TO OPEN THE WORLD TO THE NATIONS

[Music] today distances between nations and continents are measured in hours and minutes instead of months and weeks but despite the vast network of Airways speeding passengers and cargo to every point on the globe the nations of the world depend more than ever upon their maritime fleet while the 99% of all international cargo is transported in the holes of seagoing vessels tankers to carry fuel industry airplanes and motor vehicles freighters to haul the output of mines and Miller's farms and factories the shipping fleets are an important part of the world's economy for the existence of hundreds of millions of people rests upon the arrival of Seabourn cargo never before in history have ships moved such an immense volume of world good [Music] until a century ago ships sailing around the world were blocked by two small stretches of land a hundred miles of the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt and 40 miles at Panama these land barriers forced a voyage of 13,000 miles around Africa and South America but early in the 19th century inspired men were developing and applying new ideas creating new methods and new products an era of machines that would improve life and living was on its way [Music] the Industrial Revolution was spreading throughout Europe more products were being manufactured and more markets had to be supplied this was the beginning of a new world economy which would lead to the interdependence of the people of all nations at this time the voyage to the east around the Cape of Good Hope was long and different nevertheless access to the markets and resources of the Orient was essential to the expansion of Industry and Commerce because trade with the East rapidly increased in volume and importance an age-old plan to shorten the distance between Europe and the Orient by linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean was revived a waterway dug through a hundred mile strip of desert the long history of man's efforts to create a passage through the Egyptian land barrier can be traced back to 2000 BC [Music] in the temple of Carnac a wall relief depicts a Pharaoh hunting along a canal which extended east from the Nile River [Music] after one Pharaoh had created this first shallow channel many others lengthened and read ugh it until the Pharaoh's canal under ptolemy ii linked the nile river and the red sea historians know that this waterway was used for both irrigation and commerce and that its existence depended upon the whim and desire of egypt's rulers through the egyptian persian and roman empire's whenever enemies threatened or the cost of maintaining the channel seemed too high the canal of the Ancients was filled in or left to deteriorate only to be redone at a later date [Music] finally in 776 after the conquest of Egypt by turkey ii a beside calif commanded it be closed for seven centuries after trade with the east was limited to overland caravans [Music] but these were becoming impractical especially after 1498 when Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India during the next three centuries Suez was all but forgotten [Music] 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt intending to construct a new canal he asked is there a man so blind who does not see destiny directing my operations here Napoleon failed but his engineer Lapeer had made some valuable surveyors a short time later a resourceful British officer had the idea of erecting a series of stage houses across the isthmus semaphore signals relayed reports of ship arrivals weather conditions and of the presence of bandits between Cairo and Suez this Pony Express proved to be a rough way of hurrying mail and travelers to Indian [Music] then the stagecoach gave way to a railroad but the world's expanding productivity demanded an even more efficient passageway on maritime Canal the challenge was met by Ferdinand de Lesseps a retired French diplomat who had the vision and determination needed to break the desert barrier when Mohammad Sayeed became Viceroy of Egypt de Lesseps hurried to Cairo to renew a friendship of many years standing at once he presented his plan for a canal and received the Viceroy his full support news of de lesseps project startled Europe many favored it others called it the dream of a fool a swindle seeking gullible investors but to all who would listen de Lesseps described how the Suez Canal could benefit the world then financial support came from people of many nations particularly France and in December 1858 with the aid of Mohammad Sayeed Ferdinand de Lesseps organized the universal company of the Suez maritime Canal de Lesseps and his engineers projected a wide sea-level waterway in an almost straight line from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea but the first requirement was an irrigation canal to carry fresh water along the entire route [Music] April 1859 after five years of negotiation and planning de Lesseps began the excavation [Music] [Applause] from Europe to the banks of the lengthening cut came dredging equipment marvels of the new age of steam originally the Lesseps had not planned to