The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-13

adapted for trade with the far east,
| and 1t is expected that some of the
steamers of that line will be employed
! by the Cunard company in commerce
| between British North America and
Great Britain by way of the canal
Some of the experts are inclined to
think that the commerce fioated
years will match the great commerce
| floated through the Suez canal. Those
| who have recently been in South
/ America, especially Joseph p. Grace,
are confident that a vast increase of
our commerce with the west coast of
| South America will have taken place
within five years after the canal is
open. In addition to foreign com
| merce floated through the Panama
canal it is the expectation that our
domestic commerce between the At
lantic and Pacific coasts will, within
a few years after the opening of the
canal, reach very great proportions.
Our Own Waterways.
All of these commerce bearers are
ocean-going steamships. But a ques-
ton which will be discussed at San
Francisco is this: What will be the eff
feet of the Panama canal upon com
merce which is floated upon our own
rivers? The railways of the United
States are already making prepara-
tions for the transportation of COM
modities to and from the gulf port
where these comm ODDITIES may be
transferred to or taken from steam
ships that are to pass through or have
passed through the Panama canal
But will the opening of the canal
tend to increase the commerce borne
by our great rivers, particularly the
Mississippi and the Ohio? If the
Mississippi were put into the condition,
which the engineers say is possible, so
that there could be permanently main
tanned a sufficient channel from ST.
Paul to New Orleans, there is not the
slightest doubt that the opening of the
Panama canal would serve greatly to
stimulate the commerce upon the
Mississippi river. SO, also, the perfect
ing of navigation upon the Ohio river
would unquestionably lead to great
stimulation of commerce designed for
the Panama canal transported from
the Ohio valley to New Orleans and
there transshipped to ocean going
steamers.
That New Orleans and Mobile ex-
pect large increases in commerce
brought from the interior to these
cities by the Mississippi and navigable
tributaries. and also the navigable
rivers of Alabama is now an acknowl-
edged fact.
At the recent annual meeting of the
American Bankers association at New
Orleans, some of the bankers from the
whose homes and business are in the
southwest and south that in their
opinion the opening of the Panama
canal to navigation will in the course
of a few years double the commerce
carried to New Orleans and Mobile
from the interior over the navigable |
rivers of the south.
South America Starts Work.
No one can talk with those who !
have recently been in Panama or who |
have been brought into touch with the |
industry and agriculture of the Missis- |
sippi valley or of the south without |
q
the Panama canal to navigation is the |
one predominant topic. Everybody |
expects that the canal will serve enor- |
mously to stimulate industry, both |
and agricultural, not |
only in the south and southwest, but |
the entire valley of the |
and of the Ohio. Further, /
the conviction prevails throughout the |
south that the opening of the canal |
Will greatly stimulate the manufacture |
Of cotton goods, because a, large de- |
mand for these goods will come from |
the east and from South America.
Curiously enough, Peru and Chill |
have been stimulated by the certainty /
of the opening CT the canal to naviga- |
ton to undertake cotton growing and |
cotton manufacture. This is as yet |
an infant Industry On the west coast
Of South Amer lea, but Mr.. Grace now
speaks of it IS very promising in
1ustry, although it is not easy to see
how cotton manufactured upon the |
west coast of South America can
reach American markets. In fact, the |
experiment is undertaken chiefly with
the view of marketing manufactured
cotton in South American states.
The incident is, however, interesting |
since it justif1es the impression that |
the Panama canal is sure very greatly
to change some commercial features
IN the United States, although if there
be impairment in one direction it is
likely to be offset by Improvement in
another. HOLLAND.