The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-06-11

Especial Correspondence OF The Times
is Dispatch.) G55
@ PANAMA. May 3,-When the canal is
completed, Panama will probably become
one OF the great cities OF the world. This
Is the opinion OF Chief Engineer Wallace
and other experts who understand the
methods by which the interoceanic trade
will be carried on. They say that Pann-
ma Will probably be free port. and
that steamers from all parts OF the
world will meet here to take on and put
Z OF goods. It will be cheaper to carry
freight through the canal and over the
seas, and ships OF 10000 tons, 10000 tons.
and even larger. will load here for their
a long haul across the Atlantic and the
Pacific. There Will be lines of smaller
: steamers travelling up and down the
coasts OF North and South America, act
ing for the great ships as the feeders
DO to a railroad Vessels Of 5000, 1000
and 5000 tons will come here from dif-
ferent parts of the Pacific and transfer
their goods to the larger ships. taking In
return other goods to carry back home.
81 The chief steamship lines will have
combination OF large and small vessels.
and j understand that such plans are
already making. John Barrett tells me
that the manager of the Nippon Yusena
Kaisha the greatest steamship company
: OF III pan,i WnlCnf now mas sFSsSSclS slIOIu
that country to all parts OF Asia and to
Europe. says his company viii have six
big steamers running from Japan to
England through the Panama Canal, and
that 1t will add twenty-five small steam
ers to sail up and down the Pacific and
Atlantic coasts OF our hemisphere, gath
erlng goods for the larger ships, to be
transferred al Panama.
Two Mighty Ports.
II may be that Colon, ut the Atlantic.
end Of the canal. will also be made a free
port, and IL so Colon and Panama will
grow as Bremen and Hamburg have
grown through the free port facilities.
which have been offered there. Hamburg
with It's suburbs has already a million
people, and Bremen is rapidly Increasing
Z In population and wealth. HonSkong. the
English free port off the coast OF China.
Z IS another instance OF how cities grow
through such advantages, and the same
may be said OF Singapore, that other
halfway station around the world, lying
between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Not Like Port Said.
A comparison Is often made OF the
Panaman canal with that OF the suez.
and the prophecy added that the towns
OF Panama and Colon will be as dead as
Port Said and Suez when the canal is
done. The engineers say that the con-
ditions here are far different from those
of suez; that suez is close neighbor
to the great commercial centers OF Eu-
ropes, and, as such, 1t offers no induce
ment to trade. They aver that Panama
will be the halfway station on the long
trip from one side of the Atlantic to
the other side of the Pacific. and that it
is SO situated that 1t cannot but be
ono OF the great trading places OF the
nations surprising Singapore. Hongxong
or any similar station on the highways
of commerce.
Panama will grow also through Its
enormous coal business. becoming one OF
the chief coaling stations OF he world.
The biggest fleet that sails the Pacific
to-day is the coaling fleet. Vessels are
always moving here and there across that
vast system OF waterways from Australia,
ply the different steamship companies
with coal. When the canal is finished
the greater part OF the coal used In
the Pacific will como from our southern
ports II II Is probable, so the chief ems
gineer thinks. that 1t can be then taken
to Panama and sold for So per ton, In
Guiding the 81 per ton toll on the canal,
Australia brings SIS and SO a ton, while
our Virginia coal ia selling for more
than 81, largely owing to the freight
charges OF the Panama railroad, which
have already been reduced under the
new regime.
The New Panama.
But Is there room at Panama for a
large city? The town to-day Is crowded
together upon little rocky PENINSULA
shaped like frying pan, which juts
out into the sea, the handle of the pan
nonneoting It to the mainland. The PEN
Ursula, when the tide is in, has The ocean
washing the walls which surround It,
but when the tide goes out q great
expanse Of dirty brown coral rock IS
several miles along the north shore above
Panama to La Roca, at the Pacific
mnl,th OF the canal. It extends out from