Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 242, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1914 — VALUE OF CAPE COD CANAL TO SHIPPING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VALUE OF CAPE COD CANAL TO SHIPPING

r IHI ;RE may be T times when a great and wealthy taafmmmrn tion finds that t mue overumi.iJ come almost superhuman obstacles to accomplish a benefit for the whole world. Such a situation exists at Panama, where science and money have completed a canal, without counting the expense and with no resultant direct profit 'to its builders. The fact that a very small percentage of the ships passing through the canal sails under the American flag proves that the United States feels Its international responsibilities and is

actuated by altruistic ideas. A similar exists nearer home. New York is building a waterway from which no income will follow. The deepened Erie canal will help the commerce of the lake states, while only incidentally developing local commerce and industries. Both the isthmian and Erie canals have rightfully been in the public eye for years. A third, of much more immediate and direct value to our coastwise trade, has received little attention. Advocated by Washington aB a military necessity, urged by successive presidents, attempted by various corporations, needed by humanity, the Cape Cod canal has remained uncut since the day when Miies Standish met the Dutch in 1627 and on the upper waters of Buzzard’s bay began the first transportation through Long Island sound between New Amsterdam and the Old Colony. At that spot there is now finished and in operation, at a cost of only $12,000,000, a channel 30 feet deep, which has the largest tonnage tributary to any ocean canal; a traffic as great as that at Suez, being 25,000,000 tone, carried almost exclusively in American bottoms. Government and state having failed to recognize the importance of tlhis interior smooth-water line, less than fifty men have been bold enough to finance it. They also have their ideals, feeling that the timjs are ripe to regain our lost ocean supremacy, and that Individuals, as well as the general public, should do their share for the improvement of waterways. Conservatism, however, demanded that all private corporations mtuft be based upon financial returns. It is proper, therefore, to give in brief 1 the figures upon which Mr. Belmont and his associates are working. They are as fob lows: Of the 25,000,000 tons, 11,000,000 is coal alone.) That commodity is losing ten cents per ton from styrm, fog de-' lays and extra insurance for each round trip. With a capital of only $12,000,000 and such a maximum traffic, it is- readily seen that even if only one-half the tonnage goes through the canal during the first year a good dividend may be expected—provided the new channel in all respects meets modern requirements. This is the aim and ambition of its chief engineer, William Barclay Parsons, whose experience with the Panama canal commission and general knowledge of waterways are well known. The canal is wider and deeper than the original Suez; protection against the wash of passing steamers is secured by the paving of its banks; electric, lights at short 1 Intervals assure safe traffic at night; its great breakwater amply protects the eastern end from northeast gales. The route is through the eight-mile Isthmus which for years has been cho-

sen as the connecting link between the head of Buzzard’s bay and Cape Cod bay. The deepest cut is only 29 feet above sea level. On the south bank of the canal the tracks of the Haven railroad give access for the transfer of freight between water and land. The possibilities are, therefore, great for manufactures and general industries. Daily observations for five years show that the fog is less than one-half that existing in Vineyard sound. The course of the canal is through wide, currentless waters, free from the westerly storms of the outside route. The great hook of the cape protects vessels from all southerly gales. The new route saves 70 miles in distance between eastern and southern points and a day and a half for tows and sailing ships. Quick, certain transit upon positive schedules is required today. The canal gives mobility by an interior smooth channel through which New England can receive her crude material at a low figure. Congested land lines cannot supply it, and manufacturers must have it promptly and cheaply if they are to replace vanishing home markets with new trade from Septh AmeVica and the Pacific. The raw products from the West will also reach New England directly by water from the Great Lakes. A secondary source of revenue to the canal company and of great importance to the state is the development of a district which today 1b off the main arteries of travel. Southeastern Massachusetts, from Plymouth to Provincetown, is epaysely inhabited, and is well fitted fbr the summer homes of people from the interior looking for resorts in a desirable climate. Lines of steamers from the west will give ready access to the increasing number of families seeking the New England coast. The Cape Cod canal proving remunerative, private capital will be attracted toward the building of minor channels. With this forecast and for this reason, it is safe to say, Mr. Belmont after solving, in a narrow field, the local transportation question of the city of New York, turned his attention to the broader one of lessening distance and time and of saving lives by a sea route through southeastern Massachusetts —the land of his forebears. The United States and the state of Massachusetts having failed to solve the problem, he found that the time had arrived to build the canal. Large corporations had replaced the individual owners of filing craft; the control of the traffic was in a few hands; consequently there were less units with which to deal. Keeping this point in mind, and that the undertaking was completed at a time when the need of a closer relationship between the corporations and the people was more than ever

on is being sought re patrons leading transportation and uvestor as well as »e consumer. It is especially essential to seek this aid for the rea-_ son that no deepsea canal exists in this country upon which tolls are charged, consequently there is no precedent upon which to base a revenue. The men who built the Cape Cod canal asked no help from Washington. On the contrary, they constructed and paid for a channel/over four miles long in the United States wafers of puzzard’s bay. They built a breakwater three-quarters of a mile long, also at their own ex-

pense, In Barnstable bay. Both these works will be of great benefit to commerce and to the adjacent localities. They make deep-water harbors long needed for the benefit of the public.