Panama City pilot., 1908-09-17
East Bay Canal.

A \
EDITOR PILOT
Please note the following letter from
the "Albany Business League"
ALBANY, GA, Sept. 9, 1905.
Miss LILLIAN CARLISLE,
Galloway Florida.
DEAR Miss CARLISLE:
Your inquiry of August 29th, with
enclosures relative 10 East Bay Canal,
is received. We are interested but
do not care to say more until the
government engineers have had an
opportunity to lock into your sugges-
tiOnS.
Yours very truly,
JOHN 4. BETJINIAN,
Secretary.
1t is indeed most gratifying to know
that Albany is interested, but | can
not see just why they wish to wait
for the L. S. to lead out. If Uncle
Sam deepens the pass for us this next
year, | think we ought to be satisfied,
and show our app recitation by cutting
this short canal end paying the eX-
penses thereof out of our own pockets.
| have no doubt that as soon as the
I. 5. can get to it, this work will be
done, but what is the use of waiting?
Some one has said "If we wait for
the L. S. its funds will be used and
we will save our S25, 100000, and it will
not make any difference if we do have
to wait few years, for we have
already waited about one hundred"
In reply to this we will take the one
item of cotton shipments. Please tell
me how many bales do you suppose
will be shipped from the sixteen or
more river towns this Fall? What
rate of freight will they pay per bale?
Now take off half; the saving in
having a direct water line to New
Orleans, by the new steamship line
just being established, and you will
see that the saving is nearly enough
to pay for cutting this short canal.
Ask Dothan, Alabama, what it will
save on her cotton shipments this
year over last, in way of freight, if
you doubt the above.
Therefore, lets not wait. Get to
work, to-day; raise the required funds
to have preliminary survey as per
my first suggestion and make use of
Mr. Steele's new steamship line until
the I. S. deepens our pass. Then we
will be ready for the larger lines
when they make their appearance.
People do not live six hundred years
these days, and if we do anything in
this short life we must hustle" There
is no day as guod as today to begin
pulling strong, steady and with de
ter~?inatiOn to win.
1t is certainly pleasing to watch the
growing interest in our canal, and
hear the talks and suggestions, but
there is one | think should be given
little thought by all our clubs. 1t
comes from Miss Beulah YOungblOOd,
of the City Improvement Club, Of
Troy, Ala. 1t is given as an amend
ment to the suggestion in my first
letter and is as follows:
Form Joint stock company, all
the stock to be taken by the Improve
ment Clubs of the different river
towns, to be paid for by subscrip-
tiOns or contributions from these re
spective towns. After the canal is
cut the dividends and the profits from
bonuses, &c, to be used by the I'm
prOvement Clubs of the several towns,
to improve their own city in any way
they may desire. The only expense
being that of the lock tender who can
collect the tolls as the boats pass
through"
My friends if we cut this canal with
view to business only, l deem this
a wise amendment. Please discuss
it at your next meeting and decide
whether to donate something to com
merce, or have a perpetual income to
be used to improve our own cities.
Va IT ToIonronh