306 The National Geographic Magazine 



105 millions in the calendar year 1891 

 to 162 millions in 1901, an increase of 

 over 50 per cent, while the total imports 

 of the country were increasing but 10 

 per cent. Our exports to Asia and 

 Oceania increased from 40 millions in 

 1 89 1 to 115 millions -in 1901, an increase 

 of 180 per cent, while the total exports 

 were increasing but 50 per cent. 



This brings us to a consideration of 

 the Pacific and its commercial condi- 

 tions today and its possibilities when 

 we shall obtain access to it through an 

 Isthmian canal, which we may reason- 

 ably expect we are soon to have. Be- 

 fore entering upon a detailed discussion 

 of this, however, it is proper that we 

 should realize the enormous extent of 

 this great body of water — its length and 

 breadth and its comparison in area with 

 that ocean with which we are much more 

 familiar, the Atlantic. The superficial 

 area of this great ocean is 60 million 

 square miles, or 20 times that of the 

 United States, exclusive of Alaska, and 

 it covers more than one-fourth of the 

 entire surface of the earth. Its enor- 

 mous size will be better realized when 

 we remember that the distance across 

 it at its widest point, where our vessels 

 cross it in the journey to the Orient, is 

 four times as great as that across the 

 Atlantic from New York to Liverpool, 

 and seven times as great as across the 

 Atlantic at its narrowest point, from 

 Pernambuco, Brazil, to Freetown, Af- 

 rica. The contrast between the great 

 circular Pacific, which vessels must oc- 

 cupy weeks in crossing, and the long, 

 narrow Atlantic, which we are accus- 

 tomed to ferry as a holiday pastime, can 

 be better realized when they are studied 

 side by side without reference to the 

 great bodies of land adjacent. The At- 

 lantic meanders like a river between Eu- 

 rope and America, spanned by a dozen 

 cable lines and innumerable steamship 

 routes ; the Pacific stretches half-way 

 round the globe, with a few island way 

 stations, where the sailing lines con- 



verge, in order that the vessels on this 

 long route may take advantage of them 

 as ports of call for repairs, for coal, for 

 water, and for communication with man- 

 kind. 



These things are not altogether en- 

 couraging to the utilization of the Pa- 

 cific as a highway for commerce, or an 

 exchange of commodities with nations 

 on the other side of its waters. In fact, 

 they appear rather discouraging in some 

 of their aspects, and there are persons 

 who doubt the feasibility of conducting 

 commerce at such long range when the 

 markets of Europe and South America 

 are so much nearer, while others even 

 doubt the advisability of expending a 

 couple of hundred millions in the con- 

 struction of a canal to give us access to 

 its waters. 



But there is another side of the pic- 

 ture, and one which we must carefully 

 consider : First. The countries on the 

 other side of this great ocean produce 

 the articles which we must bu y abroad — 

 articles absolute^ required by our peo- 

 ple, and which we cannot, or at least do 

 not, produce at home. Second. These 

 same countries are buying a hundred 

 million dollars' worth of merchandise every 

 month of every year, and most of it is the 

 class of goods which we want to sell. 

 Third. TheUnited States has greater and 

 better facilities for utilizing this great 

 ocean as a highway of commerce than 

 any other nation has or ever can have. 

 This last statement may seem a some- 

 what startling one, but I shall show 

 you that it is justified, and that condi- 

 tions provided by nature, and which 

 cannot cease to exist as long as the earth 

 revolves, give to our country exceptional 

 facilities for commerce with the coun- 

 tries fronting upon or contiguous to the 

 Pacific Ocean. 



These three great propositions which 

 I have just named I now 7 propose to take 

 up in the order in which they are men- 

 tioned. 



The countries bordering upon the 



