Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-01-18
PANAMA CANAL is NOW
PROSPEROUS PROJECT
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

back into the Golfers Of the treasury.
Could these figures be made, it would
be found, in all probability, that the
canal already has been paid for.
1t will be remembered that a
French company, headed by the
Count de Lesseps who built the SueZ
canal, poured $~226,000,000 into an
attempt to construct trans-isthmian
canal at Panama years before the
work was undertaken by the United
States. Even this money will come
back indirectly. for French ships +
as free to pass through the canal as
those flying the American flag.
Freight Rates Stimulate Traffic
High freight rates on American
railroads have greatly stimulated
Panama canal traffic in the last year
or two. The rates on Pacific coast
products shipped in bulk to the At
lantic coast, have been high. Pro-
ducers of lumber, of minerals and
Of a variety of other commodities
have turned to the canal finding
ocean rates more economical. With
the last few months the experiment
has beer made of shipping the high
ly perishable citrus fruit crop OF Cal
itornia and the apples of Oregon and
Washington through the Canal to
the Atlantic States market. This has
proven successful and will add mil
lions of tons of cargo each succeed
ing year to Panama Canal traffic.
Eastern producers of manufacture
ed goods have reversed the process
and have shipped all name of COM
modities to the Pacific coast.
Recently transcontinental railroad
lines reduced rates or a number of
bulk commodities in the hope of at
tracing the traffic away from the
canal, but while some of 1t has re-
sumed movement by rail, the expec-
tation is that the canal will be pre-
ferred.
When the canal first was opened
the transcontinental railroads them
selves proposed to operate ships
through the waterway. Congress
promptly enacted an amendment to
the Panama Canal Act prohibiting
railroads from operating such ships
on the ground that for g. carrier
to own both rail and water lines re-
suited in a monopoly which would
suppress competition. Railroads
| were compelled to divorce their
ships. Students of the merchant ma
rine situation are inclined to regard
the step as a mistake, inasmuch as
American railroads YER doing much
to build up an American flag mer-
chant marine until they were told by
the government to stop. 1t is claim
ed that had the government not in
terfered congress would not now be
asked for a ship subsidy to help to
keep the American flag flying over
American ships.
On the other hand it was asserted
that an oppressive trust would re-
suit from joint ownership of both
rail and water facilities and that
people would be compelled to pay
higher rates than they would Il in
dependent steamships were compet-
ing with Independent railroads. The
curious fact in the situation is that,
under independent operation, both
steamship rates and rail rates have
gone much higher than ever they
were before.
This Enthusiastically contro-
versy was n of the things that re-
tarded development of the canal but
now that seems to be at an end, the
slides are well in hand, the fever is
abated in the canal zone through the
sanitary engineering of American
officers, the business depression is
over, the war is won and the sever
lean years of the Canal seem to be
at an end.