The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-12-18
PANAMA CANAL MESSAGE
 VERY UNIQUE DOCUMENT
P1CToRlALLK ILLUSTRATED SHOWING CONDITIONS AsHE
 FOUND THEM


 the Ultimate Success of the Colossal
 Undertaking-The Great Dams and
 the Culebra Cut-New Records for
 Excavation.
 Washington, Dec. 17.-A pictoriallv IL iustrated message from President Roosevelt, portraying conditions as IA round them on the Isthmus of Panama during his recent visit, occupied the senate during the greater portion of ifs session to-day. Printed copies of tba message, handsomely bound, were nlae- eo on the desk of each senator ana tha reading of the document was closelv IolfoWed Preceding the presidents recommendations respecting public lands and the naval personnel were re- ceived and read.
 The senate agreed to the holiday ad- Journment resolution, and will be in re- cess from the end of the session Thurs- gay next until January 3. Resolutions were agreed to directing an investiga- llon by the department of commerce ana labor of the International Harvest CT company to ascertain whether it ef. fects a restraint of trade; also direct Ing the senate judiciary committee to | report what power congress may have under the commerce clause of the con- stltution to prevent interstate corn. merce in child-mada goods. Resohi- tlons to guard against infringement of state rights were presented by Senat- ors Whyte and Rayner of Maryland for future discussion.
 The house began the last week before the christmas holidays with a deter mination to dispose of as much legisla- ten as possible, for the more active work which will devolve upon it when congress again convenes. To this end several small bills were passed under suspension of the rules The Indian an- | propriation bill was taken up and fif- ! teen of the flfty-seven pages completed when it was laid aside for the presi- dents message concerning the Panama canal, which consumed more than an hour in its reading, being listened to I by a large number of members. The pictorial feature of the message afford- k comment, the innovation of cuts in a state paper being looked upon with fa- vor. Messages from the president on the public lands and the naval person. nel also were read.
 Representative Moon of Tennessee was appointed member of the conl- mittee on rivers and harbors the house at 4:30 adjourning until noon to-mor- row.
 The Presidents Message.
 The work is now going on with a yigor and efficiency pleasant to witness. The three big problems of the canal are the La Boea dams, the Gatun dam and the Culebra cut. The Culebra cut must be made, anyhow; but of course changes as to the dams, or at least as to the locks adjacent to the dams, may still occur. The La Boca dams offer no particular problem, the bottom mate rial being so good that there is prac- tical certainty, not merely as to what can be achieved but as to the time of achievement. The Gatun dam offers the most serious problem which we have to solve; and yet the ablest men on the Isthmus believe that this pro- blem i S certain of solution along the lines proposed; altho, of course, it ne- cessitates great toll, energy and intelli- gence, and altho equally, of course, there will be some little risk in connec- ton with the work. The risk arises from the fact that some of the material near the bottom is not so good as could be desired, If the huge earth dam now contemplated is thrown across from one foothill to the other we will have what is practically low, broad, noun tain ridge behind which will rise the inland lake This artificial mountain will probably show less seepage, that is, will have greater restraining capac- ity than the average natural mountain range. The exact locality of the locks at this dam-as at the other dams-is now being determined. In April next Secretary Taft, with three of the ablest engineers of the country-Messrs No ble, Stearns and Ripley-will visit the Isthmus, and the three engineers will make the final and conclusiveexamina- tions as to the exact site for each lock. Meanwhile the work is going ahead WllnOuL d Dredk
 The Culebra cut does not offer such great risks; that is, the damage liable to occur from occasional land slips will not represent what may be called ma jor disasters. The work will merely call for intelligence, perseverance and executive capacity. It is, however, the work upon which most labor will have to be spent. The dams will be com posed of the earth taken out of the cut and very possibly the building of the locks and dams will take even longer than the cutting in Culebra itself.
 In CuIebra Cut.
 The main work is now being done in the Culebra cut. It was striking and impressive to see the huge steam show els in full play, the dumping trains carrying away the rock and earth they dislodged. The implements of French eXcavating machinery, which often stand a little way from the line of kork, tho of excellent construction, look like the veriest toys when com pared with these new steam shoyels, just as the French dumping cars seem like toy cars when compared with the long trains of huge cars, dumped by steam blows, which are now in use. This represents the enormous advance that has been made in machinery dur
 tContinued on Second Page.)