Evening star., 1914-08-09

oIASi S%NAf
equally heavy draft. by making the pas
sage will show that the worlds COM
mercePcan be accommodated.
Attention has been directed so much to
the spectacular opening of the canal next
March. when the President will partici-
pate. that few persons realize that long
before then it will be In full operation
From now on merchantmen of thirty feet
draft will be making use of the canal.
and by the time of the formal opening
naval and other ships OF a greater depth
will be able to make the passage. Thirty
feet. however. answers for very large
proportion of the worlds commercial
One of the first results Of the opening
of the waterway to commerce will be TO
bring the west coast of South America
info closer Communication with the At
lantic and, gulf ports of. the United
States. Heretofore. people going TO the
countries on the Pacific coast of South
America have taken the steamers at
Panama Some OF these are passaoiy
good. and some are very bad,
The possibility of through. passage
from New fork to CaHao, or Vaipa,
raiso, which was rather vaguely helo
out two, or three, years ago, has now
become a certainty. a.1 The old ,es1ap7I
lished sdines,t which ,monopoiized the
west coast trafhc.. Were q little, ooupl- :
fil at first whether they would under
take TO run their steamers through the
canal. They found,s however, that other
lines, notably zone OF the big German.
steamship companies, and the biggest
American company, whose Itinerary
heretofore has BEEN limited to the,
Caribbean. proposed 70 to "a utilize the.
canal, and Ito, ,dextend ytheirt facilities
down the west coastsis fFhe, outcome
WAS thatrthe ultrs-eonsspsatiys,,E Eng
iish company aweke Ito the situation
and also made preparations Tor the
through service. aL.SsI 4.4s.s-.
The result Ia that, there will be at
freight Lines running from Atlantic
ports Through the canal and along the
west coast of Southr-America- All OF
them may not start in at. opcer y ct,
in view Of the sharpness OF the COM
petition, none of them is likely to take
the chance of a long delay.
Before many months it is q certainty
through the canal. and that, the diff
fersnt dinesi Will be bidding for. it. The
regular. passenger and freight trafhc,
in-ordinary circumstances, might wait,
bat tourists. who are always wanting ?
novelty, will nnot1o wait. They will
patFonize the steamship. lines which
promise them a. through passage. Some :,
of the; companies may offer an expe-
dited service OF ten to eleven days
from New York, to Callao,: and another
six days tpsnValparaAao,s but there is,
too much t6 be seen on the west coast !,
for the traveller to insist on. q service,
three leading ports. 5i7o.F -.ri 5sgrC.,
a2~TSqasH 4 ~ qm
\
Going down the coast in a more
IeisareIy manner will be better. since it
Will afserd-the opportunity to observe
the quickening effect of the canal on
the whole region tributary the 1000
nliiss of coastline between Panama and
Valparaiso. t% 4, 80 -
R is well that this matter of distance
should be understood at the start, for
good many people still seem to think
that Valparaiso, Is just q little way
beyond Panama. There is a story, now
become classic. and therefore doubt
ed, though 1t is true. of how. when
Henry Lane Wilson was minister to
Chile. a San Francisco friend wrote
him and asked him to run up to Pan
anna and get him a Panama hat. Mr..
Wilson. having sense of 4humor, an
swered that he had got the hat and left
tat the American consulate where his
friend would find il whenever he found
it convenient to, run down to Panama
The distance from Panama to San
Francisco is about the same as from
Panama to Valparaiso. 5000 miles.
1t is expected that one of the earliest
results of the opening of the canal win
be to disclose whether the low coast
lands of Colombia and Ecuador are
suitable for the cultivation of the
banana on the extensive scale that has
marked the development of this indus
try In the countries bordering the
Caribbean.
the representatives of the biggest fruit
company in the world. One report
was that. while there was much good
land available for the purpose. the area
velopment of the industry on the same
scale as In Central America, and that
therefore no large expenditures would
be made, But there Is almost certain
to be encouragement given to the
banana industry by the transportation
facilities afforded.
The greatest influence Of the canal in
so far as regards commerce. Is expected
to be In the improvement Of the various
ports on the west coast, but Spanish
American countries move slowly In these
matters. Its influence on various ports
in the United States which were looking
forward to canal tfaf1c, was Immediate
Much reconstructtve work has been done
on various ports of the gulf
The South American countries early
saw the importance Of harbor and port
improvements IL they were to get the
benefit of the canal They discussed vari-
GUS projects, but were slow to enter
upon actual reconstructive work. Never
theless some definite results have been
secured.
Guayaquii has a harbor which does not
require extensive port works, since the
Guayas river is broad and deep, but
0uayaquil's natural advantages are rem
dered Of little value because OF its dis
advantages in the way Of epidemic dis
eases. The sanitation Of Guayaquil was
the first question. and the improved port
facilities which would follow this santa
ton were secondary. The pre-emineuce
Of Guayaqutt as a plague port and its
menace to the canal commerce have
been frequently described. and never ex-
aggerated. -
IT was really. great achievement when
the Ecuadorian, government signed con-
tract with an English firm affiliafed with
American cOrnnany nf fha saypa ~ ~,