The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-30
PREPARE FOR EXPERTS
THIRTEEN ENGINEERS TO CON-
 SUIT OVER CANAL.
Five of the Number are Foreigners and the Body Will Decide on Re- eOmmendatiOns as to Sea
 Level of Lock Canal.

Washington Special to Brooklyn Eagle.
 War Department officials are pre- pairing for the reception of the Euro pean engineers who are to come here next month and render expert advice | to the government on tne best kind | of canal to construct at Panama. The | foreigners are five in number. and their opinions will go long way tow ard determining whether the water way shall be lock affair or sea level ditch.
 The seventh floor of the Mills building. where the Panama Canal Commission has its headquarters, is being fitted up for the use of the members of the Consulting Board of | Engineers.
 For several days past laborers in the War Department have been strug- gling with huge boxes on the seventh floor of the Mills building. The box es are filled with maps. surveys and plans for building @ canal at Pana- ma. All this material Is being col lected together and will be turned over to the Board of Consulting Engineers. It embraces every proposition. serious and foolish. that has been made to the government concerning the best method of building waterway. In the lot are the plans of the several isthmian commissions, including the plans of the 1901 commission on which Congress decided that Panama was the best place for connecting the two ! oceans. The plans of Linden Bates are there. and they come nearer to | the sea level idea than any other
 scheme that has yet been worked out and applied to paper. T6e working maps of the old French company, and the plausible schemes of Buena Varil- 1., nnh prin ra a t9n n ha | collection.
 After the thirteen engineering ex- l perts have wrestled with this aggre- gation of maps. blue prints and sta
 tistical tables. they will make up their ! minds as to the style of canal the Uni
 ted States should build. They will re- port on the advantages and disadvan-
 tages of waterways of thirty, sixty and ninety foot levels. and reliable esti-
 mates of the cost of building these different kinds of canals will be sub mitted, together with calculations as to the length of the time required for each After the conclusions have been
 reached the reports will be handed to
 the regular Canal Commission. of which Mir Shonts is the head. An impression has been created in some quarters that the findings would go direct to the President. thsu ignoring Mir. Shonts
 and his associates This is incorrect The regular commission will peruse the conclusions of the members of the Consulting Board, after which the pa
 pers will De handed to the President. If the recommends ations are at va riance with the plans on which the
 commission is now working. the Pres
 ident will forward the report to Con-
 gress and call for action by that body.
 In the event that no radical change
 in the existing policy is suggested. the | " whatever action
 necessary. .-. | It Is likely, however. that the
 whole matter will be hauled over to
 Congress. It Is quite certain that the
 consulting engineers will have some-
 thing favorable to say for the sea
 level project The adoption of plans
 for a straight way canal will involve
 an additional expenditure of at least
 $lOO, ,000, 900. The President will not care to assume the responsibility of
 authorizing the spending of so much money without the approval of Con-
 gross.
 It is pointed out that at the pres
 ent time the commission is following no established plan, It is merely su- perintending the digging away of cer-
 tain obstacles on the isthmus which must be removed. no matter whether a lock canal or sea level canal Is to be built. The engineers are follow Ing III general way lie maps pio
 pared by the last lsthmian Canal Com mission, several years ago. There is no occasion to suspend activities on l the tsthmus pending a decision as to the final type of canal to be construc- ted There is enough hard work ahead of the laborers in Culebra Cut to keep them busy for at least a year or more. There will be no delay in construction work if the decision as to the character of canal to be built 1 Is postponed a year or two at the
 most.
 The question of compensation for the foreign experts has not been set tied. President Roosevelt wants lib eral compensation to be given to them. They may visit the isthmus If they find the facts at hand in Washington
 insufficient for their purposes.