our political and military safety, all demand the prompt construction of the Nicaragua Canal," says a recent circular letter of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. When the subject of the canal was first seriously raised on the Pacific Slope, about 1880, it was said that the trans-continental railways would furnish the necessary economical transportation for wheat to the Atlantic ports, whence it could be cheaply shipped to Europe. That promise remains unfulfilled, and the Cape Horn route, with its enormous detour, still takes the Pacific wheat trade. The time for transportation will be reduced by the canal to twenty-five days, and the distance decreased by about 10,000 miles. The canal will open the markets of Northern Europe to Californian fruits and garden products. The export lumber trade of the North-west will receive a great stimulus. In 1886 the lumber trade of Oregon and Washington shipped 6,000,000 cubic feet, and a couple of years later the amount cut was 706,985,000. The forests of Washington are stated to contain not less than 175,000,000,000 feet of uncut yellow and red fir, and Oregon to possess 25,000 square miles of timber land; in fact, as William H. Seward said, the entire region of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, seems destined to become a ship yard for the supply of all nations. Cargoes are now sent to Europe by Cape Horn, or by rail to the eastern seaboard and thence trans-shipped. When they can be carried at largely decreased cost, and much more rapidly, the trade will grow with giant strides. In addition to wheat and lumber, fish, wool, furs, and other commodities of the Pacific North-west will reach the markets of the world in increasing quantities by means of the canal. I have indicated elsewhere that the sections of the United States which would be most benefited are the Pacific Slope and the Southern States, more especially the Mississippi Valley. A lengthened stay in the States a couple of years ago forced on me the conviction that in the South are best combined the advantages of all other sections, without their greatest drawbacks. The Mississippi region embraces over one-third of the total area of the United States, has 15,000 miles of navigable water, and a population of nearly 30,000,000 people. It contains 70 per cent. of the swine, nearly 60 per cent. of the milch cows, 55 per cent. of the cattle, and 40 per: cent. of the forest lands found in the entire country. produces also four-fifths of the corn (two-thirds wheat), valued at about £160,000,000 ($800,000,000) annually, while the live stock has an average value of £140,000,000 ($700,000,000). The "cotton belt," raising 3,500,000,000 pounds of raw material annually, is tributary to the Mississippi basin, of which New Orleans is the chief outlet for the exports, amounting to £500,000,000 ($2,500,000,000). Coal, iron, cotton, lumber, phosphates, all the foundations for vast manufacturing industries, are there in such proximity and abundance as may be found nowhere else in the world. It The progress made in the South during the past ten years has been striking. In 1880 the South mined 6,000,000 tons of coal; in 1893 the output was nearly 28,000,000 tons. The coal-fields of the Mississippi basin cover an area of 175,000 square miles, and produce over 85,000,000 tons of coal annually. In the production of pig iron in the United States, Alabama now stands third, and Illinois fourth, Pennsylvania and Ohio first and second. Of the total amount produced, the Mississippi basin yields over 80 per cent., while in the manufactures of steel (including rails), Pennsylvania and Illinois alone produce four-fifths of the output. Ten years ago the agricultural, manufacturing and mining products were in value about $1,200,000,000 a year; they are now nearly $2,000,000,000, and are annually increasing. The increase in the population of the South has been very slight, yet the production in ten years has increased by nearly $800,000,000. The railroad mileage has more than doubled, and the traffic quadrupled; the iron and coal production and the cotton mills have added nearly $2,000,000,000 to the assessed value of property, and more than doubled banking capital. Fifteen years ago the cotton seed was a waste product; now nearly 300 cotton seed oil-mills represent an investment of about $40,000,000. Such, briefly, is the record of the South during a period of almost overwhelming obstacles. In Western Spanish-America the Southern States will, by means of the canal, gain access to an important field, at present commercially nearer to Europe, though physically further off. A straight line drawn down the 1 The chief articles consumed by the Spanish-American countries, excepting those in the far south-western portion of South America, where the climate is temperate, are flour, provisions (comprising meat |