The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-12
LITTLE new TO Be TOLD
Canal Commission Report Will Con
tain Few Additional Facts.
Admiral Walker Informs the Senate
Committee to That EFcct-RcSult
BIll-Morc Plans for Delaying Ac-
tion-Anothcr Meeting ON Monday.


BIII-Morc Plans for Delaying Ac-
| tiOn-AnOthcr Meeting on Monday.
| The Senate Committee on Inter Oceanic
Canals met yesterday. remained in ses-
| ton from 10 o'clock till late in the after
noon, and continued consideration of the
| Nicaragua Canal bill until Monday. On
that day it is understood there will be an
| other struggle between the minority and
the majority of the committee as to the
| report on the bill. One of the signifi-
cant features of the meeting yesterday was
that although ordered at the dictation OF
Senator Hanna that more information
might be had as to the comparative merits
| of the Panama and Nicaragua routes, the
| gentleman from Ohio was present at the
! session for but short time.
Rear Admiral Walker and other mem-
| bers of the Isthmian Canal Commission
appeared before the committee Those who
| gave their views were Admiral Walker,
| Colonel Ernst, Colonel Hams, Mr.. Haupt,
and Mr.. Morrison.
| 1t was announced that the report OF the
| lsthmian Commission would not be COM
| pieted before midsummer, and probably not
| be ready until autumn. II was also an
| nounced that the Isthmian Commission
| had adopted as a part of its report the find
| ings Of the Nicaragua Canal Commission
and was now engaged in considering all
| available data concerning the Panama
| Canal.
Little New to be Told.
| Admiral Walker said he believed
that the forthcoming report would
| show little that was not already
| known. He considered that there
| were but two practicable canal routes
across the Isthmus, one the Nicaragua and
| the other the Panama. He had no hest
| fancy in declaring in favor of the former
route. But each had been subjected to the
most thorough survey. In the matter of
the more northerly route there had been
| the very elaborate survey by the Maritime
I Canal Company and by the Nicaragua Ca
| nal Commission In the matter of the
| more southerly route there had been the
elaborate surveys by the old French Com
| pany and the new Panama Canal Company.
Admiral Walker reviewed the work that
has actually been done on both routes. In
this, the advantage, he said, was with the
Panama Company. The existence of a rail-
| road along the line Of the Panama Canal
| was also an advantage. Its great di al
vantages were the feeds of the Chagres
| River and the excavation of Culebra Cut.
| There were no such engineering difficulties
| TO be overcome along the Nicaragua route.
The admiral said that 1t was his opinion
| that though the Panama Canal was furth r
| advanced than the Nicaragua waterway, yet
because of the San Juan River and Lake
Nicaragua, less cutting would have TO be
| done in Nicaragua than remains to be done
at Panama.
The great engineering problems encoun-
| tered in the matter of the Panama route
we're the determination of the depth to
which the central mass must be exca-
waited and the number and height of the
locks to be built; the designing of the
| proper methods for the regulation of the
| flow of the Chagres River, and the feeding
OF the canal Perhaps the most impor-
tant was the absolute control of the Cha
gres River by the construction of great
dams for the capture and store of the
floods with which TO supply the summit
level in dry weather.
Admiral Walker, in reviewing the his
tory of the canal proposition, reminded
the committee that in 1926 John Quincy
Adams opened a correspondence with the
Central American States on the subject
OF the canal, and that from that time on
the proposition has been more or less be-
Tore the American people. He insisted
upon his contention that the most search
ing and systematic surveys have been
executed by engineers of high attachments.
He referred to the surveys made by Colo
mel Childs and Commander Lull and said
that nearly thirty years ago Rear Ad-
miral Ammen presented to this Govern
ment report so complete in detail that
it has been possible to add very little to
II. Every report on the subject, while not
minimizing the Obstacles, has urged the
practicability of constructing canal
across Nicaragua.
Admiral Walker said that the Naval Ap-
preparation bill for the fiscal year end
ing June 80, 1901, viii carry in round
numbers $50. GOO. 000. while that for 1900
carried S4S, 600, and that for 1899 $56,-
100000 The construction of the canal he
urged would double the strength of the
Navy. With both an Atlantic and a Pa
cific seacoast TO defend the long journey
around Cape Horn or through the Straits
of Magellan has been danger, and for
fifty years American naval officers have
been endeavoring 10 diminish this DANCE.
by advocating an isthmiaD canal
The essential thing for national defence
was. he said, TO get the fighting ships
where they are needed in the quickest
possible way. The canal would permit the
mobilization of the Navy either on the Pa
cific or the Atlantic seaboard. The canal
would help concentration whether the
danger point be on the eastern or the
western coast. Ii was the opinion Of the
Admiral that the canal should be built as
soon as possible. that ii should be thanked
by strip of territory which should be-
long to us, and that we should provide
for the defence Of that territory as part
Of the national domain. Asked as to
whether he believed there Is any prospect
of war, the Admiral replied that war had
been habit OF the United States, and he
could see no reason why history would not
repeat itself.
The Panama Route
Colonel Ernst and Colonel Hams an
swered many questions concerning the
progress of the work on the Panama route.
1t was said that the Claim of the canal
company was that two-ffths Of the canal
works had been accomplished, but this
claim had not as yet been verified From
Colon for n distance OF lis miles the canal
is said to be navigable, with a depth vary
Ing from 1G to % feet between the cley-
enth and twenty sixth mile. Excavation Is
proceeding, great cuts being made at Bo-
hio, San Pablo, and Matachin. From the
twenty eighth mile rises the great chain
OF the Cordilleras. and considerable work
has been done between the twenty eighth
and the thrtythird mile. Near the thirty
third mile is Cuiebra, where the cut now
has an average depth of 164 feet. Work
along the remainder OF the line to Panama
is reported to be in progress the depth of