THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL 315 



few forest products of high value can bear the costs of transporta- 

 tion by rail over the mountains to the eastern states. The people 

 of the Pacific states are eager to increase their trade with Europe 

 and the eastern half of the United States, and are clamoring for 

 an isthmian canal. The waterway will do for the eastern trade 

 of the Pacific section what it will do for the western trade of the 

 eastern, southern, and central states. 



In considering the general commercial and industrial changes 

 which an interoceanic canal will effect, attention may well be 

 directed to three things which the waterway will not accomplish : 



First. It is possible that the traffic through the canal will not 

 grow more rapidly than did the commerce through the Suez 

 route. British India, the East Indies, and other countries with 

 which Great Britain and the continental nations trade by way 

 of the Suez Canal had, when the Suez route was opened, more 

 extensive industries and a larger and longer established com- 

 merce than have many of the Pacific countries whose commerce 

 is to cross the American isthmus. In the case of the Suez Canal 

 it was largely a question of increasing an existing trade. The 

 American isthmian canal traffic will consist mainly of a newly 

 created trade and only to a small extent of an existing traffic 

 diverted from present routes. The American canal, however, 

 will have the advantage of connecting the two coasts of the 

 United States, and the commerce between these sections will in- 

 crease rapidly. 



In the second place, it must not be expected that the canal 

 will give us control of the Pacific trade unless we accompany 

 the construction of the canal with the establishment of other 

 agencies that give our European competitors greater trade ad- 

 vantages than we now possess. There must be international 

 banking facilities provided; we must have cable connections 

 with the South American and Pacific countries, and, most im- 

 portant of all, we must bring about the establishment of more 

 lines of vessels plying regularly between American and foreign 

 ports. These auxiliaries of commerce, as well as the canal, are 

 essential to commercial expansion. 



Thirdly. The canal is not going to be a detriment to the trans- 

 continental railroads. Some people suppose that it will, but the 

 history of the competition of waterways and railroads does not 

 warrant such a conclusion. The railways to the Pacific will find 

 that their traffic will increase more than pari passu with the 

 growth of the business done through the canal. Some of the 



