The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-04-04
FOR A~LOCK PANAMA CANAL
President Approves Minority Plan
Of Consulting Engineers.
WILL SAVE TIME AND MONEY

twenty Years ana %i"'ooo'ooO ~
nority Suggestion a Blow to Railroads
Waterway Favored by Latter Would
Mean a Loss of u Billion Dollars.
Washington, D. C.-President Roose-
Welt recommended to Congress the con-
struction of a lock canal Of eighty-hve-
foot level across the Isthmus of Pan
anna. He transmitted to Congress tie
reports of the Board of Consulting En-
gineers, the majority Of which recon-
mended a sea-level canal, the report or
the Canal Commission, which recon-
mGnded a lock canal, and a letter OF
Secretary Taft, who recommends q
,Ock canal.
The Presidents letter of transmittal
approves the findings and recommend.
ations of the Canal Commission, anu
concludes as follows:
1.-THE law now on our statute DOCKS
seems to contemplate q lock canal. III
my judgment a lock canal as herein
recommended is advisable. If the Con-
gress directs that a sea-leyel canal be
constructed, its direction will OF course
be carried out. Otherwise the canal
will be built on substantially the plan
for a lock canal outlined in the accom-
panying papers, such changes being
made, of course, al may be found
actually necessary; including, posi-
bly,, the change recommended by the
Secretary of War as to the site OF the
dam on the Pacific side"
In indorsing the minority report OF
the Board of Engineers, the commits
sion presents two cogent reasons Tor
it's action:
First, that it is not safe to estimate
the time for the construction of a sea
level canal, which the majority report
favors, at less than twenty years, and
at a cost of not less than S272,OOO,OO
Second, that taking all the elements
of delay into consideration, and max
ing due allowance for the possible in
crease in the price Of labor and mate
rial, q lock canal could be built in niue
years at a cost Of P133, 05,2OO.
The comm, ssion sums up its conclu-
sions and recommendations as TO a lock
canal as follows:
at provides greater safety for ships
and less danger of interruption to traf-
fc by. reason of it's wider and deeper
channels.
ut provides quicker passage across
the Isthmus for large ships Of a large
traffic.
1T is in much less danger Of damage
to itself OF of delays to ships from the
food waters Of The Chagres and other
streams.
sits cost of operation and mainten-
ance, including fixed charges, will be
less by some 100000 or more per an
mum.
1T can be enlarged hereafter much
more easily and cheaply than a a
sea-level canal.
Its military defense can be effected
with as little or, perhaps, less difficulty
than the sea-level canal.
1T is our opinion that the plan pro-
posed by the minority of the Board OF
Consulting Engineers is a most salts
factory solution of the problem OF an
isthmian canal. and, therefore, we rec
ommend that the plan Of the minority
be adopted, subject, of course, to such
changes as nay be found desirable
during construction, and with the un-
Outstanding that the works in Limon
Bay are to be deferred for the present"
The commission bases its conclu-
slons largely ON the judgment of John
T. Stevens, the chief engineer, who, in
response to a request by T. P. Shonts,
chairman of the commission, forwarded
q statement of his views to that body
on January &c. Their Recommended
tons are 4 concensus Of his reasons
for advocating a lock canal.
AS to the advantages of q lock canal
the commission says:
1.-The cost of the canal under this
plan" says the report, sis estimated
by the minority Of the board at $780,
705,2 200, and the time required to build
it at nine years. We consider both of
these estimates reasonable, subject to
the remarks already made concerning
unit prices. 1t is our opinion that the
entire feasibility of constructing the
canal under the plan proposed by the
minority of the board cannot be sue
cessfully questioned"
It became evident to the Administra-
ton that if it sent to Congress a recon-
mendation for a sea-level canal it
would mean a surrender to the trans
continental railroads. 1t has been es-
timated that If the sea-level canal had
been ordered by Congress it would
have put q billion dollars into the.
pockets of the railroads by reason of
H. -x 11 E~, ~, aLtNp