The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-31

doubtless be withheld from the general
 plan and performed by the government it. self
 In any event, the present organization
 will retain control over the work, and
 the staff of engineers, under John F. Stevens, will direct the work of the sub contractors. In this way a canal con l forming to the ideas of the most eminent engineers of modern times. can be dug
 at a minimum of expense, time and risk; and there Is little doubt of the commis- sion advertising for bids as soon as the
 engineering plans are completed
 When Will We Have a Canal? | How much time will be required to l build the canal? This question Is often asked and cannot be answered with en- l tire satisfaction or any degree of cer- 1 tainty. It Is possible however. to figure l how long it may take. Let us assume
 that the Culebra cut Is to be reduced l to sea level, and that the remainder of :, the work can be completed by the time
 this tremendous ditch is finished. In ad- dtion to the work already done at Cule- 1 bra, there remain in this section of ter ritory GOO cubic yards of earth and
 rock to be removed, or the equivalent of | the total removal at Suez. About 35 aver | age steam-shovels could work on this division without interference. Working on | due allowance for stoppages, accidents
 and delays usual to large contracting work, they should average 100000 yards year per shovel, or say 900 cubic yards year for the 35 shovels. With two ! shifts they could double this speed. It
 will be at least year before 35 shovels
 can be set to work; two years more may
 expire before the lighting system will be In order to permit of double shifts There fnr ia about 25,000000 yards removal In the next | three years, and 20.000000 per year after wards, or a total of seven years of cut ting with the steam-shoves, supplement- ed by two years more work In complet- l Ing the canal ready for transportation. This would make 1913 the earliest date at which the canal could be completed | and some enthusiasts have declared that 1 1t will be opened in that year. But these do not reckon with serious accidents and interferences, which are practically cer- | tain, not to mention the dreaded yellow fever, which has heretofore proved the | most serious obstacle and against whose ravages no practical remedy has even been suggested. Conservative men say that the commission will do remarkably well If they are able 10 complete the
 canal by 1917 and that there should be no cause of complaint If 1t is not finished
 before 1920.
 Tn opposition to this Is the opinion of certain eminent engineers, notably Isham Randolph, who built the Chicago drainage canal, and who thinks the great work will be completed in ten years. Mir Randolph has taken into account probable accidents, and has made allow ances for unforeseen difficulties, which may delay the work indefinitely, and his estimate Is accepted as fairly accurate by expert engineers who have overlooked
 the ground. That ships will passing
 through the Panama canal In 1915 seems possible to many and some say it is a sure thing-but, I doubt 1t.
 Certain Washington officials declare that from twenty to one hundred years will be required to complete the work, but these men are suspected of an alliance | with the retarding movement which, if anything, will delay the completion of the enterprise beyond fifteen years, and | their estimates are not taken seriously 1 by any one.
 The Financial End.
 Up to the present moment the Panama | canal has cost the United States s60,O0O- l 900. of which two-thirds went to buy the | rights and property of the French com | pany. $10.000,000 to satisfy the Republic of Panama, and the remaining $1O,O00 GOO !, has been spent. or almost spent. in the 1 work on the Isthmus. Just how this $10- l O00.000 has faded away without any ma
 terial digging has been made public ] in a statement rendered to the commis- 1 sion by the disbursng department the ] statement shows that there is still some l thing like s1,300.O00 on hand, but this 1 is but a drop in the bucket compared | to what will be required for the work. | statement made recently shows that l in the thirty-six months which have i elapsed since the appropriation was made, ] s7s40S5 had been spent for salaries of the | numerous officials, while s129.262 was ] charged against "excavatioN. Altogeth-
 CT, up to June 1, s4.O09959 had been ex- 1 pended of which 17 per cent, or s694292,
 went for the expense of act/al con l struction. Of the s5Sl ,66S which tse re-
 port shows as expended for the salaries i of men not engaged in excavation" | s14.329 was for the special commissioners i appointed to assist the regular commis i sion in making up their minds what to
 do, and s57s3 went to the offices of the | committee on engineering. The roe. was ! divided as follows: Department of ad- | ministration, s124,020; department of : government and sanitation. s6I,3o5:
 department of construction and
 engineering. s23le1o; for sanitation s2OS,64l; hospitals and asylums, s16ss25;
 construction of water works. sewers
 and roads f1Q6 n2Q. noica and