The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1909-12-10
THE PANAMA CANAL
WHAT IT MEANS
BOON FOR THE soUTH-WlLL
PUT UNITED STATES IN TOUCH
WITH LATlN.AMERIcA.

New orleans, La, Dec Sit is of
the highest importance. not only TO
the south but to the whole COUNT,
that we should begin to get ready for
the Panama canal. We are not act.
ually confronted with serious dan.
ger to our commerce and our prestige
abroad, namely, that We shall com.
plete the canal only to find that othe,
countries will gain greater practical
benefits from 1t than the United
States.
The one great thing. therefore that
our people and our congress nov
should do is to study and set i'm mo-
ton such activities and policies as
will place the entire land in readiness
to enjoy and profit from the routes
and facilities provided by the canal
1t will be almost criminal lack of
foresight to spend four hundred mil.
lions OF dollars (s40O,00O,O0O) digginh
this waterway, and then awaken at its
completion to find that we are not I'm
a position to utilize fully its much
discussed advantages.
There are twcnty-one states of the
union bordering on the high sea and
having ports from which vessels
ought to steam through the Panama
canal, and hardly one of them realizes
the opportunities which the cana. ..
fers, with It's completion only five
years distant. There should be start
ed slogan Get ready for the canal"
which would be heard all along the
Gulf Atlantic and Pacific coasts and
inaugurated a national movement TO
prepare for it in a way that will be er
fective and practical.
Every city and commercial center
having any interests in foreign com
merce should acquant itself with ac
tual trade conditions in the parts OF
the world to be reached by the cana.
Every section of the country especial
ly the south should familiarize itself,
for instance, with the great west or
Pacific coast and Central America
and the possible wants and resources
thereof.
Conditions OF demand and supply.
capacity to sell what is desired or
purchase what is for sale starting of
new industries conservation OF re
sources, improvement OF coast har.
bors and interior waterways. better
ment OF steamship facilities, the send
ing of qualified agents abroad. study
OF the Spanish language, travel among
those heretofore distant but future
close neighbors. and acquaintance
with their social and racial character
istics-all have a direct and important
bearing on getting ready for the ca.
nal"
The southern states abutting on the
gulf and Atlantic coasts and the first
tier OF states back of them have a
great and rich commercial opportunll,
before them in Latin-America.
without touching upon the vast
east coast of South America, which
includes the mighty areas of Brazil
and Argentina and other countries,
let us bear in mind that there reaches
directly south from Panama to Pata-
gonia a Pacific coast line of five thou
sand miles In the very infancy OF its
development, blessed with a mar 'el-
Gus variety of resources and climate,
one which, though comparativelH $50
lated, is already conducting a foreign
trade valued at three hundred mil
lions OF dollars ($3OO,OoO, ,OoOl per an
mum.
In other practically debouching on
the Pacific, bought and sold in one
year products equal in value 10 two
thirds OF the entire cost of the canal.
II a trade of such volume can be
main aimed without the canal, 1t Is
difficult to pred ct safely its valuation
few years after the canal is com
pleted.
Northwest from Panama is the Pa