Evening star., 1925-08-15
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

I the great liners-carry SO per cent Of
| all registered ships. The present ton
mage of Duluth, Detroit and Chicago
exceeds double the combined tonnage
| OF the Suez and Panama Canals. To
add the ocean tonnage made possible
by the ship canal will be like turn
| ing the continent inside out. That
feat can be consummated within 10
years-Secretary Craig of the Great
Lakes and Tidewater Association be-
lieves it would be possible within 5
or years.
The geography of such a route is
surprising. 1t would make Erie.
Pa, as close to Liverpool as is New
York. The distance from New York
to Liverpool is 3,1S3 miles; from
Montreal to Liverpool, via the ST.
Lawrence, 1t is only 2,7S5 miles.
From New York to Gibraltar, the
gateway of the Mediterranean and the
Far East the distance is 3,183 miles;
from Montreal to Gibraltar 1t is only
miles farther. The st. Lawrence
route will save 500 miles in haul for
the crops and other products of the
| Midwest, besides substituting water
in place of rail, with an average saw
ing in cost of freight, plus the market
value of the 100000 horsepower pro-
duced by the locks and dams. Ac-
cording to Secretary Craig the entire
cost of the improvement would come
back within one year-not to the
governments or states creating the
| improvement, but to the producers.
In other words, the canal will add
| from s250,000,000 to S275, 1000 900 a
year to the net profits of the farm
ers, packers and manufacturers in the
| savings of costs of transportation on
their products.
Nor would that saving be at the
ultimate expense of the railroads now
hauling the freight, as may appear
superficially. Secretary Craig and
Statistician Alfred H. Ritter agree in
declaring that by making it possible
| for agriculture to thrive, through i'm
proved means of access t. markets,
new industries will spring up produc-
| ing higher class freight, so that in
a short time the railroads will carry
more freight, and of a higher class
, than at present, while the grain and
other raw products viii be taken by
the ocean vessels directly from the
Midwest ports.
The States bordering on the Great
Lakes and those whose freight will
be tributary to the st. Lawrence
Canal contain a population of 43,000.-
900. hence nearly half of the popu.
lation of the United States is direct
ly concerned in the project. The
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Tide
water Association is maintained by
the States concerned-not by indi-
viduals nor corporations, but wholly
by legislative appropriations.
"Of what interest is the st. Law
renee Ship Canal to the City of
Washington and the people of the
surrounding States?" was asked of
Secretary Craig.
Washington is the epitome of the
entire country" Mr.. Craig promptly
replied. THE National Capital is in
America. Much has been said of the
need of bringing prosperity back to
the farmer, and this will do it per-
manently. 1t will bring new indus
tries with new prosperity.
Look what the Panama Canal
did to the lumber interests of the
Far Northwest. Prior to the open
ing of the canal, the lumber manu-
facturers were obliged to waste a
very high percentage of their lumber,
because 1t would be of too low a grade
to pay the high cost of transports.
ton by rail over the mountains. So
they left 1t to rot where 1t was pro-
duced, and they had to charge the con-
sumers enough on the better grade
lumber to pay for that waste. Now