The morning call., 1893-03-12
CANALS AND COMMERCE.

The New York Herdld'S dictum that "the
days OF canals are past is egregiously out
Of line with the facts of commerce to-day.
An argument in opposition to the Nicaragua
canal project derives no support from
blind denial of that which is palpably in
controveTtible. The SueZ canal is not only
not out of date, but if the concession to the
company we're not, as acknowledged by
Great Britain, of an exclusive character, an
other canal parallel to il would by this time
have been completed. But for this legal
bar, with France also in the way, English
capital would ten years ago have broken
ground for a fresh waterway adequate to
the traffic. The Suez company was driven
to widen and deepen the canal In order to
satisfy the demands of shlp-owners for bet
ter accommodation. Aided by the electric
light transit goes on by night as well as by
day, and from Port Said TO Suez is but
voyage Of twenty-four hours. but such is
the traffic that the canal is really too small.
Over 0.O00, 600 tons Of shipping pass through
the canal annually. of which three-f -fourths
belongs to Britain. The high dividends
have constantly to be kept down by reduc-
tion OF rates. Does this prosperity suggest
the uselessness of canals?
England was in Palmerston's time i'm
plaeably hostile to this canal and engineers
of eminence ridiculed the possibility of its
construction. But when the canal was
made England revoutionized her shipping
trade. Steamers largely took the place of
sailing ships, and the tendency still is In
that direction. 1t is not now so much
question Of maintaining a short route 10
India in times of crisis. 1t is the question
of getting the shortest steamer route TO
Australia, New Zealand, the Eastern Archi-
pelago, China and japan. as well as India.
When the canal was opeued there were no
steamers except of the auxiliary type to the
Antipodes. Now steamers reach Australia
in thirty-one days-ten days more than it
takes slow freight to come by rail from Now
York to San Francisco.
There are other ship canals In the world.
Manchester, forty miles distant from Liver
pool. has one almost completed at cost of
So, ,O0O. 900, which will render it independent
OF the latter city for cotton cargoes. Brm-
ingham is to have another approach from
the sea. Probably great ship canal will
be cut through Scotland bet tween the Forth
and Clyde. Existing canals are being util-
lied in Britain as they have never previously
been used. They are cheap and servicea-
BILE for heavy freight. Holland has been
active in huge inter-sea canal undertakings
Ol idle anu bO mas OeTuldDN III INC uOTi0.
France has progressed in the south. The
day has gone when steamers which use
canals can be described as slow. The
three thousand miles across the Atlantic
are regularly steamed in less than six days.
Two steamers will this spring make the
run in less than five days. Is that not as
good an average as the transcontinental
expresses make to or from California?
Canals are short cutS for 9tpamprs
Is the worlds commerce 10 be stationary
at the point 1t has reached? Emphatcaly,
mol The development win be as great
twenty years hence as 1t is now remarkable
compared with twenty years ago The
SueZ Canal dividend Is about 20 per cent.
1t will alwavs be high, but only because
commerce seeks that route. What railways
could take its place? But construct and
open the Nicaragua canal. and immedi-
ateIy large percentage OF the shipping of
the world Will take that route. To reach
China, Japan or Australia, and Java,
Borneo, the Philippines and the Straits
Settlements it is a route in some respects
preferable to the one by Suez.
The English ship-owner-and the same
may be said of the German or Duich-has
no special preference for the Suez route. 1t
is question of rates and convenience. Nor
would Australia think Of the matter other
wise than in a business spirit. Twenty or
thirty years hence Australia may have Il
population of 100000 Its trade will be
worth contending for. AS 10 American
interests in Nicaragua, there cannot be
equivOcation. waterway that saves 10, 600
miles of hazardous and tempestuous naviga-
tion between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans has an advantage over railroads,
even if they carry freight and passengers
free. The national safety as well as the
national progress renders this oceanic link
expedieni. The capital required is mere
tride, and the returns upon the investment
will never be in doubt. Only railroad cor
porations stand in the way. and everybody
knows why. The interests of this country
surely outweigh those of a score of railroad
bond manipulators, who imagine that when
they take walk the earth quakes.