The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1927-09-01

the Suez route, while "a nations were
represented In the maritime caravan
at Panama
The World War was not the only
unexpected factor in bringing Pana-
ma so quickly to equality with Suez,
nor the most important. The enor-
nous increase in Panama traffic in
1928 was represented almost entirely
by petroleum and its products. NOV
ing from California to the east coast
and Europe. In the year ended June
30, 1924, tolls aggregating s24,290.000
were collected. of which s9071.OOO
was from tankers carrying petroleum.
An even more striking statement of
the matter is that for the same year
exactly SO per cent of all tonnage
through the Canal was between the
two ocean fronts tho United
States; that is fs,500,00o tors and
OF this, considerably over 5000 GOO
tons, or moro than two-thirds was Pc
troleum. 1t was OF course chiefly
from California, en- route to eastern
raanAri~a Ie .he -,.eeAAllnr 800
~ Bu09nekA apgxxzM SD -
AssFay: VI - 131a Il = x4x1z -
creasing and tbs increase 10 likely Is
continue for many years. But for the
petroleum traffic, the Canal would
have shown deficit In every year Of
its operation.
The enormous petroleum business
has been In other ways advantageous
to Panama. A constantly increasing
proportion OF maritime shipping now
adays uses oil fuel Oil-burning ships
seek routes on which they can most
cheaply buy oil; and because Cali
fornia oil can be put SO cheaply into
the bunkers Of vessels passing
through the Panama ditch, there
is substantial inducement to
prefer this route. This will in
creasingly favor Panama and mill
tate against Suez, as the number
OF oil burners increases. Moreover,
Panama's advantage will still further
increase as the enormous oil re-
sources of Venezuela, Colombia, and
other South American countries
are developed.
Great Service Of Panama
II cheap petroleum has thus served
Panama so we'll, Panama in turn has
equally served the American motor
list, who consumes most OF the world's
petroleum products. For Panama ha.
brought tho pocit1 Coao+ ,1o+,o1o,,,X,
to the eastern market at costs which,
but for the Canal, would be vastly
greater. Thus the Canal has given
the United States the cheapest Pc
troleum products in the world, and
helped build the automobile industry
and our modern highway system.
This mutually helpful relationship
between the Canal and the petroleum
users is the more impressive when
one realizes that it was not even re-
motely anticipated at the time Presi-
dent Roosevelt started building the
Canal. So late, indeed, as 1910, when
Admiral Evans wrote his articles
about the Canal and decided that it
could not be profitable for several
decades at least, he based all his cal
culations on the probable cost of coal
for bunkering ships. He did not
dream that merchant marines were
on the verge Of the revolutionary
change from coal to oil. So he figured
that as there is practically no bunker
coal in the countries bordering on the
Pacific, that ocean could not com.
pete, by way OF Panama, for great
ly. increased share OF shipping. The
oil development overturned the proph-
ecies OF Admiral Evans, and of all
others who had foreseen that fuel
problems would make Panama I'm.
profitable.