Arizona republican., 1904-05-23
The South's New Opening.

lC NOOdLh LNCN
 The south is finding opportunity to indulge in some very pleasing anticipa- tions from it's study of the industrial map which Professor Norton of Yale has prepared for the purpose of show ing the great advantage that southern ports will have in the new trade to be created CT diverted by the construc- ton of the Panama canal The salient feature of this map is the bringing out of the fact that gulf ports like Pensa cola and Galveston are five or six hun dred miles nearer Colol than is New York or Philadelphia and seven or eight hundred miles nearer than Bos- ton-a geographical fact which one might suppose had not been heretofore altogether unknown to any American but which has apparently never be- fore impressed itself quite so strongly as now on the southern imagination. Because of the livelier realization Of it the southerners are now building air castles of a most attractive tyre.
 Some of their dreams will no doubt become substantial realities in due time, and they are doing well in pre- pairing to get the fullest advantage out of the new conditions. But in re- gard to others there is less assurance. l. is very doubtful, for example, if the cutting through of the canal at Pana- ma is to be of any material assistance 0re chi for grain. Much of the agricultural products of the Mississippi valley is now. it is true. seeking outlet to for cign markets through those ports, the lower cost of the rail haul more than o1fsetting the longer water route to Europe. But 1t Is practically certain now that the sending Of American grain across the Atlantic is a business that has passed its maximum; and if a new market is presently to be found for this merchandise in the Orient the shipments are most likely to be mada from the Pacific ports. The grain fields. or at least those Of them that produce a surplus are being crowded farther west all the time; and in so far as wheat continues to be for US an exportable commodity 1t will be far more likely to go abroad by trans Pacific routes than by way of Panama from gulf ports. In the end the latter will probably be no more successful than the Atlantic ports in holding this business.
 But with cotton the case Is different II is in cotton shipments, indeed that the canal promises to be of most ad- vantage to the south. If the southern planters maintain themselves-and that Is not impossible-as producers of three-fourths of the worlds supply of the raw material and If the southern manufacturers continue to increase their output of cotton goods they will find the new canal a great help to them. Long before the canal is ready for business the demand for cotton goods in the Orient will have become very large; and with the greatest &C., feasibility of the market from the gulf ports through the canal the south should be able to meet that demand almost. if not quite, to the exclusion of the north. Unless by some revolu- ton in freight rates across the conti- nent New England will net be able to lay down cotton in China as cheaply as the south can by using the shorter route by way of Panama. The sane may be said of southern lumber: and presumably with the completion of the canal ether southern products will come into prominence as probably ex- portable merchandise. Indeed, it is surely not altogether vain to dream of the time when the United States will become a larger exporter of general manufactures than of agricultural products; and when that time comes, the Asiatic markets having meanwhile become open and eager. the southern ports by aid Of the canal may reazona- bly expect to do more of that business than the Atlantic ports and. for time at least. more than the Pacific ports. It is certainly a pleasing pros pcct that is held out to the south by the construction of the interoceanic canal; and though some cf the hopes built thereon may not be realized the general result cannot be one Of dIsap- pO.utment.