The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-21
THE PANAMA CANAL
By Fredric J. Haskin.
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X..-TRANSPORT.ATTON.

li U alM ' AlW M H 5 HllE Ei &| U 2fWzaHxEz&AWHzR& l lace and Stevens each contributed his share to making 1t good. Wallace | bought the heavy engines which were criticised at the time. Stevens double- tracked the road. established an up-
 to-date block system. and In short turned over to his successors a rail- road which will compare favorably with the average road In this country. The Improved condition of the road Is shown in the increased business it
 enjoys. The total earnings for 1907 were almost double those of the pre- vfous year. and the indications are that the annual report of the present fiscal year will make even better showinf. The increase in freight carried was about 70 per cent, and the passengers carried in 1907 were about double tho number carried in iy06 Here again
 the indications are that 1908 will set a | new mark. Negroes do not lose their propensity for travel just because they are on the Isthmus Those who have the money to spare generally travel | first class, but the majority go second. of the Ss2,000 passengers carried in 1901, 567.0o0 were second class passen-
 bers. and these included no whites and few Chinamen.
 The Panama Railroad. owned by the United States Government, owns in turn a eanlship line from New York
 to Colon. This line operates six ships with sailings from New York and Co., lon every five days. The etxension Of the Royal Mall and the Hamburg the business by three. but, by one of those strange parodies of trade. the Panama Railroad steamship line has now more business and a better bal- ance sheet than 1t had before the other lines came into the port of Colon. The Ar. Al aA | a- a itable. even if nearly all the passen-
 gers carried by 1t are employees either of the railroad or the Canal Commis- sion, and are charged but $40 each. To the outsider the rates are $s0 and SgO one way, as compared with s70 on the other lines.
 The Railroad and the Canal Commits sion operates on the community of in- terest plan. In fact except that the 1 railroad does commercial business. 1t would simply be a part and parcel of
 the canal project. As 1t is. its presi- 1 dent and board of directors are the chairman and commissioners, respect iveiy. of the Isthmian Canal Commits
 sion. They have good credit with one | another. and whenever the I. c. c. wants anything the P. R. R. has, it simply goes and gets it, and the P. ! R. R. takes the same privilege with the I. c. c. At the end of the year there great outgo on ether hand
 The Panama Railroad is about the only railroad in the world that has
 been moved almost entirely to make
 way for another enterprise. When the
 relocation of the road Is completed it
 will have only IS per cent of its pres-
 ent location. Where 1t now crossea the
 line of the canal twice, 1t viii then he
 entirely on the east side of the canal
 IT It were to continue in it's present
 location from Gatun to San Pablo it
 would md itself under about eirhty- nve rect or water. To obviate this A
 great embankment. eighty-two feet
 ntsh, VIII skirt the eastern edge of
 the dam. This embankment will he
 about $500 feet long. some 2.eo0 o00
 cubic yards of earth being reduired to build 1t. It will be the largest sInrie railroad embankment in the world Ths
 entire re-location of the railroad has
 oeen made necessary by the construc-
 non oI the canal, hence the Canal Com-
 mission will bear all the expenses
 In its new location the road will
 nave a higher percentage of embanE- menus than almost any other railroad
 m the world It will be built on a
 nlsh elevation to keep it out of the
 waters of the Gatun Dam. It will re-
 euire is'oVo.0O0 cubic yards of earth
 70 make the necessary fills, and nearly
 all of this will come from the canal
 prism. The fills will represent n niIa
 or dirt approximately one-fifteenth as
 much as will have been taken out of the canal from the time the French. under De Lesseps. turned the first shovel of earth. until the shina are ready to sail through the channel.
 The rush of gold seekers to CaIifor- mia led to the building of the railroad across the Isthmus. William H. An- pinwall. In whose honor Colon was named Aspinwall, and some other New York capitalists. got the money togeth. CT and then secured the necessary com cession from the New Granadian Gov ernment. This concession was after ward made to run 11S years by the Co., lombian Government. When the French Canal Company decided to build the canal they bought the railroad. ac- stock, paying S250 per share for it, af- ter the American stockholders had stripped the company of its cash. In other words the transaction netted the American stockholders $2s1 per share at a time when 1t had been selling at but little above par.
 When the road was completed the first class fare across the Isthnus was S25 in gold. Baggage was charged for at the rate of 10 cents per pound. and if a passenger, carried an overcoat or an umbrella, whether he took 1t with him into the coach or not, nc had to pay baggage rates for 1t. Residents of the Isthmus were given monthly pass es upon the payment of $50 fiat. First class freight was carried at t3 per hundredweight.
 when the Americans took charge the passenger rate across the Isthmus was $5: today 1t is $2.4o, It now costs more to check ones baggage across the Isthmus than it does to buy a first class ticket. A trunk weighing 150 pounds will cost s3. while c first class ticket costs a half dollar less. A fair sized suit case will be taken across at a cost of e1.
 The intention of the United States is to maintain the Panama Railroad as an adjunct to the canal The tourist, who, in the coming days. does not wish to spend some ten hours going through the big ditch. can take a train which will carry him across in few hours. The strategic importance of having means of rapid communication on the Isthmus Is perhaps the impeiling mo- tive of the Government in preparing a modern, well-equipped permanent safHraaa along fha canal.