Year: 1872




steam and Electric Communication
Seventeen Thousand Milo Compile
mcnt.


The compliments interchanged yesterday
between the Mayor of Adelaide (South Austria
ia) and the Mayor of New York will best ex-
plain themselves, as follows -


ADELAIDE, South Australia. Nov. 49, 1872.


The Mayor OF Adelaide cOngratulates the Mayor
OF New York on the occasion OF the banquet cee.
Drating the completion OF telegraphic communica-
tion around the world


THE MAYOR OF ADELAIDE.


To which Mayor Hall, with an apt poetical
quotation, replied -


NEW YORK. Nov. 15 1872.


"TO the banks OF the Hudson fair Adelaide has
Of the western aemspheere consrataates the new
metropolis OF the Eastern one upon this full
ship. THE MAYOR or NEW YORK.


1t would thus appear that the well-worn
promise of Puck may now be literally fulfilled,
in putting ga girdle round about the earth in
forty minutes" although 'the completion of
telegraphic communication around the world"
spoken of by the Mayor of Adelaide, does
not mean that a line of wire actually encircles
our planet, for the little gap of the Pacific
Ocean remains still open. The figure of
speech used by the Mayor of Adelaide, how
ever, may be excused, as it only anticipates
the fact q year or 80. But again, the
Mayor of New York must not be understood
as meaning literally that the little town Of
Adelaide is the new metropolis of the Eastern
ic,Nh n,1rM Nov 10 o,,1u ;pta hon
ing the compliments of the cable with the
Mayor at the other end of the line, seventeen
thousand miles away in South Australia.


Truly an important lever of commercial
progress is the magnetic telegraph. We
need, for ourselves, cable or cables under
the Pacific Ocean to bring our merchants
and those of China and Japan within
speaking distance. England has pushed
her lines of telegraphic communication
with these countries of Asia and Austral-
asia by the way of India and Australia,
and is consequently securing advantages
for trade which we have not We ought
to have within few years cables either by the
way Of the Sandwich Islands or the Aleutian
Islands. BY the latter the longest from our
own territory to Japan would not exceed six
or seven hundred miles in length. Congress
should at an early day authorize the laying OF
Pacific cable and give all the aid it can in
cidentally to the enterprise.


The question of precedence for this Eastern
trade which has enriched so many nations
is one that deserves thoughtful considera-
ton and vigorous action. The arrival
lately of another steamship Of the new
British line between China and New
York, via the Suez Canal, and other recent
events relative to steamship communication
with China. Japan and Asia generally as well
as with Australia, should arouse the attention
Of our merchants and capitalists to the rivalry
that is springing up for the valuable trade
with the countries named. The British
steamer brought her cargo, just as it was
shipped, from Shanghae and Annoy, by the
Suez route, to our wharyes in sixty-four days.
Considering the advantages Of not having to
break the cargo or. reship it between China
and the United States, it is evident the trade
by the way of the Suez Canal is likely to
rival that by the more direct and
shorter route across the Pacific Ocean. OF
course our steamers plying between San
Francisco and China and Japan can
carry merchandise to and from the
ports on our Pacific coast much cheaper than
the British or any other steamships can to
New York by the long and expensive voyage
of the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Mediterranean
and Atlantic. But the land transportation by
Gor Eron fn Vor1r
even for such valuable merchandise as tea
and silks, is necessarily very costly. The cost
is also great in transporting and reshipping
merchandise by the way Of Panama. What
should be done, then, to secure the advan-
tages Of the vast trade with the countries of
Asia and Australia? How shall we pre-
vent our commercial rivals from monopoiz-
ing it?


1t may be said that the race is open to us,
and that if the Suez Canal route is the best
and cheapest for transporting merchandise
from Asia to our Atlantic ports, we can put on
line of steamers as well as the British. The
same remark would apply to the enormous
carrying trade by steamships between Eng
land and other European countries and the
United States. The time may come, and will
come, We hope, when American steamships
will be able to rival successfully the foreign
lines which now have monopoly
Of our own trade with Europe
but as it is not SO at present we
should endeavor to enlarge our commerce
and foster our shipping interests where we
have special facilities and advantages. While
our merchants are precluded from buying
ships in the cheapest market and the cost of
labor and material remains higher here than
in Europe, it may be as difficult to establish
rival steamship line with that of England by
rival those foreign lines which traverse the At