The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-31
ParisianS Watch
 Progress Of Canal
 With Deep Interest

WlIn Ueep Inl6ltSl Paris, Oct 2s.-France. the builder 1 of the Suez Canal and first to begin | the work in Panama, has followed 1 American progress on the 1sthmus
 more earnestly perhaps than any oth- CT European country. Regret that ] France could not have completed the work so nobIy conceived tinges the apprectative comment of French ob- servers on the completion of the vast enterprise.
 The French government has made a study of the effects of the opening of the canal on French commerce The Ministries of the Navy, of Com merce and the Colonies appointed commission of four members, M. Jul lidiere, Engineer in Chief of the Board of Bridges and Highways; M. Douvry, an engineer in the Bureau of Arts and Manufacture of the Min istry of Commerce, and two naval of fcers, Lteutenants Hallfer and Bye nayme, to inquire into the effects of the opening of the canal on French shipping and trade in general, and particularly on French colonies in the Antilles and Oceanic. The Commits sion visited the canal zone and the French colonies concerned, and ex- amined and sifted an immense amount of material.
 
 consideration of all the facts at their disposal, have reported that French commerce will not be greatly affect ed by the canal. Only 250,00o tons of French shipping will use the new route during the first year of it's op- ening, nor can the commission per ceive that French tonnage passing through the canal will be likely to in crease greatly, because the French mercantile marine generally tends rather toward reduction than an expansion
 England and Germany, who hold the greater part of the maritime transport trade, will be the principal immediate abenedciaries of the canal, but America will, in the opinion of to promote rapid growth of her mercantile shipping.
 One of the most important conse- Quences of the opening of the canal, the Commission finds, will be not merely to provide facilities for exist ing commerce, but to create a, new e traffic which will result in the eco homie conquest of the Pacific and the exploitation of the natural rich ses of the western part of the two American continents by the capital and industry of the Eastern States Of the Union. The canal the Com
 mission predicts, will profoundly modify the situation of the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico ports Of the United States from the point of view of the worlds commerce. When the American manufacturer shas 4 the same advantage in respect to trans port that he now has in the cost of production over his European com petitor, the worlds markets will be his. The rapidity with which busi- States will have far-reaching effects | on the economic life of Europe, which | will be obliged to transform present | wasteful methods into more sci entific use of labor. y
 The United States, the French gov 1 ernment investigators affirm, will ob- tain an inca1cuIabIe< advantage from | the new canal, and Europe may even | find it's industrial activity diminished | While impossible to express in fig ures the economic consequences, some considerations are mentioned | The day before the opening of the canal, France, so far as transporta- ton is concerned, will be nearer to all | points on the west coast of South America than the Eastern ports of | the United States The day after the opening of the Panama Canal, the | situation will be reversed. GuyaquiI, Callao and Valparaiso will be more than 2,000 miles nearer New York than to France, and New Orleans B. 900 miles. The cutting of the 18th
  ern United States to reach far East ern Australia more easily.
 Europe benefits now, not only by the non-opening of the Panama Ca nal, but by the existence of the Suez Canal, but if the Americans will have an advantage in tT1etr nearn ess to the markets of the, West coast of | South America and Australia, foreign ships will carry the; imports and ex- ports of the United States should the conditions. now existing continue Thus, the Commission finds, if Europe does not benefit commercially by the opening of the canal, certain nations possessing a powerful mercantile ma- rine, such as England and Germany Il will have an important part in the economic conquest of the Pacific by the Americans
 The French colonies in the West Indies, the Commission ayers, are too far out of the track of commerce to count upon any great increase in traf- dc. Therefore, the Commission does harbor improvements. In Oceania the Commissioners found that prac- tically all ships going through the canal to Australia and New Zealand will necessarily call at Tahiti, and the expenditure of the equivalent of $1, 400, 600 on the inn of Papeete harbor. Light houses should be built, the channel deepened and a proper coaling station constructed.
 The Commission does not believe it necessary to make extensive arrange ments for coaling at Papeete, because in it's opinion and that of the princi- pal French shipowners consulted by he Commission, the explosive oil en- zine for ships will entirely supersede he steam engine within from fifteen 70 twenty-five years. While the pas sage of so many more ships cannot fail to benefit the colonies in Oceania,