New-York tribune., 1909-03-17

canal provided the latter is built 50 as to mini
mze the chance of accident AZ the locks rms Is
building the locks in duplicate and by the installa-
ucn of a system by which The vessels w" ~. SSt
vesseTs rev or engine room staff which once led
fo an ac.i,7e,,f AT iIa Manchester ship canal
Again, it ;s objected that the Size Of the . ICES
This is true The present lock designs provide n
tennediate gates dividing the locks into i'nstns t
Of GOO and 500 feet About 9S per cent eI an n'
ships including the largest h.ftiesa5PS now ] II'l
largest comInerciaI vessels now building whi'h.
The General Board Of the navy is on record that
Of the nav, and naval construction Of the future
VIII be limited not alone by the locks oi lHe ran
Ships that cannot use locks ] 600 feet by 10 feet
cannot use l50-foot level canal, nor can this
tained Is made to appear by its advocates
DIFFERENCE N COST
Regarding the difference in the cost Of the two
types the speaker said:
The board Of consulting engneeTs5 5 estimated the
the sea level canal at $2i7ozC9 excluding the cosl
and interest on the investment These sums were
for construction purposes only.
1 VenJured a guess that the construction OF the
lock type Of canal would approach $55o@ooG. and
s<t5ateS for the ioC canal must affect eaaaiy
me sea level +yue the advocates % the latter ar
gued that the excess of the new estimates was an
additional reason why the lock type should be
abandoned in favor OF the level canal.
estimated cost by the commission Tor
completing the adopted project, excluding the items
let out by the board Of consulting engineers. is
placed at S2g7 600 If to this be added the eSti-
mated cost Of sanitation and civil government until
the completion Of the work and the S10VD.GD pur-
chase price the total cost to the United states or
the lock type Of canal viii amount to S752O 900 In
preparation Of these estimates there are no un-
known factors
The estimated cost Of the level canal for CON
srcion alone sums up s4T7. .60l 900 and II 10 this
he added the cost Of sanitation and civil govern
ruent m to the time the completion OF the canal
which viii be at six years later than the lock
canal and the purchase price tne total cost 10 Iie
United States viii aggregate S153.OyVOyL
The ma iority of the board of consulting engineers
estimated from ten to thirteen years Nouid u
The Tsthman Canal Commission and the then cist
engineer fixed the time from eighteen 10 lNeh,y
years II will take least six wears to compete
the IA at CambOa. and until the cpntrOi OF iie
Chagres River is assured little II any ~
car he carried lower than forty to fifty feet above
sea level so shat in the absence Of anything more
definite the tims, needed to construct the bart.pd
dam is assumed the additional period needed ior
completing the ieve; type.
Should an earthquake visit the isthmus the
! chances are that the effect upon the Gatun dam
would be less disastrous than upon the Gamboa
/ dam. said Colonel Goethals. The solid concrete
construction OF the locks strengthened by re-en-
forcements would be as PROOF against any earth
shocks any structure which man built any
| where and the sea level canal had much to
! fear the lock canal.
/ The vunerabity OF the lock canal in time Of
] war was another argument advanced in favor Of
the sea level type. but had little weight. the sas
level type was equally vulnerable from attacks by
! land OF air