Omaha daily bee., 1912-04-28

Central America. II will Be the ocean
highway from one part Of our country
TO the other and the ocean highway Tor
Europe. Besides, Asia Is Just AWAKEN
ing ana the soo,ooooco and more Of thar
eontinent will eyenr,aily be sending their
goods TO both sides OF cur hemisphere
As IL now IL the distances between Asia
and Europe favor sues. out Asia must
do a great business with North and South
America. Indeed. the possibilities are
insstimsble.
More About Tolls.
Now let us look at the question OF
tolls," said Colonel Goethais- Suppose
we should eventually have traffe
equal TO that OF suez. ! have looked over
the figures OF the suez canal for ise'
During that year more than 400 vessels
passed through Il and their gross ton
mage was upward OF n.oo0n l have
not the receipts for that year. but In
1907, when the tonnage was i'e0'c" less
the actual receipts were more than VS.
10000. A traffic like that would mofs
than pay 1 per cent interest on the cost
Of the canal and leave . large surplus
above the operating expenses as wen
The suez canal has In times past charged
tolls Of 50 a ton. It has gradually re.
duced them. until with the beginning OF
this year the charges will be Us per
ton. They are getting ready to meet our
n tolls. and that perhaps because ths
sh,pping of the world has been complain
| ing Of its excessive rates and Suggesting
that IL may favor Panama"
How about the rates on passengersr
That 10 another question. IL the toll
Is levied on the gross tonnage OF a snip
Il should, perhaps. take In the passen'
gers. as the passengers are part OF tne
weight. This was the complaint mans
at suex by the British when they sent
through their troop ships. They had y
pay for the gross tonnage and then psi
30 much per man. AT one time the ray
was q Der head, and that on 5000 troop
would be $4,000. This taxing the passen
gers was one OF the subjects Of the Con
stantinople convention. and It resulted Il
the present basis Of measurement OF ton
mage at suez. The tolls are now basel
i on the net tonnage and the passenger
are charged for in addition at 50 mucf
per head. II we should charge for pas
sengers In the same way I look for
considerable revenue. not only from tn
tourist travel, but also from the grea
immigration which will probably CONT
from Europe to South America In thu
near future. I believe that this will b
a passenger route as well a. freign
route.
shewId Americas ships Go Freef
But how about our American vessels
Colonel Goethals7 Would you eharg'
them the same rate as those Of foreign
nations?''
81 think that American ships ought Il
be favored, but by our treaty with Eng
land ! don't see how we can discriminate
in their favor ss long az they are en-
Eaged In transcontinentsl commerce
Under our coastwise laws we can discrim
mate In favor Of our own vessels, sine
all others are prohibited from enEsginI
in trade between American ports.
would make a lower rate for such ves
sells
And then there 10 another question
that comes up right there" said Colons
Cocktails. and that IL whether IL Is fsi
TO give such rates In justice to the in
terior Of the country. As II is now. tn
coast cities are the favored ones as t
the transcontlnsntsl railway haul. The