The age-herald., 1900-10-07

tween decks with immigrants, and the Pa- cific coast will rapidly settle up with these to the exclusion of Chinese. To such de- sirable emigration the Pacific coast will for the first time be accessible at reasona- ble rates. At present the few that have means to start for the coast by overland railways are induced to settel in the middle west, and consequently Pacific coast popu- lation increases very slowly. The same freight steamships will then return to Alt lantc ports with Pacific coast products; Cape Horn will become a memory
 The United States government has eov- cred into its treasury approximately slS,oO0,GO which it loaned the overland rail- ways; the enormous land grants they keep. what injustice or outrage" is there in agadn using this. money to build another transportation route, national in character, TOT the benefit of all the Republic? This IS not even taxation of our people; they have been once taxed to build the overland rail- ways l have In mind an instance where looo barrels provisions were shipped from sloux City, Iowa, to Jersey City; lightered 10 the California bound ship in East River, NeW York; carried 15000 miles around cape Horn, paying rail freight eastward, hghterage, Cape Horn freight, insurance, six months interest and San Francisco wharfage; after all these charges saving one third on the rail freight westward from Sioux City to the Paciici Freight rates eastward on Pacific coast perishable prod ucts are even lighter. You are aware that, 10 save the onerous westward freight charges by rail- California merchants have repeatedly shipped heavy goods by steam from our Atlantic ports to Antwerp thence resnlpped via Cape Horn to San Francisco, paying charges before named, and would DC now doing so save for customs regula- tons forbidding it. It cannot be expected mat freight can be carried by rail across the continent more than three thousand miles over two mountain chains and com pete in cost with water transportation which under conditions most favorable to rail transportation costs only one fifth, N.ile, with heavy grades the ratio is one by water to fifteen by rail- In the effort to control such freight the overland rail ways are preventing the development of the Pacific coast to their own detriment and against the interests of our great coun- try. The day will come when these rail- way managers will regard their opposition 10 the canal as error born of unfounded ap- prehension. Even now one of the main overland railway systems is quietly friendly to the canal. Water transportation has it's limitations, mainly because of cheapness at the expense of time. Railway transporta- ton also has it's limita tons, mainly speed at increased cost One is the complement or the other-not properly it's competitor, S~NN " Se6AA AdSo Ol CHSdp duu Dulky lTelbUl which is frequently unprofitable to rail- ways on a long haul, water transportation can and is being used to aid railways. Even MT. Huntington frequently shipped his railway iron around Cape Horn, as he would have done through the canal had 1t been available While controlling rail- Way system from ocean to ocean he bought out the Morgan Steamship Company be- tween New York and New Orleans and With the advantage of this one third water route, dictated terms to his railway com petitors. Could he have better expressed his true appreciation of cheap water car riage and of the inter-oceanic canad?
 The limits of this letter forbid full dis cussion of navigation distances, and be- Sues this, distances are not fully conclus- i've. Considerations of traffic, ocean cur rents, available coaling stations, and re- turn cargos must be taken into account. But I shall briefly allude to prominent points in connection with nayigable dis tances which are proved by United States Photographic Tables. Considering New 1ork as the starting point the divisional line between SueZ and Nicaragua canal in- Huence in Asiatic commerce is Singapore, which port is only twenty-nine miles nearer New Iork via Suez than Nicaragua Con- soquently all Asiatic ports north of Singa- pore, are within the attraction of the American canal for United States com merce. The immense trade of these ports Is an important factor In Australia, all ports east of and including Melbourne are much nearer New York than via Suez. New Zealand, the coasts of North and South America on both oceans and all Pacific ocean island groups the same. No claim to important diversion from the Suez Canal can be made, as the distance from the United States to Port Said protects it. Nor is claim to diversion from Suez Canal needed. The Nicaragua canal had within its n O rn n ion cb hTra rAfttl inmates in 1890, S,159, ,150 tons annually. The revenue attainable therefrom will depend upon rate of tol but at one dollar per ton, with 10 per cent for operating expenses Cor 1h per cent more than a Suez) it will leave safe sinking fund even on SI50, ,000, 900 cost, or, by an extension of time, on a greater amount. But the earnings will rapidly in- crease. You will note that the Suez Canal merely diverted gradually an ancient com merce, the increase of which has been steady but comparatively slow. The Nica- ragua Canal can depend upon an already large commerce, yet in its incipency. The resources of the American continent are undeveloped and its population limited No man can place limit upon the future commerce of this great division of the habitable world. Another feature in favor of the Nicaragua Canal is the region through which 1t will be built. While its length is 169 miles, it has 12l miles of frcs
 
 a territory of unsurpassed fertility, blessed with a healthy climate. Thus, 1t is not cnly an interoceanic canal but line os in- land navigation which will so develop the territory on each side, that in few years its commerce will pay the cost of mainten- ance. The benefit of fresh water canal to ocean carriers of steel or iron will be ob- vious to experts; they will leave 1t with clean bottoms and boilers .44.ed with fresh water. Its location is Il degrees north of the Equator and in the Northeast trade re- gions an advantage that will enable sailing ships to avail of it. Cape Horn is 1900 miles south of the Cape of Good Hope and the American canal consequently saves greater distances than the ouez or any other canal that can hereafter be constructed
 The naval and political advantage of the canal is a technical question regarding which my opinion Is given with deference But find that its opponents are not found in the government service. Military and naval officers discuss the advisabiity of fcrtifying the canal never doubting its great importance to our country.