The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-05-27
CANAL PROBABILITIES.


place in the mainland press regardin
| the changes in great trade channel
which are liable or likely to result from
| the opening of the Panama canal
Fisk & Robinson, a firm of New Yorl
and Boston bankers, have had prepar
ed for them by DR.. j. p. Norton of thu
| University what is termed an indus
| trial map of the United States, showing
| the advantage of the gulf ports. by rea.
| son of their favorable location, Will
| reference to the Panama canal 1t is
sought, by this graphic mode of argu.
ment, to establish the proposition that
as the coast ports from Pensacola tc
Galveston are from 500 to 600 miles
| nearer to Colon than are the ports OF
| 200 to 800 miles nearer to Colon than
| is the port of Boston, the trade GO
| ing from the United States through,
the isthmian canal, which represents
| the production of the central part of
our country from the gulf to the Can
adian border, will go via the gulf ports
rather than by ports on the Atlantic
seaboard.
An Eastern exchange, while admit
stration thus made, presents an elab-
crate reply to show that, while trade
routes ultimately follow the line of
least resistance, it is not always the
case that the line of least resistance
is the shortest route" The first exam
pie in support of this proposition is
that of large shipments of grain ship
ped during the past few months to Eu-
rope by way of Galveston and New Or
leans-grain that had been grown in
Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois
and even Iowa. The distance from the
ports in western Europe is many hum
dred miles longer than the distance be-
tween Boston, New York and Philadel-
phia and these same European points
of discharge. 1t is pointed out that
the saving made in this instance is the
saving in railroad transportation,
which, under modern methods of ocean
transportation, is much more costly
than water carriage. NJ
main reliance of the gulf ports upon
securing isthmian traffic will be the
production by the south and central
sections of the country of the COM
modities needed by those who are to
purchase merchandise sent from the
United States by way of the Panama
canal. Southern cotton and lumber are
mentioned as sure things among the
exports by way of the canal to the west
coast of South America, Australasia
and eastern Asia. AS to the great fu-
ture demand in China for American
wheat and flour which is predicted, it
is promised that California, Oregon
and Washington will, by long odds, be
the chief source of supply for these
commodities. The cost of sending grain
by rail from the middle west to the
northwest Pacific ports and to the gulf
ports, respectively, would be about
equal, while the difference in distance
between Seattle and Shanghai is thou
sands of miles less than the distance
between Galveston and Shanghai via
the Panama canal.
A prophetical claim is made that, in
value at least, the shipments for canal
passage westward made from the At
lantic seaports will be far greater than
they will represent to a great degree
the products of manufacture. IT, it
is argued, 1--WE are to have-as by the
of the isthmian canal and
the adoption of more or less settled
eastern policy it is plainly thought
that we shall in the future have-a
great trade with the continent or Asia,
it is to be hoped that this will be large
ly made up in its export features, not
of raw materials or unprepared food
supplies, but finished manufactured ar
ticles of all kinds, representing in their
production the largest possible employ
ment of American capital and labor"
Hawaii need not be greatly concerned
over the probabilities of canal traffic
with regard to the relative shares there
in which may be obtained by the At
lantic and the gulf ports. What both
capture in combination viii all come
this way. There is a probability from
the opening of the Panama canal which
should be realized in prospective by the
Territorial Government, as we'll as COM
mercial Honolulu, so that due prepara-