FUTURE WORLD CENTER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2154, 28 October 1902, Page 7

FUTURE WORLD CENTER.

This Authority Says That PasefSoimd Is the Huh of the Pa«tfla Coast Tr*d«. Great as is the local development in all parts of the state of Washington, it sinks into Insignificance compared with the prospective transcontinental and oceanic business already heading for Pugent Sound, says W. D. Lyman, in Atlantic. Consult again the map, and note the position that this body of water occupies with respect to the world. It sounds extravagant now, but sober and cool-headed business men, familiar with the facts, believe that Washington holds the key to the future commerce of the world. She stands at the crossroads nations, at the confluence of the commodities of the four quarter* of the globe. She is the successor of Phoenicia, Carthage, Italy and England, as the natural exchange point of all lands. Europe and the United States are at her back, Alaska and British Columbia at her right hand, the tropica at her left, and the orient, with half the population of the world, in front. Formerly California was supposed to be the natural center of our western frontage. We cannot discredit the magnificent location and resources of that state, but it is true that Washington is gaining on California by leaps and bounds. This is due to three causes: First, Washington has five transcontinental railways in reach, California ia under the despotism of one; second, the vast developments of Alaska and British Columbia have made Puget Sound the hub of Pacific coast trade; third, and most important, the route to the orient is materially shorter by Puget Sound than by the Golden Gate.