The Dream of a Shortcut to the World

So better news has come over the wires this year than the dispatch just published stating that the American Commission appointed to survey an isthmus canal route had reported favorably upon the Nicaragua route, estimating the cost at one hundred millions and the time required at ten years, and that a special message would be submitted to Congress urging the immediate commencement of the work. The plan is to unite all the great commercial powers in the undertaking to maintain its international character by a stipulation of perpetual neutrality. When the distance from our ports to the Atlantic seaboard is diminished nearly two-thirds, and the distance to Europe diminished about one half, it is manifest that our products will be at a greater advantage in the markets of the world than they possess at the present time. The staples of wheat and lumber command greatly higher prices in the Eastern States and in Great Britain than on this coast, and the market is almost illimitable. The completion of this great enterprise, therefore, will give a market value to every stick of timber and every acre of timber-bearing land in Washington Territory, and will impart an unwonted impetus to every department of our industry.