The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-19
5CR0sS THE 1yLAYTTC.

The action of the British house of lords
within a few days in giving special pref
erance TO the enactment which will au-
thorize the establishment Of a great
transatlantic shipping port On the south
west coast of ireland, connected with the
Irish mainland and with English COM
munities by rapid railroad and chan
mel feuying system, brings to the front
once more the ceaseless effort which has
been in progress since the introduction
of steam navigation to reduce to a min
inlum the time necessary for the trans
Atlantic voyage.
The port of Halifax is the nearest point
on the American mainland It's utiliza-
ton will of course tend to lessen the
time for the sea voyage. But the com
mercial value of the gain thus achieved
IS not such as to give very much con-
Germ. The two objective points must be
on the coast of Ireland and the coast
of New York or New Jersey The estab-
lished commercial centers OF the two
countries make this a fixed fact, If Ire
land is to be considered at all. 1t has
heen the custom of course to ignore Ire
land in the advantage of contiguity to
the American mainland which she pos
sesses. Irish shipping would be a great
factor in the worlds commerce TODAY
II this were not the fact.
Any such expedient which NAV be
adopted will work but with limited effect
The reduction of time must be had with
reference to the two great points of de-
parture on the British and the United
states coasts. Ireland and Canada. as
long as they bear toward the contiguous
countries respectively the relation thew
do bear, will at best represent but ston-
ping places =,
Ihe demand of modern society is 70
span the Atlantic by steam transportation
IN the quickest possible time. The new
enterprise may be a great success. But
II is not conceived along lines that will
appeal with any special strength to the
American commercial imagination. ,roo
great advances have been made in the
past ten or fifteen years. and are in
deed being made every day in naval con-
struction, to allow the American mind to
concentrate itself on the rnake-shtft ar
rangements which will involve a general
system of trans-shipment of passengers
to reduce the time matter of dav
or so.
The appearance of the Celtic in the
world of transatlantic navigation is in
itself an event. 1t is not one which points
oarectiy to reduced time but to greater
carrying capacity. But The Celtic and
vessels like the Lucania have made rev
records in that department of commerctaI
enterprise, so it is reasonable to sI,pnosA
that in the matter of passenger transnor-
tation alone the immediate future will
produce such devices as viii succeed IN
navigating the Atlantic from shore IN
shore in four and, perhaps, three DAYS
The Immense craft which now mako
such wonderful time are not exclusively
passenger boats. They haul large oman
titles Of merchandise of different kinds
What reason is there why boats huil+ on
tireiy for passenger traffic, and, with a
view to the speedier passage of four DAYS
VIII not be devised before many years.
1t may be that aeriel navigation will
solve the problem for us before suob
vessel is devised. But by whatever
means the end is accomplished the
worlds progress for the past decade or
two plainly shows that the trans AtIar-
tic trip viii be made in our own time
in the space of three or four days