use machines and the results were unexpected and gratifying in due course engineers were flooding the inland depression of Timpson the two bitter lakes once isolated saltwater bodies were joined together eventually the Red Sea was rushing into the Mediterranean November 1869 10 years of construction were completed the world looked to Egypt Empress Eugenie of France boarded her royal yacht the eagle and entered ports ie to inaugurate the new route to the east the Queen was honored for the aid the French people had given Ferdinand de Lesseps [Music] [Music] royalty dignitaries and commoners of a score of nations met together to dedicate the maritime canal of Suez to the service of mankind import Saeed around the festivities marked the official opening the next night at the invitation of the Viceroy the convoy stopped at ismaeli a scene of a colorful Bedouin festival the first transit was completed in 48 hours when the Empress's yacht anchored off port Tewfik in the Red Sea Ferdinand de Lesseps was acclaimed around the world the 99-year concessions granted by Mohammed Sayeed and constituting the charter of the Suez company guarantees that the canal shall be open as a neutral passage without discrimination or favor for all time later in Constantinople this proclaimed universality would be given an international legal status meanwhile Ferdinand de Lesseps challenged the remaining barrier to world series in 1881 he started to build another sea-level canal but here besides more difficult problems of construction he faced yellow fever which struck down his workmen in great numbers [Music] however two decades later President Theodore Roosevelt urged that the United States build the canal after stamping out yellow fever army engineers directed by General goupil's constructed a series of locks across the Isthmus and in 1914 the Panama Canal was completed the cutting of the Isthmus is at Panama and Suez revolutionized world trade the sea route from New York to San Francisco became a third its former length between the ports of the Red Sea and New York 7,000 miles were eliminated colorful ports Sayid once a swampy marshland is today the busiest transit port in the world to maintain and operate the hundred mile long waterway at maximum efficiency and to control and guide the convoys of ships in transit the Suez Canal Company requires the services of more than 5,000 persons the staff has an immense responsibility for in a single year over 13,000 vessels carrying nearly 100 million tons of cargo must move through the canal [Music] to ensure an uninterrupted flow of traffic in both directions perfect coordination of all company facilities must be maintained nearly 500 auxiliary vessels ranging from an 8 million-dollar suction dredger to salvaged craft and fire boats are on duty along the waterway at all times [Music] enroute to Singapore and ports of the Malay Peninsula the motor ship Bali of the Swedish East Asia company is carrying general cargo and a dozen passengers from Guttenberg Sweden [Music] at Cantara a convoy crosses the ancient caravan route from Cairo to Syria [Music] near here are three other links of communication and supply the trans is mian highway the Sweetwater canal which the canal company has given over to the Egyptian government and is my Ilya port Sayid railway [Music] the size of the modern vessel has made it impossible for two ships moving in opposite directions to pass in the channel but the company has been completing a series of long bypass canals the maritime privilege of a railroad siding so that north and southbound convoys can move simultaneously to keep pace with the increasing traffic requires a costly program best described as continuous creation the tons of silt and sand torn from the banks by the suction and wake of each ocean dome presents a constant problem maintaining and improving the waterway has meant the removal of three times as much sand and rock as was dug in the original excavation besides the income accruing to Egypt from the canal operation irrigation with the freshwater of the Nile River made possible by de lesseps Sweetwater canal has transformed the sands of the Isthmus into a new and fertile province in 1968 the original lease from Mohammad Sayeed will terminate at that time the international thoroughfare and the many services developed by the canal company will belong entirely to the Egyptian government the passage south across the Isthmus of Suez from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea ends when the ship reaches port Tewfik the entire transit takes less than 15 hours at the time Empress Eugenie made the first transit few could envision that within the life of the canal companies 99-year lease the Suez Canal would grow to the stature of an international public servant of incalculable benefit to all people everywhere [Music] so long as the Panama and Suez canals remain open and free as they were intended the vitality and productive energies of all the peoples of the world can be fully realized and this was the vision of Ferdinand de Lesseps when in undertaking Suez in Panama he held as his purpose to open the world to the nations [Music]