
The statistics quoted emphasize the SUI
| preme Importance of the projected Pitts
burg and Lake Erie ship canal, so essential
| to the future of our city. An enterprise Of
| such transcendent importance to Western
Pennsylvania that it is a mental strain to
| fad words broad and decisive enough to ex-
| press its necessity and value. PIttsburg,
| so long the empire OF the iron and rela ted
| industries, has found in her later day CON-
| petitors to dispute her long continued reign
| of authority. 1t is clearly manifest that If
| sible facility and helpful agency must be
! secured. The iron mines OF the lakes and
the mills and furnaces of Western Pennsyl-
| vaIia, must be furnished with most ample
and cheapest carriage that capital and
human skill can provide. The ore. the
! limestone, the coke and coal mnst be
Drought together at the lowest cost that our
| industrial interests may success iully meet
coming competition in the markets of the
| world on conditions of equality.
| 1t would be a fatal policy to seek equal
| standing in the marts OF trade through the
| agency of cheap labor. We do not want
| cheap labor, but we do want cheap iron,
| steel and glass; but let the energy of Amer.
| lean skill and the enterprise oil American
| brains so manipulate the materials and op-
| portunites which nature has provided to
| secure the end desired without discounting
| human flesh and muscle. The inexhaustible
| ore bees of the Northwest, the large de-
posits of limestone in the neighboring hills
the sand rocks OF the Ioughiogheny Valley,
the hlgh-grade Connellsville coke and the
famous Monongahela coal mines con stitute
the forces of possible industry that may
calmly contemplate all present or coming
competition.
Ample and Cheap Transportation.
If our rivers are improved and the pro-
jected ship canal becomes completed
waterway such Improvements would give a
transportation so ample and so cheap as to