The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1921-11-15
New Trade Route
To Be Established

NE" OrR, NOV. 14.--ElanS for
!, bringing new trade route into the
heart of the North American con-
tinent were taken up today when AM
=, erican and Canadian engineers, edu-
Gators, economists and public officials
met in a public forum to discuss the
proposed st. Lawrence Great Lakes
hip channel project.
The meeting was presided over by
julius H. Barnes, President of the
United States Grain Corporation, and
will be addressed by many well-known
advocates of the plan including Sec
retary of Commerce Hoover and Gov
ernor Henry J. Allen of Kansas.
The forum is being conducted joint
" by the American Society of Me-
?hanical Engineers, American Society
of Civil Engineers, American Insti-
tute of Electrical Engineers and Am
Ecrican Institute of Mining and Metal
urgical Engineers.
Governors of 18 states allied to the
ship channel and power project either
by legislative or executive action, are
honorary chairmen.
Speakers representing western
states are to address the forum on the
need of inland regions for direct
outlet to the sea through the pro-
posed waterway, characterized by
Secretary Hoover as "a national rem
edy." Charles P. Craig, executive
director of the Great Lakes-St. Law
renee Tidewater Association, will
discuss the aims of the organization,
a voluntary association of the ISL
member states of Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Mime
sofa, Iowa, North Dakota, South Da-
kota, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Col
orado, Nebraska and Missouri.
| w. l.. Saunders of New York, chair
man of the committee which arrang-
ed for representation of the western
states at the forum, issued the fol- |
lowing statement in advance of the |
meeting:
"The Dominion of Canada is now
undertaking the first and most i'm |
portant step toward an adequate out |
Let to the Atlantic for the enormous |
and ever-increasing export production |
of the region tributary to the Great |
Lakes. |
"The greatest natural obstruction |
of the route IT, the sea is the differ |
cnce in elevation between Lake Erie |
and Lake Ontario at Niagara Falls. |
The great engineering feat of build |
l ;,,rr lol - 1o1, ,.
ly approaching completion, and, but
for the delay due to war conditions,
it would now be in operation.
"Cheap water transportation, not
the iron itself, is the foundation of the
position of the United States as the
worlds greatest producer of iron and
steel. Wheat and iron, because of
their fundamental position in the
trade and commerce OF. the. world,
have been used to illustrate, in part,
the tremendous movement in trans
portation, production and manufac.
ture in the region of the Great
Lakes"
Others who will address the gather
ing include DR.. r. S. McElwee, former
director of the Bureau of Foreign !
and Domestic Commerce of the De-
partment of Commerce at Washing |
ton, now a member of the faculty |
of Georgetown University, and H. IL
Hartman of Boston.
A new way to the sea, such as the
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence route,
would result in relief to overburden- |
ed railroads engaged in hauling gra'
and ore to Eastern ports, according
to an announcement by Mr.. Craig.
| Thirty million people in the ter
ritory served by the lakes" ne said,
care engaged in agriculture and other
industry. They produce their full
proportion of the exportable surplusj
and of foodstuffs and raw materials |
for seaboard industries. They con-
sumo their share of imports. At
lantic ports depend on the West for
much of their tonnage.
"If Western Europe can maintain
the ports of London, Liverpool and
Manchester, of Havre, Brest and Mar
seilles, of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and
Antwerp, of Hamburg and Bremen,
of Lisbon and Genoa, of Riga, Kron- |
stad and Reval, Of Copenhagen, Chris |
tiana and Stockholmscan 30,00O,0O0I
people in the heart of America not
find business enough to attract ves-
sells to route am much cheaper than !
any existing one as water is cheaper
, than rail haul?"