Panama City pilot., 1908-12-03
An Inland Waterway Along the At,
lantic Coast.

lantic Coast.
While the project of deep water
way from the Great Lakes to the
Gulf of Mexico is making progress in
the Middle West, movement is
under way for a similar waterway
along the Atlantic coast. The second
annual Convention of the Atlantic
Deeper Water ways Association was
held at Baltimore last week. Over
five hundred delegates attended, re-
presenting almost every important
commercial organization of the sea-
board cities. The States bordering
upon the Atlantic were officially re-
presented by commissioners appoint
ed by the Governors. The objects of
the Association are to unite the bays,
sounds, and navigable rivers along
the Atlantic coast by canals, thus
atfording safe deepwater communi-
cation from Boston on the east to
Florida at the far south. A glance at
the map will show how far nature
has gone towards providing a coast
wise channel; Buzzards Bay, Narra-
gansett Bay, Long Island Sound, the
East River, New York harbOr, the
Kill Won Kull, and Staten Island
Sound already afford navigation to
vessels of considerable tonnage.
From the mouth of the Raritan River
to the Delaware a canal now exists;
| the Delaware River has channel of
thirty feet to Philadelphia, and a
short cut, not to exceed twenty miles,
would afford communication with
deep water in Chesapeake Bay. Fur
ther southwark, between Hampton
Roads and Albemarle South, another
artificial channel would be required,
and beyond that-through the sounds
of North Carolina and back of the
Sea Islands-others still, cutting short
connections, or enlarging or straight
ening channels already existing.
There are two considerations that
render such a deep-water highway
parallel to the Atlantic seabOard of
very great value. Commercially it
would be made profitable by the safe
and cheap transpOl tatiOn of products,
chiefly cotton, lumber, and more es-
pecially coal, both bituminous and
anthracite, and in military sense it
would afford in time of war security
of communication. and ability for
naval vessels to concentrate swiftly
for the defense of any threatened
point. In one of the addresses made
(by Representative Bruhm, of Penn
sylvania) that the effect of opening
such a deep-water channel would be
to cheaper the one item of anthra-
cite coal alone by one dollar and a
half ton throughout New England.
The military and naval advantages OF
such water highway were ably dis
cussed by Admiral George w. Mel
vile, the Arctic explorer and formerly
Chief of the Bureau of Steam En-
gineering. Among the more atle,
forceful, and valuable of the ad-
dresses was one by Mr. John F. Ste
vens, formerly Chief Engineer of the
Panama Canal, on 1.-The Relations OF
Railways to Canals" wherein it was
clearly shown that the railways would
not be injured by cheap canal trans
portation, but that they would be
actually benefited by gaining relief
from the congestion due to the pres
sure upon their lines from bulky and
less profitable freight. The general
movement for the improvement OF
the waterways of the United States is
an important one. 1t does not spring
as some people mistakenly suppose,
from mere desire to curb the power
of the railways. On the contrary,
many of the ablest and most sagaci-
Gus of the railway managers recog-
nize that it will promote and enlarge
the prosperity of the business OF
transportation in every form. The
Outlook.