The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-04-14
OUR SOUTHERN LETTER
Some Eye Openers as to the Growing
Importance of Southern Ports.

New York is the foremost seaport
of the United States. Now do you
know which is the second seaport
of this country?
Do you figure that it is Phila-
delphia?
Try another guess.
Boston, maybe, you pick on the
next attempt
But it is not Boston, for Boston
drags behind Philadelphia in her
shipment of American exports.
The fact is that neither of these
cities is second, nor even third.
They are both outclassed by two
Southern ports, and there is no
likelihood that either Boston or
Philadelphia will ever be higher
in rank than now.
Both are too far from the heart
OF the country.
The second port of the United
States in volume Of foreign bust
ness is Galveston, Texas, and the
third is New Orleans. Galveston's
exports exceed those of Philadel-
phia and Boston combined with
Portland, Maine, thrown in for
good measure. Savannah exports
almost twice as much as the two
leading ports of the Pacific, San
Francisco and Puget Sound, while
Mobile leads either of the two, and
Wilmington crowds both of them
closely with her export trade.
From this it is easy to see that
if it were not for New York alone
the foreign commerce of the United
States would be largely Southern
trade. This condition is destined
to continue or to incline more to
the growth of Southern ports, as
can be seen if map is consulted.
New York became a great port
because when it started 1t was
close to the farm and the factory.
Philadelphia and Boston gained
some prestige in the same manner.
But as the country grew the
area of production grew away from
the seaboard. New York held ner
trade with the Erie canal. Balti-
more, PHILADELPHIA and Boston
chung to what they could and were
important ports for long time.
But Boston is too far away. Phil
adelphia, not 50 far away, is be-
hind a great range of mountains
over which traffic must be hauled,
and Baltimore is not much better
off.
New Orleans has down grade
all the way from the farms of the
Mississippi valley and water trans
portation if it is desired. New
Orleans is nearer the place of pro-
duction. Galveston also is near
the farm. From Indiana west the
country is as near to Galveston as
to New York and with easier
grades to get there. From In
diana west the great export crops
are raised. So Galveston is lively
with foreign shipping, which car
ries away from Galveston half
million dollars worth of mer-
chandise for every day of the year,
New York alone exporting more
than this. The exports from Gal
weston are greater than the total
exports of several countries. Ia
pan does not export as much as
Galveston. Neither does Sweden,
Norway, Spain, Mexico or Den
mark, and it hurries China, with
all its vast population, to equal
the trade of the one American port
of Galveston.
When the Gulf of Mexico cut
into the heart of North America it
made this country possible. With
out this vast body of water the
United States would be a desert
except along narrow strip of the
Atlantic coast for the rains of the
whole country east of the Rocky
Mountains are largely from the
moisture that comes from the gulf
to be condensed by the cool winds
that come down from the north
west. Mexico is a rainless region.
The United States west of the ex-
IRENE end of the gulf is practically