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VOL XXKLX. CLEVELAND, O., MARCH 10, loO4. NO. LO. > Messese tS ee yee oe Secretary Cortelyou have won upon the land." Our country, with its ample harbors on long sea- boards facing both'the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, with its great lakes system carrying a fleet larger than the merchant fleet of any other nation except Great Britain and Germany, and with its river and canal sys- tems bringing a vast interior within easy reach of the coasts, must in time rank first among nations in water transportation as it now ranks first in land transpor- tation. In total tonnage we are now second only to Eng- land. Because our ship building facilities are almost wholly devoted to home transportation they do not the less add to national wealth and prestige. The Panama canal will create a demand for American sea-going cargo steamers, which may do as much for our ship builders on salt water as the development of the great lakes ore regions has done for ship builders on fresh water. We should be unremitting in our efforts to win such commercial mastery upon the sea as we have won upon the land. If the Department of Commerce and Labor can aid in attaining this end, it will have served one of the main purposes of its creation, "to foster, pro- mote and develop the * FF sippine and the transportation facilities of the United States." --_ ' i Ze HON. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU, Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor.