Hattiesburg daily news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1907-1908, 1907-06-20
The South and
the Panama Canal.

It is confidently expected that the
"big ditch" across the Isthmus of Pan
anna will be completed eight years
hence, in the year 1915. New Orleans
has taken time by the forelock and is
enthusiastic about celebrating the
event by a bi-oceanic exposition. We
wish the city at the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi good luck! What benefits
New Orleans cannot hurt it's Hinter.
land
In our age conditions change from
day to day Ten years from now"
said a. prominent manufacturer of Phil
adelphia, Pa, "all the expensive ma
chinery in this factory will be scrap
iron. We must watch every new in
vention, introduce every improve
ment, or in less chan two years
/ our products would find no market"
ut is thus in every sphere and condi-
ion of life. We are in the swirl of
Xogress. The man who is drawn
.,,ng is a failure, whereas the one
% tries to swim with the foremost
pronounced success. The success
u one is heralded as a type every
graveyard throughout the length and
breadth of the land coversA Failures
beneath its sod
When Ferdinand de Lesseps
aroused the French to enthusiasm and
incidentally opened their purses by
announcing the proposed construction
of the Suez canal, conservative wise
acres shook the head and foretold fail
ure. The same prophets of i'll omen
fastened to purchase the s1ares of the
canal after its success was assured.
With its opening, in 1871, the course
of commerce began to change; it has
&peen suffering REIMBURSEMENT ever
5fe:--.->-J
For some years past many inquis-
Hive doctrinaires have been discuss
inis the effect upon commercial and in
ferRational conditions when the two
{;reast highways of commerce, the Pa
|cific land Atlantic, shall be Joined by
~ short cut. Such representations
are Interesting only in so far as they
tfeveah the mind of the writer More
|peopfe than those employed on the
! Isthmus, ere engaged in trying to
solve the b0Nblem of aerial navigation.
Suppose one of these succeeds prior to
the year 1905, in rendering the air sub
seryient to transportation, would not
this invention have the effect of dis
proving the calculations of the most.
conscientious statistician?
Such possibilities must be taken
90 account when discussing effects
esuIting eight years. hence. We are,
Hhowever, reasonably sure that the
Panama canal will be dug, and conse-
quently New Orleans is safe in pro
iecting her exposition. Nor is it like
~, supposing that aerial navigation
becomes fact, that it will displace
1.-THE ocean routes within so short a
speriod
~ HIS btllB duiLlIteui lne fdnalnd
- although an International water
Will chiefly benefit the western
hemisphere because it will materially
shorten the distance between the East
coast Of North, and the West coast of
South America, thus bring the nations
of the two great divisions into closer
connection Europe viii continue to
prefer the suez canal route. first be-
cause the distance between coaIng
stations via the Panama canal is too
Great. whereas the opportunities to
y fuel via the Suez canal are
and ALSO because there can
wing Of time in going across
be United States in general it
jof advantage on account of the
y Of transcontinental rates due
apetition of transportation by
the section. that will de-
\st benefit. is the South,
Rlly those states adj
sHS