The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-11
The Suez Canal

1.-The Suez canal undertaking can now
look back thirty completed working years
that waterway having been opened for
traffic with much ceremony by Ishmasl
Pasha, the then khedive, in the month OF
November. 1852" says the Liverpool
Journal Of Comerce. The eOnpatviets
OF Ferdinand de Lesseps. the erginec- OF
the scheme. have not been unmindful OF
his memory, and a colossal statue Of the
great canal-maker was in November sASs
erected on the western shore OF Pert
Said, and now stands in ful lview Of
every vessel passing in either dlrsSStaa.
The opposition which de Lesseps plans
met in England. and the weak IA / luke
warm support he received from the
French government not 10 mention he
suspicion and distrust shown by the SUB
lime Porte, We're enough 10 deter less
strong-minded man than Lesseps from
the task, but Lesseps remained teos %
his ideal, with the result that we nave
seen Lord Palmerston's misglVinss as 70
the effect Of the cutting OF the canal upon
British interests and the integrity OF
Turkey ali proved TO beb useless, and we
now find ourselves the largest snare
holder in the enterprise as well as its
best customer.
But the political difficulties were not
the only obstacles in the way Of c0nect-
ing the Mediterranean with the Red sea
There were physical difficulties also.
Long before Lesseps' time scientific men
declared that there was a great dider-
ence in the sea levels of the Mediterra-
mean and the Red sea. and NJ. Lepere,
an engineer sent to Egypt by Napoleon
I TO study the question. reported that
the difference between the levels was so
great as 10 render the making OF canal
impossible Forty years later, however.
a series OF experiments established the
fact that the water level at Suez and
Port Said was the same, and that IL was
quite feasible to cut a waterway between
those two places without the necessity
of making locks.
Another difficulty (real 10 certain
extent. this onel, was the risk Of sitting
I'D by the sand and mud washed down
into the sea by the Nile and invariably
carried in an easterly direction by the
tide, but this has been overcome by
energetic dredging. II was further pre-
dicted that collisions would be constantly
occurring, but this is very far from being
the case.
On the whole, 1t must be said that the
managers of the canal have been quite
equal TO their task. Since the year 1876
when Great Britain purchased a number
of shares in the company from the khe-
the sum of e4000,0OO sterling (now worth
about e26.5O0.000l. giving to Great Brit
ain. as II did, weighty influence in the
management. many Improvements have
been carried out The sidings, where the
largest vessels can pass each other. have
been increased by nine, and not only that
but the width has been increased through
out the whole length Of the fairway that
vessels for the most part can pass each
other without bringing up IN the tsidings.
so that cases where waiting Is neces-
sity are the exception. Whereas, at the
beginning. the passage through the canal
generally took IS hours. since the intro
duction of the electric light this has been
reduced 10 II hours, and Is now never
more than q hours. There IS one thing,
however. which will probably have 10
be attended to in the near future. and
that is the adequate deepening Of the
canal bed. The tonnage of steamers has
increased so much Of recent years that
fully laden vessels often draw as much
as q or even 80 feet of water and il is
possible that the necessity will soon be
made manifest for providing a safe and
unhindered passage through the canal for
ships of this draft"