that we should today, on both sides of the boundary line, repeat the sentiment expressed in the last speech of President McKinley. 'Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.'

The progress of civilization, the enjoyments of the comforts and conveniences of life, the highest standard of manhood will be best promoted by a growing sentiment for peace and good will among the peoples of the earth. Here on this border line between the United States and Canada may we erect twin pillars which will be the beginnings of the splendid temple of peace. We may thus attain what one of our great legislative leaders has termed a development of resources great beyond the comprehension of any mortal and the diffusion among all of riches to which the glories of the Arabian Nights are but the glitter of the pawn shop.

And yet more important we shall have part in that development of individual opportunity, of liberty and of high moral standards, which now and always will place the English speaking races in the forefront of the world's civilization.

The Commerce of the Great Lakes

BY HON. WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE

PRESIDENT OF THE LAKE CARRIERS ASSOCIATION

N 1843 Senator Norvell introduced a bill in the United States Senate to grant lands for the building of the St. Mary's Canal. Henry Clay, the silver-tongued orator of Kentucky, one of the foremost statesmen of the nation, bitterly opposed the bill, declared that any money or grants made for that purpose, would be utterly wasted, and pronounced this great waterway beyond the farthest bounds of civilization, if not in the moon. In an address delivered by Henry Clay to Lafayette in Washington, December 10, 1824, on the occasion of Lafayette's last visit to America, he used the following language: "The vain wish has been sometimes indulged that Providence would allow the patriot after death to return to his country to contemplate the intermediate changes which had taken place; to view the forests felled, the cities built, the mountains leveled, the canals cut, the highways constructed, the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning, and the increase of population." Could he stand here today and witness this celebration, view this beautiful city, with its many industries, happy homes, progressive people, -the city but yet in its infancy, and destined to be beyond a doubt, with its great natural advantages, one of the great cities of this nation, and. when comparing the present with his prediction of sixty-two years ago, who could paint the emotions which would surge through his brain?

A short review of lake navigation, the subject on which I am to speak, reveals a transformation scene even greater. While statistics are necessarily dry, it is an absolute necessity to use a few of them in showing and demonstrating the tremendous increase in the tonnage of the Great Lakes during the past fifty years. In 1855, fifty years ago, the total tonnage of Lake Superior, not only the cargo, but the ships that carried it as well, could be comfortably stowed away in the hold of any of the largest modern steamers that have come into commission during the past year, and that are daily passing through the canal. The movement of freight to and from

Lake Superior previous to the opening of the State canal in 1855, was entirely by boat to Sault Ste. Marie, where the cargoes were unloaded, then taken across the portage one mile in length, and reloaded aboard the boats. In 1851 about 12,600 tons passed over the tramway portage; transshipments to Lake Superior ports consisted of hay, oats, dry goods, groceries, and mining machinery to the value of a million dollars. Those

to lower lake ports included copper, iron blooms, and fish, valued at $675,000. During the fifty years the canal has been in commission, the yearly traffic has increased from the minimum of 14,503 tons to a maximum of almost 36,000,000 tons. The increase in tonnage of each year's traffic over that of the preceding year, has averaged about 20 per cent. For each

decade the average percentage of yearly increase and total tonnage are as follows:

Colonel Davis in a report just issued states that the commerce of the lakes for 1904 was 24 times greater than that of 1880, three and one-half times that of 1890; that the value of tonnage for 1904 was nearly $355,000,000. Astounding as the fact may seem, the new tonnage that has come into commission this present year, 1905, and that being built and under contract for 1906, will increase the carrying capacity of the lakes 7,220,000 tons. This increase alone is equal the entire amount of ore carried during the year 1896. In other words, the ships that have come into commission this year with those under contract in the Great Lakes shipyards, for 1906, could themselves carry the total ore commerce of Lake Superior of ten years ago. More than one-third of the general movement of ore has been the work of the past five years; more than three-fourths of total movement has been the work of the past ten years. In fact, so rapidly has the tonnage increased during the past five years, that the dream of today is the reality of tomorrow, and with the experience of the past, who shall say what the maximum will be? The building of the steamer A. B. Wolvin, the first of the present mammoth carriers, increased the tonnage carrying capacity 5,000 tons over any preceding vessel. Already it is being predicted that with a 25-foot channel, which has been recommended by Colonel Charles E. L. B. Davis, as both feasible and practicable, that 15,000-ton ships will be built. And great as the present output of ore has attained, one of the best posted iron men in the United States, made the statement in Cleveland within a short time, that inside of ten years, the output of ore from Lake Superior would reach 45,000,000 tons in a single season.

The tonnage of the Detroit river is equal to five times the foreign tonnage of New York harbor, and greater than the combined tonnage of Liverpool, London and Hamburg, and with tonnage to spare. And it must also be borne in mind in connection with this that our season of navigation on the Great Lakes is 230 days, whereas on the seaboard they have the entire 365 days. In no other place in the world can so animated a water view be obtained as the Detroit river. It is a constant procession, ships never out of sight.

It may be of interest to state that one of the new ships launched a few

weeks ago, the steamer Elbert H. Gary, recently carried 10,877 tons of ore from Ashland, being the largest cargo ever shipped from Lake Superior. In fact, four new ships built by the Pittsburg Steamship Co., and recently gone into commission, if carrying wheat, the aggregate of the four single cargoes if reduced to flour, would be sufficient to furnish every man, woman and child of the 80,000,000 population of the United States, a one-pound loaf of bread. Showing the inconsiderable amount of wheat as compared

to ore, our banner crop of wheat was in 1901, over seven hundred million bushels, of which three hundred and fifty millions were carried by lake transportation. Yet, if a canal were dug from Cleveland to Buffalo (185 miles) forty feet wide by twenty-five feet in depth, the entire length, the 350,000,000 bushels would fill it.

The progress in the loading and unloading facilities of our vessels has increased in equal proportion. In the inception of the ore trade it was put aboard little schooners by hand labor of severest sort, and at a cost per ton that today would be fabulous. It took about four days to load a cargo of 300 tons, and the unloading of the cargo was an even greater undertaking.