48 



The total value of its agricultural products in one year approaches 

 nine billiou dollars, a sum which Secretary Wilson says nothing short of 

 omniscience can grasp. The net value of manufactured products is well 

 over ten billion dollars. However approximate these figures may be, they 

 •^Iiow the order of the magnitudes. 



When goods are produced in sucli quantities, the circulation of prod- 

 ucts and people must be on a corresponding scale. In the way of this, 

 <he Ai)p;ilachian liighiand offers the only barrier. This is broken through 

 by two gateways, the .St. Lawrence and the Mohawk-Hudson valleys. 



The gnj) of the Laurentiau lakes and river plays the part of the Baltic 

 sea in Europe. It lets tide aud shiiipliig Ji(M» uiiles inland to Montreal, and 

 smaller vessels penetrate to the head of Lake Superior. 2,(KX) miles by water 

 and 1.0(1(1 miles in a direit line from tlie sea. Modern improvements have 

 uiade this the greatest conniiercial waterway of the world, next to th^; 

 North Atlantic ocean. The total tonnage passing through the "Soo" canals 

 in one season of less tlian eight months is about G0,000,000 tons, or more 

 tlian four times that of the Suez Canal, and e<pial to the combined tonnage 

 of New York. Londf»n and Liverpool. The total traffic of the upper lakes 

 tlu-ongh the Iietroit Itiver amounts to ~i).(HH),(t(H) tons. 



Tlie ^loliawk-IIndson gap is even a more important gateway of tlic 

 continent tlian the lower St. Lawrence. The New York barge canal now 

 under constrmtion nciy be regardeil ms .m ii;ilf\v;iy measure toward a fii 

 tnre ship canal at least 24 feet dw^i. 



Time is lacking to discus* tlie waterways of the Mississijipi system. 

 Improvements will be made. l)ut the complete control and utilization of 

 the Mississippi is a larger propr)sition than mankind has yet anywhere 

 attempted, and may i>rfive too costly for even the richest country in the 

 world to accomplish, f venture only to mention as probable future water- 

 ways of considerable magnitude: Lake Erie to T^ake Ontario. liuffalo t) 

 Troy, Georgian Ray to Montreal, Cleveland to Pittsburgh and Cairo, Chi- 

 cago to New Orleans, Kansas City to St. Louis, Winnipeg to Lake Su- 

 perior. The strategic points on the seaboard are Montreal, New York and 

 New Orleans. Among tliose inland, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, 

 Chicago, St. Louis and Winnipeg are plainly conspicuous. I want to call 

 especial attention to Winnipeg. It stands in the wasp-waist of Canada, 

 through which all currents must pass. If I were a capitalist I wr>uld look 

 for investments in Winnipeg. 



