Show LOOKING IN WRONG DIRECTION by building the panama canal and centering attention on asiatic trade to the neglect of the commerce ot south america the united states bijl have lost before the canal ie completed ten billion dollars in trade are tha conclusions reached by horace bolce who has made a careful study of world commerce as related to the waterways of the world this paper has never looked tor any wonderful achievements for americans in the asiatic field but la ot one mind with mr bolce that the future conquests of our manufacturers to be most successful must be in the direction of south america the building of the panama canal might an injury to agdens railroad interests but cannot benefit this ecklon from a selfish point of view therefore it has nothing to attract but even viewed from higher ground there is much disclosed for criticism mr in Book lovera magazine declares it s clear that the canal enthusiasts have not given careful study to the great trade routes and the shape of the earth of course many distances are shortened and the canal will divert traffic from the straits of magellan the capt of good hope and even from suez unless that canal as it can afford to do lowers its tolls in competition hitherto one of the problems of the suez company has been to keep down profits inq charter prevents it from making more than twenty five per cent on the investment the suez rate Is now about two dollars a ton and as the earnings this year have climbed to over twenty eight per cent a reduction ts imperative if the suez company to corna pete with panama should cut down tolls to one dollar a ton it would in the estimates of steamship traffic ex ports be tho ame as the cutting of 2000 miles out 0 a voyage it will be seen therefore that low canal rates are just as enchanting to shippers as great savin f distances the panama waterway to be a highway tor the nations will have to be run by tancia sam at a loss it america wants foreign trade it Is the markets on the atlantic side of south america that we should seek the traffic on the pacific elde of the andis is paltry in comparison in fact the foreign commerce of argentina and brazil exceeds by nearly the combined foreign trade of the chinese and japanese empires it to the trade of these oriental countries Is added the foreign commerce of chile ecuador peru and bolivia the pacific republics of south america the grand total Is less than the nearly trade on the atlantic side of our southern continent this splendid field fenced by our monroe doctrine and lying at our principal trade gates is being harvested by europe yet these ports are nearer to us than they aro to the old world at the present rate of the development of these eastern south american republics their foreign trade will speedily reach and exceed a billion dollars in value per annum before we complete the canal ten or more billion dollars worth of atlantic traffic which can never be influenced by a waterway at the isthmus will have passed out of our hands it our present inattention to opportunity Is maintained our manufacturers know this but with few exceptions we are indifferent |