The Worthington advance., 1900-01-05
A KLoND1KE OF COMMERCE.
The Great Lakes and Their Inn
portance to Our National
PFORreS8.

The great lakes have become great
artery of our richest commercial blood.
One-third of the population of the
United States is dependent on these
lakes Tor their export and import trade. !
1hls waterway taps the richest and
most prosperous agricultural territory
on this continent of ours, together with
our most productive mines, and it is
worth while noting that within a rap
dius of 400 miles of Cleveland lies one.
half the population of the United
States. 1t is well-established fact that
deep-water transportation is, and nec.
essarily must be, far below the cost
of transportation by rail; indeed, it
is computed that the cost of water
transportation by steam, when the voy-
age is of any considerable length, is
about one-quarter the average cost of
transportation by rail, while by SAIL
boat it is only one-eighth of the latter.
AS this question of transportation de-
termines to great extent the existence
or the nonexistence OF possible in
dustry, and enhances or diminishes the
value of every article of export in pro-
portion to its efficiency and economy,
the battle cry of the west for SEQ feet Of
| water between Duluth and the sea-
is no great problem to account for. In
the year 1898 there passed through the
Sault Ste. Marie canals no less than 21,-
234,664 tons of Canadian freight, alone
havieg value of 5000, 1000, 900, while
American ships moved some 16S. .CcO, 900
tons through the same waters for the
same length of time.
The total traffic through the locks
| Of this $500" canal, for less than eight
months, is FIVE times as great in num-
Der of vessels and slightly less than
twice as much in actual tonnage as
passes through the Suez canal during
an entire year. Through this same
Suez canal, which boasts of carrying
the commerce of the world, there
passed, during last year, $500, 900 ton
mage, while there foated through the
locks of ''Susan Mary" a tonnage oe
16,5oo,o0o. The stupendous proportions
OF the traffic on our great lakes may
also be realized from the fact that more
ships sail the Detroit river than enter
either the port of London or Liverpool.
A greater number of passengers, on
the other hand, pass through this same
river than do in and out of the port Of
New York, the great gateway of the
new world. In fact, the total numbe-.
of passengers carried annually by the
lake fleet falls very slightly short OF
2oo,oo0,0o0. The city Of Buffalo, which
claims the largest grain elevator in the
world. Goes a business in the trans
shipment of grain and -four which ex-
ceeds that done by any other city in
existence. Cleveland. with the excep-
ton OF the Clyde, is the most extensive
shipbuilding center of the present day.
The neither shores of the lower lakes
have been necklaced with a collection Of
the busiest and most prosperous manu-
featuring centers in the United States,
and so much SO that to-day our coun-
try's commercial center of gravity will
be found to fall somewhere along the
northern portion of Ohio. Mill and
foundry and factory in all these cities
depend on the great iron freighters
that steam northward with coal and
bring southwark their cargoes Of tim
Der and grain and iron, and it is in the
; possibility of such economic exchange
that turks the secret of Uncle Sans
mercantile greatness.
1t is in just this, too, that lies the
secret Of how the United States has
taken such a generous hand in the
feeding of the world. 1t is an accepted:
fact with shippers that Liverpool makes
the price of cash wheat, and that every
cent saved on the cost of deliverin g
American grain at Liverpool means so
much money to be paid to the owner of
this wheat at the time it is sold and
shipped. So Duluth, in a commercial
sense, is placed by the great lakes 1000
miles closer to Europe than is, let US
say, st. Louis. The Canadian govern
ment has recently realized this fact.
and, although they have heretofore al
lowed American vessels to carry 96 per
cent. of the traffic of the great lakes.
they are now perfecting a deep water
way system from Port Arthur to the
Gulf of the St. Lawrence that prom
lses to threaten even the business Of
the port of New York and the COM
paratively diminutive Erie canal. The
last link of this enterprise of the Cam
adian government was forged by the
opening of the Soulanges canal. and
by its operation it is expected that the
cost of transporting lake freights to
tide-water will be reduced to such an
extent that there will be a saving of
from one to two cents a bushel on
wheat. The Canadians have expended
over 100000 to secure their II feet
of water between Port Arthur and
Montreal, and in comparison with this
the $40,000,000 expended by the United
States seems relatively insignificant.
especially when one remembers the
surprising extent to which our COM
mercial interests are involved in such
deep waterway improvements. Our
greatest interests in this connection.
of course, are in the iron and coal ex-
change, which takes place between
Ohio and Lake Superior ports.
It is an unappreciated and indisputa-
bic fact that the great lakes lie at the
root of Americas present supremacy
in the iron and steel market of the
world. It has been actually the reduce
tion of lake freight rates on these two
essentials of life and commerce.
brought about by improved facilities
for loading and discharging cargoes,
the increased tonnage of lake vessels,
and the improvement of rivers and har-
bors, that has allowed the American
steel-worker triumphantly to invade
the English markets.-Ainslee's Maga-