Show CHICAGO STEAMSHIPS Commenting on the fact that the first ship of what Is to be a hue of steamships which Is to be run between Chicago and Europe has been launched the New York Evening Post thinks that the significance of the event Is found In Its notification to the rest of the world that Chicago 1000 miles from tho coast Js a seaport in dead earnest I explains that the steamers will carry Western trade between Chicago Liverpool Liv-erpool and Hamburg by way of the Great Lakes the Wclland canal and the St Lawrence river and it adds A deep waiter canal system between the Sl Lawrence and the Hudson thus giving American ocean shipping from Chicago an allAinerican communication communica-tion with the sea would do far more ton for the Western States than the proposed pro-posed canal across the Central American Ameri-can isthmus We believe all that Is true At the same time we do not believe be-lieve that ships that started from Chicago Chi-cago with freight for Europe would be profitable ships An 8000ton ship does not burn four times as much coal asa as-a 2000ton ship nor employ four times as large a crew The ships that sail out of Chicago cannot exceed very much 2000 tons and no canal will probably prob-ably be built in the next fifty years that will enable great freight steamers to ply between the lakes and Europe But the canal ought to be built and the steamers that take the freight from the beautiful lakes ought to have clear way to deep water near the ocean But then the proper thing to do will be to exchange ex-change the cargoes That Is not a great undertaking in these modern days Any onewho sees iron ore loaded on Lake Superior and unloaded on Lake Erie will understand that It Is not a very serious matter to load and unload a cargo One steamer at tho pier In New York ought to be able to take tho freight of four ships off the lakes The canal is valuable The idea behind the canal Is all right but the lino of steamers from Chicago across the Atlantic will have to necessarily neces-sarily be composed of large ships to be profitable |