The Washington times., 1906-09-23
DEEPER CHANNEL
FOR BIG NEW SHIP
Uncle Sam Answers John
Bulls Taunt About Giant
Mauretania.
DIGGING AGAINST TIME
viii Be Ready for British Liners
When They Appear OF
New York.

New York.
NEW YORK. Sept. To-day the just
launched ocean giants, tho Lusitania
and NIauretania, could not possibly get
nm New York hgrboT The channel Is
too shallow.
If they were already in commission In
the British shipyard and could appear
on Sandy Hook they could do no better
than drop anchor out IN the oDen sea.
their whistles believing hodrse scoTn at
Uncle Sam at his bacl-WardresS ln
Larbor Improvement. and send their
passengers and cargo TO the docks iH
lighters.
The United States Government woke
up 20 maritime progress when the gov
erumeut Of Great Britain respectfully
mentloncc that il had aided the build
Ing of these shius by "a . per cent loar
OF $40 600 and tsuppressing deTisive
suile) wished TO know If Uncle sam
would have any channel I'm New fcT5
harbor deep enough 10 accommodate
them Uncle Sam rubbed his eyes with
astonishment. much as Rip Van Wirkle
did. surprised at the strides IN saip-
building during "a score and more of
years of complaceHt neglect Of hurbors
and waterways.
Uncle Sam Gets Busy.
The result was the promise that Uncle
sam would have a channel deep enough
for boats of S2'z feet of draft ana more
10y the time the Lusitania ana Mature
tania should appear in the oning late
IT. 1914 Uncle Sam wasn't 90 Doe
stumped.
There Is a titanic race against time
involved in keeping that promise The
channel must be forty feet deep, 900.
feet wide. and seven miles long. Il will
cost at least N.22L490 to complete the
dredging. engineers have cstim1ted
The system of lights and beacons ne
cessary for the new course will cost
over $500 co., which only the last Con
Eress provided fer ty appropriation.
The dredging must be accomplished IN
a year. The nation will have cause 10
watch the race with patriotic hope rhat
the United States is not 10 stand ridicu-
lous before the nations OF the world
The old channel from New York docks
10 ths open sea has been dredeed with
painful slowness. IL was begun back
III tie elsluies. In 1891 there had been
dredEcd 3.SI5O00 cubic yards of dirt. az
a cost OF 81 5000, in 1875 this "Ge,!-
ney' channel had cost 81 ,g9S. go. but was
not completed. When Uncle Sam was
aroused from his neglect OF larbors Hc
found that the Geduey channel would
not DO for the big beats of the future.
II was only thirty feet deep and Loo
IeeJ wide, and IL was twenty-five and
cae-halt miles in its torUous length.
The New Ambrose Channel.
When the new Ambrose" channel is
completed passengers on the Luglranfs
or Observation-Disclosures makes the
trans atlantic voyage nrst-Wiu nor asI
now pass almost within hailing distance
of the beacon on Sandy Hook and 20 up
10 the narrows inside Rumer and Cray-
en- shoals The PROV of the liner will be /
headed on a short cut from a ligbtsbfp /
Wei of Sandy Hook toward a big
beacon to be erected on Staten Island /
and between a row of flashing red lights /
10 the north and east and another row /
of fixed white lights to the south and
west. The new channel will be outside I
OF the TWO shoals. and will be the
hypothenuse of the triangle made by I
the old Gedney channel on which so
much money was spent before its made /
quacy was discovered.
Congress CIose-Fisted.
Congress has been nIggardIy In aupro-
priutions for harbor and river improve
ments, the total expenditures by the
United States Government since the lastI
defeated British soldiers left New York
having been only about S45O.OOlOo0.
D I'm
country has expended 81, so. 100000 on It's
navigable waterways. whose total mile
age is only 1000 miles. France has spent
Sl.i20, ,0oO 900 on its seacoast and 1000
miles waterways. With 5000 miles Of
Internal natural waterways which could
be put into shape 10 carry immense
commerce. and with thousands of miles
Of seaCOast, the United States has ap-
propriates less than per cent Of its
moneys ftr its rivers and harb0rs. The
fact that no Atlantic coast
port could harbor the ships already
built for BHtish-American trade may
be taken as one result The building
Of the Lusitania and Mauretania shows
that for the boats of the present and
future the harbors must be deepened.
The tremendous task of dredging the
-lt-" +AlLaDLosG ClidLltl III New urk mar
b0r will emphasize the need of more
forehandedness. Undertaking such
task AZ the eleventh hour showed the
'spunk" of the United States. but the
need of il showed a neglect which is
astonishing.
Reduces Rail Rates.
The demand for more attention to the
neglected harbOrs and waterways for
which the national rivers and harbors
congress is CHAMPION, bids fair to turn
a new page in the cOuntrys CONNER
cial history The wide discussion of the
railroads relations and duties TO the
public disclosed the all important fact
that not legislation but the competition
Of waterways can reduce rail rates.
The average per ton mile rate of rail-
roads is 7.63 mills, while the average per
ton mile rate of the /. c. railway, where
1t parallels the Mississippi, is only about
5 mills, the water competition obviously
causing the difference. The average per
ton mile rate on the Mississippi is but
one-tenth of a mill.
SCHMIDLAPP IN PARIS