Evening star., 1921-07-03
PANAMA CANAL is GREAT NATIONAL
ASSET" WRITES GOVERNOR MORROW

and naval defense The investment.
from one point of view. may be re-
garded as having been made ana JUS
tiled in the creation of an lI"aluaDie
element Of national defense IL TINS
be true the canal has an additionai
value in rendering useful service in
time of peace. and in returning to the
fedaral> treasury revenue more tnan
sufficient to defray the expense OF tts
operation and maintenance IL is ca,
pa BILE of doing more than this: ana
t is not an idle prediction to state
that with proper management direct
ed along the lines of large business
enterprise, it will within a reasonable
period of normal world condltlons
earn an actual profit on the cost.
The canal is open on equal terms
tc the merchant vessels of tn" world
and all nations having an interest IN
maritime trade have benented oy its
constructions: but for OBVIOUS geo
graphical reasons the United states
is BY long odds the chief beneficiary
II has given our Atlantic and Gulf
ports a short sea route to the Paclnc.
including the entire American coast
from Alaska to Chile. the Pacific
Islands, Eastern Asia and AUSTRALASIA
Fer cur Pacific ports 1t has Shorten-
cd the sea routes to the Gulf OF
N,xico the Atlantic seaboard and
Europe.
Formerly the west coast of South
America was nearer by sea to Liver
pool. London. Antwerp and Hamburg
than to Boston, New York and Phll-
adclph:a: and that. with other rae,
importers to hold the bulk of the
west coast trade. The same condi-
tions applied to the Eastern ASatic
and Australasian markets: Today
the conditions are reversed. and in
competing for business in these
81, in1 ri
of the United States has an ad-
vantage of relative proximiitE over
Great Britain, Germany and Belgium.
TN the calendar year 1920 the prin-
cipal trades through the Canal in
the relative order of cargo tonnage
were:
West coast of South America to
east eodst Of u S. .a4o st9 sts
Atlantic coast Of L. 5. to far east 1.35O.27
Europe ......................... ~ | 1,oee 7oe
Of South America ............ sas.ssa
West coast of L. $. to Europe. 74S.447
America ........................ G5s.777
Atlantic coast Of Z. S...... G44.ss3
East coast of T. s. to Australasia 5322 297
Far east to east coast of L. S....... AT 1910
Australasia to Europe. 459.o21
Atlantic and Gulf coast Of u. s. to
Pacific coast OF U. S............. 4l6.919
Of these eleven leading trades. the
United States, either as exporter or
importer. was directely interested in
eight.
The coastwise trade of the United
States. from Atlantic to Pacific and
from Pacific to Atlantic, was small In
comparison with other trades through
the canal. 1t is still largely undevel-
oped. Most Of the vessels originally
engaged in 1t were withdrawn to take
advantage of high freight rates to be
earned elsewhere during the war and
the period following the armistice.
This retarded the normal growth of
traffic But the old lines have resumed
their service. new lines have either
already entered the field or are being
organized, and there is growing COM
petition for coastwise cargoes. A con-
stantly increasing tonnage of the lum-
ber, grain, fish and fruit Of the Pacific
coast will find its way by the sea
route to the eastern markets. and the
westbound tonnage of eastern manu-
features is capable of sipilar expan-
sion.
The practical interest of other ma
tioEs in the canal, apart from the pro-
motion of their trade wit hthe United
States, is indicated by the traffic be-
tween western South America and