New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1892-06-08
The Nicaragua Canal.

The Nicaragua Canal
At the Nicaragua canal conference in
st. Louis Thursday. Hon. M. M. Estee
of California spoke on the project as
| follows:
Make the mouth Of Mississippi, with
its twenty-five bordering states and its
two hundred tributaries and the million
square miles of which it is the outlet, TO-
V3QQ miles nearer the Pacific coast by boat,
and note the marvellous effect such
proceeding will have on the productive
industries Of the country. The lncreas,
ing and cheapenihg 81 transportation by
sea will increase and cheaper transporta-
ton by land In this age it is a necess-
ity to the producer that his product be
carried quickly and cheaply to a market;
transportation thus becomes the source
of success or the cause of failure. And
it is equally necessary to the consumer
that what he consumes be brought to
him in the shortest possible time and for
the least amount of money. The United
States never can produce the teas, coffee,
India rubber, dye stuffs, rare woods and
and other articles required by our people.
We will always look to foreign countries
for Thoc,o IL
be brought to us by sea. This being so,
our success will largely depend upon the
question of time in transportating them
by water. If the time and distance and
money can be saved by making canal
across the isthmus of Nicaragua, then it
must be built and it will be built-built
under the control of the government, be-
cause the whole people need it. Then
this vast producing region known as the
great West, including the valley of the
Mississippi, instead Of being isolated
from the trade centres of the world,
will occupy the central or pivotal posi-
ton between the countries of Asia and
rich and populous portion Of Western
Europe.
Think of what this canal would ac-
complish. 1twould shorten the distance
by sea from the Pacific side of our coun-
try to the gulf and Atlantic states about
ten thousand miles. 1t would increase the
trade of the Pacific with Atlantic side Of
the continent. It would build up your
markets with all Asiatic countries. Its
construction would bring into our coun-
try the commerce of the Pacific islands
now largely controlled by Great Britain.
It would make New York and New Or
leans 1900 miles nearer Yokohoma than
is Liverpool by the Suez canal. The i'm
portance Of this trade SO secured may be
noted when it is known that the foreign
commerce of the countries fronting on
the Pacific ocean is more than $1,000
100000 and the actual annual tonnage
from those vast regions, which would
pass through the Nicaragua canal, would
exceed 9,500,0OO. That more than
4oo,oo0,oo0 ofpeople would be the direct
patrons of the intercontinental water
way. That Japan would be one Of our
best cotton markets. It would furnish
to the great states bordering on the At
lantic seaboard an incentive for better
investments for capital, and more renu-
lucrative rewards for the labor. Itwould
vitalize the tagging industries Of the
great West. In time it would make
New York the center Of the monetary
exchange Of the Western world, which.
is now controlled by London, and it
would Americanize all America by
making it COMMERCIALLY independent.