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28 THE MARINE REVIEW NAVAL VESSELS IN CANADIAN LOCK. the calls said that he was now to be regarded only as appearing in the role of a day laborer, but that hé had not lost faith in the future or in Sault Ste. Marie, and predicted that before the centennial of the canal could be celebrated Sault Ste. Marie would be the metropolis of the west. The principal speaker at the afternoon session was Vice President Fairbanks, who was listened to with great attention and who packed a great deal-of excellent mat- ter into very small space. Vice President Fairbanks said: "Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: We cordially welcome our friends from Canada to share in this cele- bration. The: event. we commemorate is of mutual' in- terest to the people of the two countries. Here side by side, are three great locks, two constructed by the United States and the other by the Dominion of Canada. Through them passes interchangeably the commerce of the two countries. Here they will stand in close fellow- ship for centuries to come, discharging their important functions in the transportation of commerce. We trust that they will always be symbolical of the relations and neighborly regard of the two people through whose veins flows the blood of a 'common ancestry. "We owe allegiance to different institutions. Above us are different flags, emblems of the mightiest powers upon this earth. We have no sense of rivalry except in these ways which make for a higher and better civiliza- tion. : "There are no fortifications along our common frontier; no battleships upon the waters which divide us. These are not needed now, and we trust that in God's Provi- dence, they shall never be required. We are bound to each other by strong social ties and sentiments of mutual respect. Competition in trade is a vitalizing factor. It is not born of unfriendliness. It has its inspiration in that self-interest which has been the life of trade from the beginning until now. One of our wisest Americans, Wil- liam McKinley, whose good name is the precious heritage of the human race, said at the Pan-American exposition at Buffalo: 'Though commercial competitors we are, commercial enemies we must not be.' The national] policies of the United States and Canada may not be in accord. If they be not, it will be due to no unfriendliness of purpose, but to that sense of duty which each primarily owes to its own. "We look upon our commercial development since this canal was dedicated to commerce, with the utmost satis- faction. All sections of the country, have gone forward, expanding in commercial strength, but nowhere is there to be found more remarkable growth than we witness in the territory which is tributary to the Sault Ste. Marie canal. The tonnage passing through this canal has risen from an average of 12,000 tons per annum in the first decade, to 25,000,000 of tons per annum in the ten years ending in 1904. Last year more than sixteen thousand vessels passed through these docks, carrying more than thirty-one million tons of freight, valued at over three hundred and fortv millions of dollars. The maximum has not yet been reached. Chicago, Milwaukee, Duluth, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo and other cities which sit in majesty and power upon the shores of the Great Lakes, are rapidly increasing in population and in commercial importance. The great agricultural regions are sending their vast surplus to feed millions in the east and beyond the Atlantic. "The commerce of the United States has increased be- yond the dreams of the most optimistic of.a half centu-y ago. Our foreign commerce has, with rapidity, attained a vast volume. It is insignificant, however, in amount and value when compared with our internal commerce. Rail- ways are taxed to their utmost capacity, and our ships upon inland water routes are loaded to the limit of their CANADIAN LOCK WITH GATES CLOSED. carrying power, bearing the products of a progressive and great people. Old methods of interchange are found inadequate to meet the current needs. 'They. ares con stantly improved and: enlarged. New. instruments of in- tercommunication are:created. The. capacity of all these is quickly taxed. New transportation facilities create new traffic. The wants of the people quickly expand to meet them. The canal is identified with the period of our most