Effect of the Canal on the Interest of the Valley of the
Mississippi—Pacific Railroad as a Rival of the Isthmean
Canal—Rates of Freight on Ocean, Lakes, Rivers, Canals,
and Railroads—San Francisco and the Trade of China
and Japan—Considerations of General Interest—Probable Revenue.
The products of the Valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries
may be collected at points along the river, to be shipped direct for
China, Japan, Australia; and the products of the Orient may be brought,
without breaking bulk, to Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola,
Appalachicola, and even Memphis, Cairo, St. Louis, Louisville, and
Cincinnati, thence to be distributed by the river system, which extends
throughout the States of the South, and reaches even to the borders of
British America. With one, or at most two, transshipments, the produce
of the Indies may be transported, by the way of the Illinois river, or
the projected improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, to Chicago
and Lake Michigan, thence to be distributed throughout the shores of
the northern lakes.
Teas, silks, Japanese and East India goods may be transported by way of
the ship canal and the Mississippi river, and delivered at St. Louis at
one-third or one-fourth the cost of transportation of the same articles
by the Pacific railroad. While the Pacific railroad is a great national
highway, bringing into political and commercial union two great
sections of the country, building up cities, opening mines, bringing
under cultivation a vast extent of arable land along its route, the
proposed canal across the American Isthmus must be the sole dispenser
of the bulkier products of China and the Indies.
The question may be asked how far the railroads constructed and to be
constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific, especially within the
limits of the United States of America, may supersede the commercial
advantages which would result from the canalization of the Isthmus?
Trade has always increased in proportion to the facilities for
transportation; and it is evident that, even in the most populous
country, the reciprocal relation of production and consumption may be
increased by a better organization and a more judicious application
of labor. In all cases of competition between railroads with canal,
lake, or coast trade, the result has been the reduction of rates and
the increase in the quantity of material transported. Two railroads,
American and Canadian, skirt the shores of the Northern Lakes, making,
with the line of lake steamers, three competing lines. The consequence
of this rivalry has been a reduction upon freight during the summer
months, to enable the two roads to compete with the lake route and
canal.
To exhibit the relative cost of different methods of transportation, a
statement is subjoined. The following table, compiled from different
sources, exhibits the cost per ton per mile of transportation of
freight upon the ocean, lakes, rivers, canals, and railroads:
════════════════════════════════════════════════╤═════════════════
TRANSPORTATION BY │PER TON PER MILE.
────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────┬────────
│ CENTS. │ MILES
Ocean—long voyage │ │ 1
Ocean—short “ │ │ 2 to 4
Lakes—long “ ┐ │ │ 2
Lakes—short “ ├ U. S. │ │ 3 to 4
┘ │ │
St. Lawrence River │ │ 3
Hudson River │ │ 2½
Ohio River—long voyage │ 1 │ 1.54
Ohio River—short “ │ 1 │ 3.6
Missouri River—long voyage │ │ 8.37
Missouri River—short “ │ 2 │ 0.1
Mississippi River—long voyage │ │ 5.07
Mississippi River—short “ │ │ 8.50
Erie Canal enlargement │ │ 4
Railways transporting coal │ 1 to │ 6
Reading Railroad transporting coal │ │ 9.71
Reading Railroad transporting merchandise │ │ 4.468
Railways—ordinary grades │ 1 │ 2½
┌ ┐ │ │
Pacific Railroad ┤ for transporting different ├ │ 3 │ 2.8
└ kinds of freight. ┘ │ 6 │ 0.6
Suez Canal—$2 per ton, transit of 100 miles │ 2 │ 00
Proposed Panama Canal—$1 per ton, │ │
transit of 50 miles │ 1 │ 00
────────────────────────────────────────────────┴────────┴────────
The railroad rates above given have been established upon thoroughfares
favorable for the attainment of a minimum. But upon all roads to be
constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific, much higher rates must
prevail for many years. Hurried construction, through a wilderness
deficient in material and obstructed by hostile savages, must increase
the cost of construction. For the same reason, the execution of
the work is likely to be defective and the location of the route
imperfect. The expense of alteration and repair must be proportionately
increased. The cost of stations, machine shops, depots of fuel, and
supply of water must far exceed the disbursements for the same objects
in a settled country, possessing the advantages of skilled labor and
convenient transportation.
To meet the additional expense, the rates for passengers and freights
will have to be increased to probably six or eight times the value
assigned for ordinary grades.
On the other hand, ocean transportation by way of the Isthmean Canal,
collecting by tolls enough to pay the cost of repair—say one dollar per
ton transit, or one cent per ton per mile for fifty miles—would be but
one-fourth the average rate per ton per mile for the three thousand
miles of transportation on the Pacific Railroad.
Passengers will always take the quickest route. Valuable packages of
goods, gold, and silver, and even teas and small packages of costly
silks, will be transported by the railroad. The Pacific coast and
the interior country lying between the head of navigation of the
tributaries of the Mississippi, will receive the commodities of the
East chiefly through the port of San Francisco.
The following table shows the relative distances of San Francisco and
London from Oriental ports:
═══════════════╤═════════╤═════════════╤══════════════╤═════════
ORIENTAL PORTS.│ LONDON, │SAN FRANCISCO│ SAVING BY │SAVING BY
│VIA SUEZ.│ DIRECT. │SAN FRANCISCO.│ LONDON.
──────────────┼─────────┼─────────────┼──────────────┼─────────
│ MILES. │ MILES. │ MILES. │ MILES.
Melbourne │ 11,281 │ 7,902 │ 3,379 │
Yokohama │ 11,504 │ 7,520 │ 6,984 │
Shanghai │ 10,469 │ 5,555 │ 4,914 │
Hong Kong │ 9,669 │ 6,355 │ 3,314 │
Manila │ 6,939 │ 6,135 │ 3,504 │
Singapore │ 8,239 │ 7,785 │ 454 │
Penang │ 7,856 │ 8,165 │ │ 306
Calcutta │ 7,946 │ 9,665 │ │ 1,719
Ceylon │ 8,646 │ 9,378 │ │ 2,732
───────────────┴─────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴─────────
From the above table it is evident that England will have a formidable
rival for the trade of the East in the Pacific ports, and the interior
which they will be called on to supply.
It is manifest that an intermarine canal is not impracticable to
American talent and energy. It can undoubtedly be executed by
international coöperation. It is demanded by the common interest,
commercial, political, and social, of all peoples. It is supported by
humanitarian considerations, immediate in their influence, broad and
practical in their relations to the interests of society.
The chief obstacle to its execution is its cost, which would be nearly
double that of the Suez Canal. Mr. Kelly estimates that 3,090,000 tons
would pass through the American canal yearly. Assuming that its total
cost will be 150 millions of dollars, the revenue from tolls, at the
rate of one cent per ton per mile, would amount to nearly twenty per
cent. of the entire outlay.
No work, so costly nor fraught with such stupendous consequences, has
ever been attempted by man. The history of civilization is the history
of the efforts of man to assert the right and to increase the means of
individual development. The monuments of science, skill, and industry,
left by ancient nations to perpetuate the names and conquests of Kings
and Pharaohs, were wrung by oppression from suffering men.
To us is left the opportunity for a more extended organization—a
combined world movement—in the interest of science and religion, for
the extension of liberty, and for the diffusion of civilization among
the races of mankind.
Less than the cost of one year of war, will establish for all time—only
to be shaken by a paroxysm of nature—this enduring monument of peace
and good will, and will secure to the United States a conquest pregnant
with vast moral and political possibilities. It is an object worthy of
consideration.
Fifty years ago the Pacific Railroad, the Panama Railroad, the Mt.
Cenis Tunnel, the International Telegraph and the Suez Canal, were
visionary schemes. It seemed the acmé of poetical fiction when the
poet spoke of girdling the earth in forty minutes, as the work of
supernatural agency. Sir Humphrey Davy, making science the basis of
fiction, attempted to arrive at some conception of the composition of
distant planets and the nature of their inhabitants. We can now send
a message across the Atlantic in a minute, and know with certainty
something of the composition of planets, stars, and nebulæ. These
achievements have become the common property of the civilized world.
The piercement of the Isthmus does not involve greater practical nor
intellectual difficulties. Neither science, ability, nor energy, is
wanting. Conviction of its utility, sufficiently wide spread to secure
the popular good will, and leading to a national movement in favor of
combined international action, will secure the early completion of this
great marine highway.
To secure popular favor it seems only necessary to exhibit the material
advantages which must flow from its execution. Some of the facts,
showing how far the completion of the canal would affect the commerce
of the world, have been stated.
A small space may be given to the probable revenue. The moderate
estimate given in Admiral Davis’s report may be assumed as a basis,
which may be safety taken as doubling itself in ten years.
The tonnage which would pass the Isthmus yearly is, at one dollar per
ton toll, $3,094,070.
At end of the first year $ 3,403,477
“ “ second “ 3,712,884
“ “ third “ 4,022,291
“ “ fourth “ 4,331,698
“ “ fifth “ 4,641,105
“ “ sixth “ 4,950,512
“ “ seventh “ 5,259,919
“ “ eighth “ 5,569,326
“ “ ninth “ 5,878,733
“ “ tenth “ 6,188,140
———————————
Gross receipts for tolls during ten years $47,958,085
This estimate is undoubtedly less than the revenue which will be
received.
No conjectural estimate is made of the probable development of the
agricultural and mineral wealth of the valleys of the Mississippi and
the Amazon, of the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and
Pacific coast of America. And yet, in attempting to form an idea of the
probable revenue and actual value of this canal, all the industrial
resources called into being by its influence should be taken into
consideration. It is like opening the gate to commerce, which, for
centuries, man has struggled to unlock.
No event in history has been followed by more marvelous consequences
than the discovery of Columbus. So closely is man bound up with matter,
that every conquest of nature not only adds to his material comfort,
but opens new fields for the moral and intellectual progress of the
race. America not only opened new industrial resources, but afforded
the population of Europe an opportunity to escape from the social,
moral, and physical oppression of caste, bigotry, and capital, which
had become intolerable.
If we could lift the veil which conceals the future, and could see “the
vision of the world and the wonder that will be,” it is not improbable
that we should see the vast elements of progress latent in the American
continents, working out their legitimate and logical results, as
wonderful as those which have transpired since the colonization of
America.
We should see the industrial resources—which have drawn thither in
the struggle for existence the most energetic of the races of the
globe—giving occupation to a happy and united people. The hum of
industry, and the din of the steam hammers, would mingle together
with smoke of furnaces and of factories, above the inexhaustible coal
fields of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, and Iowa. The grain of
Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Kansas would be shipped to New Orleans,
to be exchanged for the cotton and sugar of the South, and the coffee,
dyes, and tobacco of Costa Rico, Havana, and Ambelema; the magnificent
table lands of Mexico, Guatemala, Yucatan, and the plateau of Bogotá,
occupied by a people more highly cultivated and capable of appreciating
the grandeur of the scenery and salubrity of the climate, and of
utilizing the fertility of the soil and the physical advantages of
those most favored regions.
Opulent cities would spring up in the bays of Tampa, Mobile, and
Pensacola. New Orleans, Galveston, and Vera Cruz would rival Marseilles
and ancient Venice. From the ports of Carthagena, Sabanilla, Maracaibo,
and Para, would be shipped the produce of the valleys of the Magdelina
and the Amazon. Great as would be the transformations effected by these
changes, they would be less than those which have transformed the
continent of America into a congeries of civilized States.
Such speculations have a sober basis of fact. They are not wholly
useless if they attract the attention of those who have more time
for patient investigation. Sufficient has been said to show that the
objects to be attained merit consideration.