Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-02
RUSTING MACHINERY
THOUSANDS OF ABANDONED
DUMP CARS ON CANAL LINE.
Miles of Steel Rails Piled Along the
Route-Costly Dredges
Rottng.

FROM the New York Tribune.
Heaped up along the line OF the Panama
canal at Colon. at Emperador and at other
points are quantities of ma chinery and sup
plies for the construction of the canal which
cost millions Of dollars, but which are
practically yalneless. They We're bought by
the old Panama Canal Company, but be-
fore large proportion of them were used
1t had come to an untimely end, and the
supplies We're left to the fate of time. When
the Isthmian Canal Company visited the
isthmus. two years ago. it found these
supplies SO vast in quantity that ii could
do no more than casually examine them
1t has been estimatcd-although there are
few, IL any, who know exactly how much
was spent in this way-that they might
have cost $20.0o00-o Although all of this
material Is less than twenty-five years old,
l. Is relatively so Anticipated in design that
the commission recommended that the
United States pay no attention to its ex-
istence In making offer for the purchase
of the canal property. No contra ctor the
commission declared, would use the stun
even If 1t was presented to him. Although
the United States has not offered to buy
this junk. it will come into it's possession If
It buys the canal, for tie Panama Canal
Company has promised to throw il In for
good measure.
Variety of Articles.
The supplies piled up on the lsthmus range
from articles of crockery to locomotives.
excavators, dredges. cars and hospitals.
There were 2.431 buildings of various sorts
including those which We're intended and
used as offices. quarters for the thousands
OF iaborers. storehouses, hospitals and ma
chine shops. The value of the hospitaIs
alone is nearly $1.C0oOoo. They are fine
structures. and doubtless the Uuited States
VIII make an allowance for these, for they
will be of value. Many of the other build
ings. from disuse. are showing signs of
". ms n b.VA
hammers and great turning laths for max
Ing repairs to the large pieces of machinery
used In the work of excavation.
There scores of locomotives which
the members Of the commission were told
had never been used. and their appearance
bore out this statement. While larger than
the locomotives which were used on the
Manhattan elevated railroad, they are
lighter than the locomotives used in con-
structive work Of this kind today. They
were built in France, Belgium, England
and the United States. Their value could
not be determined, because the effect of
the moist tropical climate on machinery
which is not in use is uncertain. Until
they had been tested no one could say what
they are worth. The other machinery is in
a like uncertain condition. The wheels of
the cars, which were said to be the portion
OF the excavating plant most available for
future use have narrow treads. The rails
are of pattern i'll fitted for rough usage
American Machinery.
bought In this country by Charles co.cs
who was the American agent of the ole
Panama Canal Company for nine years
This, Mr.. Colne said the other day. was
worth what was paid for it; but there were
Belgian locomotives which were antiquat-
ed when purchased Many contracts for
unnecessary machinery We're made before
the company failed, but these. Mr.. Colne
said, were abrogated, so that the present
supply of useless machinery is not so great
as the corrupt officials of the old Panama
company would have had il.
There had been an impression that the
old Panama Canal Company wasted large
sums of money in the purchase of useless
machinery. Rear Admiral Walker. the
president of the United States commission,
when asked about this at a hearing on the
canal before Senate committee, declared
IL to be his impression that IL was not so
much useless machinery which had been
purchased as a surplus of useful machin-
cry Doubtless the failure of the old ca
nal company had something to do with the
non-use of the supplies. but II Is said by
those acquainted with the work upon the
canal that 1t would have been impossible
to utilize at one time all the machinery
taken to the isthmus. In this item OF ma
chinery millions of dollars which We're
drawn from the savings of the people of
France have been sunk, never TO be recov-