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Show CANAL BUILT FOR NATIONAUtPOSE It Is evident that the Canal will have, must have, with the process of the years, an overwhelming influence influ-ence in readjusting the conditions of human llro upon tho globe. And yet it is questionable whether Its present pres-ent owner built It for tlio snko of Ecuador Ec-uador and Japan nnd the trade routes nnd tho unvolling of tho Pacific and tho Joining of the world hnlves. I Bhould rather say Uier0 Is no question that ho did not. The thoupht of all these things aided to dignity tho task and give it background; but tho United States government built the cannl in order to Join together tho two coasts of tho country and glvo it compactness. The people voted vot-ed It In their hearts whllo they wero looking on to seo tho Oregon pick Its lonely way around the Capo. Europeans Eu-ropeans generally allege that it wan purely with a military purposo that wo undertook the work. That is inaccurate. in-accurate. Except for a few professionals, profes-sionals, our militarism is limited to somo sudden outbursts of short duration. Except when wo are ourselves our-selves interferred with or hampered or crossed, wo do not In general approve ap-prove of war, at any rate are disinclined dis-inclined to systematic preparation for war. We shall havo to say on tho whole that we built the Canal for national purposes, in splto of tho Oregon incident inci-dent and of tho fortification ot tho Canal. Tho first form of the Hay Pnuncofoto treaty, tho ono which John Hay nlways Insisted was the right ono, for budo tho fortification. It Is qulto possible still that Hay was right. Only tlmo can toll. It is cor-tain, cor-tain, however, that as wo drew nearer near-er the actual work, we became Increasingly In-creasingly distrustful ot a vague protection pro-tection by tho world at large. A terror ter-ror seized us as wo came to realize bow near our vitals lay the Interests ot the Canal, and we were unwilling to tako any risk. The Canal is ours. We havo for the time belnj more Interest In it than anybody else, but tho lapse of the years and the usago ot men will establish that great watorway ultimately ultim-ately In a protection surer than any ono nation can create with walls and howitzers. From "The Meaning ot tho Canal," by Donjamln Ido Wheel-or, Wheel-or, In tho American Review of Reviews Re-views for February. |