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 South has 18,215 miles. Mr. Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, has estimated that the waterpower facilities of the South equal 5,000,000 horse-power for the six high-water months--five times the amount New England has. By a system of reservoirs this supply could be doubled. Roughly speaking, the country can be divided into three water-power districts: (1) the wholly undeveloped district which lies about Birmingham, Alabama, the centre of the great iron and coal district of the South; (2) a well-exploited district along the Chattahoochee, extending from Atlanta to Columbus, Georgia; (3) a district which lies in the favored agricultural region of northern South Carolina and southern North Carolina. Here about one-third of the easily available power has been developed. To-day New England, poor in raw materials and having an area of only 66,000 square miles, manufactures as much as does the whole South which is rich in raw materials and has an area of 1,000,000 square miles. It is hardly necessary to make forecasts--possibly it is wiser to ask what can possibly hinder the development of this favored section. [Illustration: Portrait.] James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture.