UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



but rather Portland, Maine, and Boston, Mass., 

 the ocean ports nearest by rail and having the 

 easiest grades to Montreal. 



The relations between the kindred peoples in 

 the United States and Canada have also grown 

 more intimate because of the fact that for a 

 full century there has been peace between 

 thorn peace so profound that no vessel of war 

 needed to protect it, and not a fort marks 

 the international boundary. Indeed, it is a 

 matter of mutual agreement that neither coun- 

 try shall maintain even a gunboat on the Great 

 Lakes or the Saint Lawrence River. In 

 circumstances each country has naturally be- 

 come almost as much interested in the pros- 

 perity of the other as in its own, since each 

 prospers when its neighbor and customer pros- 

 pers. (See INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, pages 

 3021-3022.) 



Different Conditions in the South. The rela- 

 tions between the United States and Mexico are 

 by nature much less intimate. Northern 

 M- xico. lying in the zone of light and uncertain 

 rainfall, is a semi-desert country, and the bulk 

 m population is located in the 

 'iern part of the country, on plateaus 5,000 

 to 8,000 feet above sea level and very difficult 

 of access. There is also the barrier of differ- 

 ence in race and language. In spite of these 

 obstacles, however, the construction of rail- 

 roads in Mexico connecting with those in the 

 rmtcd States has stimulated business relations 

 until now the bulk of Mexican exports go to 

 the I'nited States, and citizens of the latter 

 try have invested many hundreds of mil- 

 i of dollars in Mexican railways, mines and 

 farm lands. Investments in Mexico are hazard- 

 however, because in that land of frequent 

 revolutions property rights are not always re- 

 spected. In contrast to Canada, therefore, 

 has attracted few settlers from the 



Other Relations. The relation of the United 

 - to tin- \V >t Indies and Central America 

 is of still another kind. At a very early date 

 English colonies on the mainland began 

 an active trade with the West Indies, since 

 red a good market for lumber and fish. 

 rican Revolution this trade was 

 continued, .especially by the New England 

 states. West India trade naturally attracted 

 to the Isthmus of Panama, which was 

 a barrier to similar trade with the Pacific coast. 

 As early as 1835, the Senate, at the suggestion 

 ucky, passed a resolu- 

 declannir the intent of the United States 



in a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. In 

 1855, following the discovery of gold in Califor- 

 nia, the Panama railroad was completed by 

 American capital. This was the first transconti- 

 nental railroad in North America, preceding by 

 fourteen years the Union Pacific (see RAIL- 

 ROADS, TRANSCONTINENTAL). It consequently 

 played a large part in the development of the 

 Pacific slope. Meantime, the project of a canal 

 -s the isthmus was not forgotten, though 

 the War of Secession and the settlement and 

 development of the upper Mississippi Valley 

 diverted public attention to purely internal 

 matters for a generation. The Spanish-Ameri- 

 can War again sharply drew public attention to 

 foreign affairs, especially to the Panama Canal 

 project. The first step toward the realization 

 of this plan was the Platt Amendment, legisla- 

 tion which secured to the United States coaling 

 stations in Cuba, and made that island a virtual 

 protectorate of the United States. This was a 

 matter of great importance, because Cuba is 

 located on the direct routes from both the At- 

 lantic and Gulf ports to the Isthmus of Panama. 

 Later the United States secured the same right > 

 with reference to the Republic of Panama, in 

 addition to the virtual ownership of the Canal 

 Zone and of the Panama Railroad. Controlling 

 both the approaches and the isthmus, the 

 United States then set to work upon tin- 

 Panama Canal, which was completed in th- 

 years between 1904 and 1914. 



The Revolutionizing Panama Canal. This 

 waterway has revolutionized the relation of the 

 United States to other countries. For the east 

 coast of South America, indeed, the canal offers 

 no direct advantage. In fact, South America 

 might really be called East America, since 

 practically all of it lies east of Florida. By 

 reason of this location, the relation of the east 

 coast of South America had been, up to tin- 

 period of the War of the Nations in 1914. more 

 intimate with Europe than with the Vnit.d 

 States. The latter country began to profit in 

 its trade relations in Eastern South America 

 with the opening of hostilities in Europe. On 

 tin- other hand, the entire wevt coast of South 

 America is far closer to the United States by 

 way of the canal than to Europe by any route; 

 and the ports of the United States, especially 

 those on the Gulf of M hen compared 



to Liverpool, have an advantage in tin 

 Pacific as far west and south as Hong-kong and 

 Sydney. The Panama Canal, therefore, is ren- 

 dering the relations of the United States to 

 these countries much more intimate than they 



