The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-04-14
commerce around the coast.

/ comes more denSely settled ana
bulky freight is made in greater
quantity, Galveston and New Or
leans must continue to become
more important shipping ports,
and faster each year they will pull
away from the Atlantic ports that
are too far distant from the place
of production.
If you look at the map you will
see that line drawn from Roches-
ter to New York is Just as long as
line drawn from Rochester to
Philadelphia. New York is the
nearest seaport to the country
east of central New York. All
the great territory west of central
New York and eastern Pennsvl-
vania is nearer to some other sea-
port than to New York, and with
the exception of Philadelphia all
the ports are in the South.
Florida has a longer coast line
than any other State. Florida has
a longer water front on the Allan
tic than ali of New England has.
] Florida has more water front on
the gulf than the coast line of all
the Northern States that front on
the Atlantic, and almost as much
of total coast line as all OF the
other States that front on the At
lantiC. The water frontage of the
ten Southern States is fully as
long as that of all the other States
on both oceans. And the valuable
feature is that the southern coast
line is abundant in those bays and
CULTS that penetrate the interior of
the country where business can be
reached
OF the eighteen leading ports of
the United States Detroit is the
one on the great lakes that does
the leading foreign commerce.
Two are on the Pacific coast, Bos-
ton and Portland are in New Eng
land, New York and Philadelphia
in the middle States. The other
eleven are in the South. OF the
eighteen leading ports the ten
Southern States lack but one of
having two-thirds OF the entire
number.
New York has the first place,
and will probably hold that lead
for some time in spite of natural
disadvantages, because New York
is the commercial headquarters of
the United States. But even with
that advantage the other ports are
growing on New York, which is
not holding its lead.
There is no doubt that Calves
ton and New Orleans will be two
of the great ports of foreign COM
MERGE in the future, for the rapid
and substantial growth that this
country is to make will be in the
territory tributary to those two
cities.
The progress of the South At
lantic seaboard will have ar in
fuence on Wilmington, Norfolk,
! Charleston. Savannah and Mobile,
and all of these promise to be big
commercial cities, but the ten
dency is all the time to conceu-
trate the heavy traffic at points
where great Cargoes can be ham
died by big ships and contributed
by well equipped railroads that
traverse productive territory.
Trunk lines are : aking steady
efforts to reach the Southern ports
and facilities at those points are
steadily increasing for handling
train loads and transferring them
to vessels. Railroads are building
rapidly in this country. Each
year sees enough new construction
to equal an entire line from Bos-
ton to San Francisco and another
from Minneapolis to New Orleans,
A large share of this work is on
lines that run to the seaports, and
fair share of it is on lines that
run to the seaports of the South.
Galveston is destined to be
great commercial city, and if l am
any guesser, several ofthese South
ern seaport towns have a promis-
ing future ahead of them. More