The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-10

the first in brilliant series which MT. Cochrane will write for the Sunday Age Herald.
 Colon, Panama, November 2s-The habit of the American public of seiz- ing firmly upon the first fact which presents itself in connection with any question of general interest, and then jumping at conclusions without waiting for more reliable information. has been exemplified during the past year tn the matter of the great Panama canal. The big ditch has been a worlds won der for a number of reasons--it was worldwide in it's conception and will be wofld-wide in it's benefits whm com pleted, and on account of it's world n- terest, it has caused more comment, sSee- ulation and prognostication, coupled with a wealth of hasty and deliberately false statements than any other work under taken for the benefit of mankind during modern times.
 A fifty-mile cut, half of 1t through swamp. and nearly ten miles through high ground, with an cratic torrental river to control in times of flood, across
  varies 80 degrees every twenty-four hours, and where turning over the swampy soil renders yellow fever epidemics certain this work to be accomplished thousands of miles from the source of machinery and supplies-such Is the problem that confronts the Panama canal commission. Unquestionably 1t is the most stupendous and difficult engineering work ever at tempted, and the more thoroughly one studies the conditions the more one real izes that although possessed of an enor- nous appropriation of money, and pen- ty of ingenuity and ability, the old French companies were foredoomed to failure, and that even with improved en- gineering methods and machinery, and honest and brainy men al the head, sue cess is a far distant goal.
 Conflicting reports regarding conditions and operations have been bandied about from mouth to mouth, originating both In the columns of the public press and in the minds of adventurers who visited or claim to have visited, the isthmus, until the American people, who only want to "see the dirt fly" do not know what to think of this great work for which Con gress has already appropriated $6O' OoOo.
 Trip to Panama.
 It was with the idea of attempting to straighten out this mass of tangled ideas, impressions, condemnations and opinions for his own satisfaction. that the writer decided upon a trip to the scene of oper- ations to make investigations of his own in a careful and impartial manner 1t was necessary to carefully avoid the as- sistance of those who have selfish reas- ons, of political and commercial nature, for wishing the work delayed, and who are in a large measure responsible for the conflicting reports circulated among bo hy,a a method seemed the only way open. The policy of the New" French company in eliminating the press agent feature Of such undertakings seems admirable, and one who wades through the mass of mis- informa ton on this particular work can scarcely help thinking the plan particu- larly applicable to the present canal work.
 As fortune would have 1t I sailed for Colon in the wake of what was dubbed the "Junketing Expedition that visited the sthmus in September. and made a detailed report of conditions as seen though official eyes. The party. which sailed from New York on the steamer Havana direct for Colon. on September 2S consisted of.
 Theodore P Shonts, chairman of the commission. who went as host: Rear Ad- niral N. D. Endicott, BTig.-Gen O. H Ernst and Maj Benjamin NJ Harrod of
  Gen. Georges W. Davis. William Barclay Parsons w 1T Burr of Columbia uni- versity. Gen Harry H. Abbott. Eugene Tincauser, German delegate; Edouard M Ouelenac of the Suez canal staff; 1sham Randolph, F P Stearns Joseph Ripley w. H. Hunter of the Manchester canal; Adolph Guerard. French delegate; J. w welcker Dutch delegate. and John C. Oakes. secretary.
 As guests the Havana carried Assistant Secretary of the Navy Darling. Senator Willard Congressman l. P Wagner. R l.. Walker. traffic manager of the Pan anna railway: J. F. Market w. R. Willard H. F Dose, l. Nichols. Chief Draughts- man F. P. Harden and his assistants, and several others,
 The following of this official party was a fact that much assisted the writer. as they stirred up inquiry and gossip wher- ever they went and I secured much mis- cellaneous information that I am sure would not have been forthcoming under other conditions.
 The Canal Region.
 The crying need for the Panama canal is impressively apparent to one who ap- breaches Colon for the first time by boat Over the flat land, backed by slight ridges in the distance. one almost imagines a glimpse of the Pacific. The narrow strir of land which connects the two great
 
 world of commerce, makes the proXim- ity of the great waterway, less than fifty miles away, and yet. many thousands oi miles distant to the navigator, all the more aggravating to soldier. sailor and business man. One imbued only with the inspired and sentimental side of the pic ture wonders as Colon draws near, why someone doesn't get out with shove and tear away the few rods of offendinl land and declare the water-gate of Pan anna open to the world. It Is only wher one gets down on to the level land, jour neying out of Colon to the blue-topped hills in the distance that a full under standing of the task which the brightest men of modern times have enshrned as an idol before which to sacrifice lives fortunes and regulations comes home with great force. The writer's first inn pression of the canal zone was embodied in a haunting desire to get back to civ flization, and so must be the desire oi every one Awho has lived among the con veniences and comforts of the settled states.
 The climate of the region is tropical always the same. except for the sudden and ferocious storms peculiar to sucl latitudes, The facilities of jungles and swamps in such localities for producins maIarial and yellow fever germs are al A@