Bisbee daily review., 1915-01-03
CAPE COD CANAL IS IMPORTANT PART OF
 COUNTRIES DEFENSE
New Waterway Is One Of Hhe Most Valuable Achievements Recently Acquired h Behalf Of Both Commerce And War

WASHINGTON Jan 2-While the
 attention of the world has Hmped
 a-ong behind the stupendous events
 occurring in Europe during the last
 few months, a great'American accom-. ! plishment has been successfully con | cluded without causing more than a casual furry of interest among the ! people of the country; the Cape Cod l Canal, conceived about 200 years ago. 1 and proposed nnumerable times as | a public undertaking has been opened ! to traffic by a private company A | description of the importance of the new canal, military and commercial and a brief survey of the steps lead l ing to its construction, prepared for 1 the National Geographic Society by i Commodore J. w. Miller was issued
 here today:
 'The Cape Cod Canal has not only
 more shipping in sight than Suez. but ' it is also next to the Panama Cana.
 as regards the defense of the country,
 one of the most important waterway improvements ever undertaken A
 study of the chronology and history | of the Cape Cod problem shows that since the days of the Revolution con tinued stress has been laid upon its
 military aspect It's importance as an ! interior line of defense is greater to-
 day than ever before.
 ! Besides enhancing the security of 1 this counuy's eastern seaboard the canal eliminates for commercial ship 1 ping the highly dangerous passage around Cape Cod between Boston and New York The way around the Cape.
 with it's fogs and windstorms, its ! shoals and sWken reefs. is one of l the most treacherous sea lanes in ! the world freQuented by heavy traffic ! It is estimated that at least 2,0oO ves- 1 sels have been wrecked in Vineyard | Sound without the Cape. and in the 1 Nantucket Shoals region between ! 1S43 and 1915 9OS or which were a
 total loss About TOO fishermen have ] lost their lives here owing to the
 fact that the longarm of the Cape 1 prevented them from reaching @ ! haven in sudden storms Cape Cod ! has been called The Graveyard of 1 Ships
 The cana is wider and deeper ! than de Lessep's original canal at Suez. It has modern up-to-date chan 1 mel coparable in dimensions to ue
 ones at Kiel and Manchester. It crosses near the shoulder Of the Cape where the Pilgrim fathers of more Ithan ten generations ago decided lhat such a canal should be constructed. 1 George Washington recommended the ! building of a sea level waterway here, and it has been put forward at ire ] Queut intervals Y Massachusetts had acted during the era of canal building, when New York built the Erie, and | Virginia the Chesapeake canal she might have wrested the marine su- premacy from the Hudou at cost trivial compared to the money spent upon the two former canals
 ] "The Cape Cod Cana shortens the distance between Boston and New
 York, and other southern ports by seventy miles This will mean a large ] saving on a very large coastal traffic.
 It will, further, save a deal of need
 less loss in lives and in property Humanity demanded a canal ct Cape ] Cod; commerce needed it; persever ance, pluck, and financial ability have finished it-ready for a tributary and existing tonnage greater than that
 of Suez and over twice that estimated | for Panama