The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-12-26
Plans For Seaway Deemed
Practical, of Advantage

submarines. and II any vessel we're
OF deeper draft, the final armament
might he put on later.
II has been objected that il will
take at least four years 10 build the
Seavay. and that the war Will rob-
ably be over long before mat time.
Pc haps. but Il also takes four
years to build a battleship and The
same argument would apply. But
we should not need TO wait for the
close OF the war TO begin. There Is
now a great demand for ships such
as the sea offers. which could go
down through the li-foot channel.
which now by-passes the rapids OF
the ST Lawrence. and vessels which
draw % feet or more loaded might
20 down a fourteen-foot channel
empty. In the case OF the larger
vessels OF deeper draft they might
be timed for completion at about
the time the deeper channel became
available.
The nayies and merchant ships
Of the world are being destroyed
much faster than they can be re-
placed, and We may expect that
after the war there will be few
shipyards OF Europe that have not
been devastated by bombs or sub
marines. There will be great de-
mand for ships. and the yards that
are in condition TO 90 ahead at once
are going to get as much business
as they can handle
The lake freiehte- cunning to
Duluth or Fort William on Lake
! superior have a season OF seven
or eight months before the ice
stops them; but the passenger boats
usually have paying season or
| only three or four months. These
/ passenger vessels. according TO ac-
counts. have found it very difficult
to make any profits in the short
/ season during which lake traffic is
| popular; but suppose they could
load up in September or October for
a cruise in the Caribbean or around
South America. The trip down the
/ Seaway itself will be one OF glorious
views OF rapids, locks. islands and
| cataracts, down the great highway
OF the voyageurs and fur traders and
early explorers. Almost every point
and bay is reminiscent OF the past,
with many new beginnings prophet
ic of the future.
viii the project work? What will
II mean 10 put these Great Lakes
and cities on our eastern seaboard?
The answers are all before us. We
do not need TO theorize. The only
reason that Boston. New York and
Philadelphia are great cities are
the Atlantic Ocean and good har-
bors. Quebec. Montreal, Buffalo.
cleveland, Detroit and Chicago, none
OF them would have been where they
are were it not for their harbors
and water transportation. From
time TO time the. waterway has been
improved by building the locks at
the 500, the Welland Canal. the
locks around the rapids and the
twenty-one foot channel. Each OF
these has been followed by rapid
increase in the water borne COM
merce and a rapid growth OF the
port cities.
AS have watched the great
freighteIs passing up the lakes and
through the locks and returning
loaded with steel almost to the
waters edge, IL has seemed TO me-
THAI this great waterway that al
ready carries at the 500 three times
the tonnage Of Panama and five
times the tonnage OF Suez is one
OF the greatest menaces to Hitler
that exists. What would he not give
for such safe waterway with such
resources at its command Are We
going TO throw II away