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THE PANAMA CANAL
Of all subjects now occupying the attention of the world at large, and of importance not only to the State of California, but to all the territory west of the Rocky mountains and the islands and coasts of the Pacific Ocean, over which the American flag floats in sovereignty, none is paramount to the construction of the Panama Canal. The completion of the canal, while a world event, will, of course, be of peculiar significance and importance to that portion of the globe which borders on the Pacific Ocean. Countries, islands, coasts and States that for centuries have been isolated and far distant by water routes from the centers of population of Europe and Eastern United States, will be brought thousands of miles nearer to, and consequently, into more intimate social, industrial and business relations with the more highly organized governments of Europe and America.
In effect, the opening of the canal in 1915 to the commerce and trade of the world will be the realization of the dream of Columbus, who sailed across the Atlantic in 1492 to discover a shorter water route between Europe and Asia, and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Baron von Humboldt, who, between the years of 1799 and 1805, explored and surveyed a great portion of Central and South America. Humboldt, as a result of his explorations, predicted that within a reasonable period of time the two largest oceans of the world, the Atlantic and the Pacific, would be united by an artificial water-way. This water-way, in his opinion, as expressed in a letter to his friend, the German poet Goethe, would be constructed by the little republic at the north, the United States, even then beginning to take an important place among the powers of the world.
In 1867, the energy and foresight of Seward acquired Alaska as an addition to American territory; and though Seward was laughed at and reviled as a foolish dreamer because of his purchase of a so-called iceberg and a fog-bank, nevertheless, that able statesman and diplomat pointed out to the people of the United States that some day the Pacific Ocean must become the world's greatest sea of commerce and trade, and that in that day Alaska would become one of the most valuable possessions of the American nation.
Those dreams and prophecies today are reaching their culmination and fulfillment in the opening of the Panama Canal, which will be celebrated in San Francisco,—yes, not only in San Francisco, but throughout all California and the sister States of the western coast—by the greatest international exposition ever conducted in the history of civilization. It will be a jubilee celebration in which all the States and principalities, nations and empires of the world will join in proud and thankful participation.
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