versa, the canal will likewise be considerably affected thereby. If a reasonable protection, say of one cent a pound, is maintained on sugar, Hawaii will send annually between 250,000 and 300,000 tons of sugar east, through the canal, and take in return a proportionate amount of supplies by the same route. If sugar goes, and remains, on the free list, this business will be almost blotted out. What this would mean to Hawaii cannot be realized by one unacquainted with the conditions. Sugar is the commercial life blood of Hawaii. There are 46,000 persons actually on the pay roll of the Hawaiian sugar plantations, with twice as many more directly dependent on the industry, and almost the entire population indirectly dependent thereon. All the other exports combined in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, amounted to only about $6,000,000, with little opportunity for expansion. The civilization and physical existence of the people of Hawaii revolves around and depends upon the prosperity of the sugar business, with no other industry in sight to take its place. CHAPTER XLVII THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE PANAMA CANAL GREAT BRITAIN'S ENORMOUS CARRYING TRADE-HOW CANADA WILL BE BENEFITED BY THE CANAL-TRADE ROUTES TO LIVERPOOL REDUCED BRITISH SHIPPING WILL PROFIT BY AMERICA'S INCREASED FOREIGN COMMERCE-THE SHIP SUBSIDY FACTOR-MILITARY AND NAVAL CONSIDERATIONS. W' BY SIR HIRAM S. MAXIM etc. The population of the United States will, in a relatively short time, amount to 150,000,000, and the population of Canada East will have increased to 20,000 000, without counting the population on the Pacific coast. ILL the opening of the Panama South America laden with nitrates, guano, Canal benefit the British empire? Yes, undoubtedly so. The British empire is spread over the whole world and Great Britain has vastly more ships than any other nation. For many years it has practically monopolized the carrying trade, and any new route that is opened to the shipping of the world must prove a great advantage to England and the rest of the British empire. In studying the probable effects of the opening of the canal to commerce, we should not confine ourselves to things as they exist at the present moment, but should look ahead to the changes that are bound to take place in the immediate future. The United States has a population of 100,000,000, and Canada about 8,000, 000. That the canal will be highly beneficial to the eastern states of America goes without saying, as it greatly reduces the distance to the Far East and western coast of South America. The distance from New York to Callao, Peru, by the way of Cape Horn and through the stormy Straits of Magellan is approximately 11,500 miles, while the distance via the Panama Canal will be about 4,000 miles, a saving of 7,500 miles. Whatever benefits the Atlantic States benefits Canada East in a corresponding degree. Canada has an inexhaustible store of timber, valuable mines, and unlimited water power. She exports timber, pulp, paper, and aluminum; also calcium carbide and silicon carbide; and the Panama Canal will enable her ships to return from Vancouver will also be benefited by the canal, as it will enable her to trade directly with the West India islands and the eastern coast of the two Americas. Liverpool, which is the greatest seaport in the world after New York, will also be greatly benefited. The distance to Callao, Peru, will be reduced from 11,500 to 6,700 miles, while the distance to Vancouver will be reduced from 16,600 to 9,500 miles; also the distance to San Francisco will be reduced from 15,500 to 9,000 miles. The distance from Halifax, Canada, to Eastern Australia will be reduced from 13,600 to 11,500 miles, and to New Zealand from 13,000 to 10,200 miles.* It will therefore be seen that the opening of the canal will be quite as beneficial to the British empire as to the United States, which in some respects means nearly half of the world. The United States produces more petroleum than all the world besides, and as much iron and steel as is produced by any other two nations; she manufactures more printers' paper than the whole world besides; she consumes more than half of the rubber of the world and more than The measurements which I have given have been obtained from a large globe in my own library.-H. S. M. half of the coffee, and manufactures more motor cars than the whole of Europe. Three-quarters of mankind throughout the world dress in cotton, and three-quarters of the cotton of the world is raised in the United States. She is the largest producer of wheat in the world and probably raises half of the tobacco. Being a very rich and populous country, there will always be a lively demand in the United States for the products of the East, notably silk and tea; therefore there is sure to be an immense traffic between the Atlantic States and the Far East. And although foreign ships will not be allowed to trade between American ports-for example between New York and San Francisco-still there is nothing to prevent British ships from trading between American ports and the ports of other nations. It is cheaper to build a ship in England than in America, and unless the Americans subsidize their ships very heavily-(an event which is not likely to take place)—there is no reason why England should not monopolize the greater part of the traffic through the Panama Canal. There are many long and expensive railways crossing the American continent from the east to the west. The railroad interests are very important, and their influence is very great in politics. It is safe to say that they will protect their interests by blocking every effort to subsidize American ships. I think it is also safe to assert that America, when she decided to execute the greatest and the most expensive engineering feat that the world has ever known, was influenced by something which was not altogether for the benefit of commerce; there was another factor in the equation, and that was to enable her to shift her battleships quickly from one side of the continent to the other. Had no danger loomed up in the Far East, the canal would not have been opened in the early part of the present century. |