The Panama Canal.

During the past few years the world's storm center has moved to the Far Mast. The sudden rise of Japan to the dignity of a great Power, the awakening of China, and the possibility of the early unlocking of the doors of that country to trade relations with the rest of the world, to say nothing of the growing importance of Australia and New Zealand, have caused the control of the Pacific to become a matter of vital concern to us. That concern will be considerably heightened in a few years when the completion of the Panama Canal will have diverted a portion of the world's trade into another route. Other nations have been far-seeing enough to get in early, and have page 6 secured advantageous positions for coaling depots and naval bases along the line of the future canal traffic which Britain might herself have had if she had not let the opportunity go by and France here, and Germany there, have added to their possesions islands that are worth having now, and will he much better worth having later on.