Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-17
How the Canal Will Pay.

1 frODdDly 10 liilC hiiAAoSSA ~ 80
land was ever more generally criticised
by the people of that country than was
| BENJAMIN DisraeH when he~secured the
Suez Canal for his country. He was
charged with a prodigal and unwar-
ranted waste of national funds. and all
| SORTS of prophecies were made of tue
evils that would follow the acquire
ment of this great water way. Events
long ago demonstrated the fact that
Mr.. Disraeii was a vastly bigger and
more farseeing man than any of his
critics whose prophecies of evil appear
| specially ridiculous today when
viewed in the light of history. The
| requirement of the Suez canal Will
rank for all time as one of the great
est trades ever made by England. Not
| only has it given tha. country a much
| stronger position in the worlds affairs,
| but it has also been a very profitable
| MISUNDERSTANDING almost from the
start, an enormous dividend Garner.
Last year there passed through the
Suez Canal 4,267 vessels, with tonnage
aggregating 14,72S,4S4.
In view of this lesson of history it
seems strange that there can be found
at this late day Misanthropes who take
a gloomy view of the financial future of
the Panama Canal. In a recent article
in Putnam's magazine Mr.. H. c. Weir
points out some of the things which
may be depended upon to constitute
this great Waterway across the
Isthmus a big money maker. Today
the Southern cotton growers reach the
Asiatic ports by the rounl about route
of the Suez Canal by way of New
York. which it is needless to say puts
them at distinct disadvantages in
reaching the great markets in ;hlt
part of the world. The Panama
Canal will completely change
this situation, affording Southern
cotton growers an exceptionally
favorable route by which to trans
port their product to the teeming
millions of the Orient. OF scarcely
less Importance will be the more favor
able conditions under which Southern
Republics on the West Coast of South
America. At the present time only
about . per cent. of the $4,000, 900 i
year which South America spends for
cotton goes to the United States The
vastly shorter and easier route which
the Panama Canal will afford for
reaching the West Coast of South
America may be depended upon to
give the cotton growers a vastly
greater proportion of this valuable
trade. But there are other great conf
mercial enterprises which are destined
to receive a great impetus from the
opening up OF the Panama Canal some
of which are pointed out by Mr.. Weir
He says:
Iron can be produced more chedpl.
at Birmingham. Ala, than at any other
point in The uorlj. IiTt tho ban irr Of
transportation makes it's sale meager
and Improbable in the great Asiatic
and South American markets. The
machinery of the Tennessee mills, the
steel and hardware from the other
Southern states would be doubled in
output could they be economically
marketed on the other side Of the
world This is impossible now. In
the Panama canal lies the magic wand
which will make it possible. The big
ditch at Panama will solve the forestry
problem-from one point of view. The
building lumber of the Western coast
is beyond the reach OF the Eastern
markets because of the excessive
freight charges. The cost of water
Transportation is one-fifth that of the
overland route. With the ocean
itinerary opened by the Panama canal,
another segment of the industrial
revolution is unfolded.'
Indefinitely it's field could be length
ened-to the items of coal, fruits.
cereals, fish, grain, manufactured
goods in general and particular and
even the broadening possibilities before
the American shipbuilder.
With an inland canal from the Great
lakes to the Mississippi, and the
deepening of the passageway to The
Gulf, the dream of an ocean greyhound
floating maiestically southward from
Duluth to Colon. and thence through
the Panama canal to the countless
ports OF the Pacific, is easy of accom-
pliShment.
While the American people have
been practically unit in backing the
big canal project, it is probable that
the most sanguine of US can not now
conceive of the vast field for CONNER
cial expansion which it is destined 20
open up to American energy ana
enterprise.
The spectacle of foreign minister
IL, irc "a