Illinois, following the recommendation of Governor
Charles S. Deneen, submitted to the people an amendment of the
constitution which would enable the State to assume a bonded
indebtedness of $20,000,000 for the purpose of constructing a deep
waterway from Chicago to St. Louis. The measure was approved by popular
vote November 3, 1907. Thereupon, the State Senate passed a bill
providing for the construction of the canal. This failed in the House.
It was again introduced into the legislature, 1910, but failed to pass.

Among the other important projects submitted by the Inland Waterways
Commission are the following: To connect the Great Lakes with the ocean
by a twenty-foot channel by the way of the Erie Canal and the Hudson
River, an inner channel extending from New England to Florida; to
connect the Columbia River with Puget Sound and deepen the Sacramento
and the San Joaquin Rivers, so as to bring commerce by water to
Sacramento and other interior California cities.

With the hope that New York City might again come into a mastery of the
trade with the West, as at the time when the Erie Canal was first
completed and because of the inability of the railroads to meet the
demands of traffic, the legislature of New York, in 1903, appropriated
$100,000,000 for the enlargement of that waterway and the two branch
canals, the Oswego and Champlain. The proposed uniform depth is twelve
feet and it is otherwise to be large enough for boats of a thousand ton
cargo or four times the capacity of boats now on the canal.

CHAPTER VIII

DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW SOUTH

[1904]

The term New South signifies the transition which has taken place
through energy applied to the opportunities which that section of the
United States offers. The South has natural gifts which in themselves
will make it a marvel of wealth. The coast line measures 3,000 miles and
already the ports of New Orleans and Galveston are among the most
important on our seaboard. In 1898 the imports along the Gulf amounted
to $13,000,000, and in 1908 they amounted to $59,350,000. In 1898 the
exports were valued at $202,000,000; in 1908 they were valued at nearly
$400,000,000. The completion of the Panama Canal will certainly increase
the importance of the Southern seaboard cities.

[Illustration]
Copyright, 1900, by Detroit Photographic Co,
The port of New Orleans.

There are in the United States navigable streams amounting to 26,410
miles and of these the Sou