igator, doubtless; and that the
volume of trade is overwhelmingly with England and Germany will likewise
be disconcerting. South America has 40,000,000 people; but Mexico's
13,500,000 inhabitants buy nearly as much from Uncle Sam as the South
Americans. We now sell Canadians products averaging $30 per capita
annually.

The reason for the startling disparity in the statistics of trade
intercourse with our adjoining neighbors, Canada and Mexico, and oversea
South America, is obviously the lack of transportation facilities under
the American flag; and the adage that "trade follows the flag" has
earned more significance than attaches to a mere figure of speech. We
pay South America yearly, let it be known, about $120,000,000 for
coffee, wool, hides and other raw products; and the major share of this
money is expended in Europe for the necessities and luxuries of life.
This is inequitable, to say the least, and should be remedied. Uncle Sam
must look to the Orient, as well, and seek to make China his best
customer. Every nation in Europe whose foreign trade is worth
considering exploits foreign countries in the thorough manner of a great
commercial house--getting business by the most productive, not the
easiest, methods. In frequent magazine articles I have insisted that the
isthmian canal, "destined to make the United States the trade arbiter of
the world," could never be expected to "pay" directly. The artificial
waterway is to cost a vast deal of money; with the payments to the
French company and to the republic of Panama, added to the sum necessary
to the completion of the work. Uncle Sam's expenditure cannot be less
than $225,000,000! It will probably be more. A private incorporation
embarked in the enterprise would hold that the investment was entitled
to five per cent. interest, say, and in time be funded. The money of the
nation, embarked in a project distinctly commercial, merits a reasonable
rate of income or benefit--four per cent. certainly. To operate the
canal with the expensive up-keep essential to a region of torrential
rains, cannot be less than $4,000,000 annually; if the Chagres River
refuses to be confined in bounds, the cost will be greater. The items
of yearly expense figured here total $13,000,000--a sum to be regarded
as the very minimum of the cost of maintaining and operating the canal.

[Illustration: CARGO STEAMER IN THE CANAL AT KILOMETER 133]

Optimistic students of ocean transportation statis