The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1906-10-11
CANAL ACROSS FRANCE
To Connect the Atlantic and
the Mediterranean.
ROUTE ALREADY USED

| olSdhtAC EDSIHCCIAAS II Cstb Will IsL-
Quire Eight Years to Build-When
COmpIete Warships and Merchant
| men Can Cut Through i'm Two
Days-French Hope for Trade.
The French are going to revenge
themselves on Panama at home. BY
a gigantic engineering work entirely
within their own borders they are
getting ready to lift up their ship
ping to the first rank, double the
force of their navy, and cause the
Mediterranean to cease to be IAN
English lake"-by multiplying Glib
raltar, says the Pittsburg Gazette.
In way they propose to copy
England's natural advantage by
Transforming part of France with
Spain) into an island, more than
doubling their sea coast and creating
ocean ports for languishing inland
cities.
This is to be accomplished by con-
Rtructing vast ship canal across the
lower end Of France from the Allan
tic to the Mediterranean. BY it's
means the French fleet will be capa-
BILE of operating, one day on the At
lantic, and then two days later show
itself in Mediterranean ports, with
out subjecting itself to the guns of
Gibraltar.
One of the queerest things about it
Is that the canal exists already for
canalboats and small coasters. To
|
chantment Is no mere dream. Since
1878 "the Canal of the Two Seas"
has been fully planned by engineers
Three Parliamentary commissions
lave made estimates upon it; and
now M. Gauthier, Minister of Public
Works, has sent his own commission
to make final studies of the scheme
The present estimates foresee
100000 workmen, guided by thirty
chief engineers and 200 overseers,
with digging and tunneling machines
driven by $4,000 horse power
One of the chief surprises Is the
abandonment of Bordeaux. The ca
nal being great patriotic work, as
well as a commercial revolutionizer,
the first thought has been the secur-
lty and convenience of warships in
It's Atlantic entrance. Bordeaux is
too high up IN the mouth of the Ga
rome. They have therefore chosen
the extraordinary natural basin of
Arcachion, really nearer, as the crow
flies, to Bordeaux itself, and the ca
nal will strike the Garonne just be-
yond that ancient port
The route Is straight from Area
chon to Agen, on the Garonne, Sc
miles of easy cutting, without a sim
gle lock.
The waters of the Garonne are to
be reinforced from many a torrent Of
the Pyrenees, which will save Tou-
louise and other towns from the pc
r1odic foundations that now trouble
them. Between Agen and Toulouse
the Garonne, strongly banked and
become at last the safe drain of
these mountain torrents, will take
the fleets Of war and commerce to
Toulouse, which will become the CEN
trail maritime arsenal of France.
French commerce waits upon the
canal for it's restoration. While the
French coasting trade Is reduced to
100000 tons a year, that of Great
Britain Is over 100000 tons
The French deep-sea carrying is less
than that of Italy or Norway. Ger
nan boats touch at Cherbourg to
lake American freight, and English
ines to the Orient calmly make Mar
settles their Western stopping place.
over 80 per cent of French exports
are carried in foreign bottoms, max
ing a gift of $80,0OO,00O annually to
the English, Germans and Italians.
When this canal is built England
herself will either have to pay toll to
trade, and so on for the commercial
peoples to-day passing their stuff
through the Straits Of Gibraltar
| From Malta to Ushant, for example,
there will be an economy Of more
than 500 miles by the canal: from
Genoa to Ushant, an economy Of
1,150 miles. Bordeaux and Nantes,
on the Atlantic, will become almost
| Mediterranean ports. From Bor-
deaux to Malta by Gibraltar is now
2,30S miles. BY the canal it will be
only 1000 miles.
In case of war, 1t is promised that
the Canal of the two Seas will be able
to transfer the French fleet from the
Atlantic to the Mediterranean in two
days and half. France will give
passage to her allies fleets at pleas
ure; and the European combination
that shall possess this extraordinary
deep sea short cut will become the
mistress of the Mediterranean, ig-
noring Gibraltar.
Who are the possible allies, en-
couraged by the new promise of pow
err? They are Spain and Italy. The
German Emperor knows 1t and is
| ightened-hence his temptation to
| fall on the French. The Latin
unicn promises to be the first fruit
| of the Canal of the Two Seas.