16 KOYAL SOCIETY OK CANADA 



the value of cvorv article of export just in ])roj)()rtii)n to its efficiency 

 and economy. On the other hand, where transportation is necessarily 

 expensive, cheap production may maintain an industry; — and here is 

 where our abundant water power may come in. 



The geographical position of Canada in relation to tlie commercial 

 centre of gravity of the North American continent is at least noteworthy. 

 This centre is very near Lake Erie. From the western end of this lake 

 the water route to the Atlantic, at the Straits of Belle Isle, follows the 

 general direction of a great circle which cuts the commercial heart of 

 Europe, and is therefore npon the shortest route, or " air line ". Our two 

 peninsulas, Sarnia-Detroit and Sault Ste. Marie, which are the railway 

 gates of the Lake region, aTiord the most direct routes to the Atlantic 

 for all the North- western States, and are traversed hy the trunk lines 

 of railway. From Lake Erie water communication on the largest scale 

 extends through Lake Huron to the extremities of Lakes Michigan and 

 Superior. One-third of the population of the United States are depend- 

 ent upon the Great Lakes, largely as to exports and imports, and wholly 

 as to rates, — which are fixed by the water for the rail routes. 



One-half of the population of the United States is found within a 

 radius of 400 miles from Cleveland, a Lake Erie port claimed to be 

 second only to the Clyde as a ship building one, and also the largest 

 iron ore market in the world. 



The paper and pulp industry as well as some of the electro-chemical 

 and metallurgical ones (to the present list of which many additions may 

 be made) are distinguished by the large tonnage produced, the output 

 of several pulp mills exceeding one hundred tons per day. For this the 

 St. Lawrence is the natural route for exportation, and to it tliis heavy 

 tonnage is of the greatest importance as a means of attracting " tramps '' 

 as well as liners during the open season. 



Increase of sea tonnage into the St. Lawrence is essential to our 

 inland commerce : by it only can sufficient west bound freights be 

 secured to attract a ])roper i-hare of the commerce of the Lakes, after all 

 has b?cn done to give to the latter quick despatch at Montreal or Quebec. 



There is probably no place in .tiie world where inland transportation 

 is carried on with greater expedition and economy than in the valley 

 of the St. Lawrence. This is due to tlie character of the inland naviga- 

 tion, unequalled elsewhere, and to the influence which this exerts upon 

 the railways competing with it: and also, because thé valley of the St. 

 Lawrence is not only the greatest highway for agricultural products, but 

 of mineral ones, as well as of the products of the fore-t aiul tlie fish- 

 eries. 



j\I(ire than half of the iron ore produced in the United States is 

 mined around Lake Su])('ri<)r. Into this l:iko an increasing number of 



