Excerpt from The Tehuantepec Ship Railway: A Review of Its Geographical, Commercial and Political Features and Advantages The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is a natural and central gateway for commerce between the two great oceans of the world. As may be seen by reference to the foregoing diagram, vessels can go from this Isthmus in a direct course to nearly every important port of the world. In this respect it is far superior to the Isthmus of Suez. The contrast between the American Isthmus, considered as a whole, and that of Egypt was very clearly stated in a recent official report on Interoceanic Communication by Lieutenant Sullivan of the United States Navy, who said: "It is to be noted that the Isthmus of Suez is but the center of the old continent; the American Isthmus is the center of the oceans." The contrast between the Mexican and Panama divisions of the American Isthmus is equally favorable to Tehuantepec, for vessels coming from the Pacific across that Isthmus can go in a direct line to the mouth of the Mississippi, Galveston, Mobile, Pensacola, Vera Cruz and other Gulf ports, while those crossing Panama would have to take a roundabout course to reach the same destinations. It is located midway between North and South America, the two coasts of America, Europe and Eastern Asia, and Europe and Australia. It is a commercial gateway between Europe and the west coast of America, New York and the Orient, New York and Australia, the Mississippi Valley and the Orient, the Mississippi Valley and Australia, the Mississippi Valley and the west coast of America, the West Indies and the countries surrounding the Pacific. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.