The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-18
CANAL REPORT FOR CONGRESS Roosevelt Sends in a
 Message. THE LOCK TYPE APPROVED Engineers Present Views on the Work. iPreslaent says Attacks on the Present system Are Really Attacks
 on Any Canal

made hereafter on the lock type or the Panama canal, according to the opinion expressed by President Roose- welt in a message transmitting to Con- gress today the report made by the engineers who recently visited the canal gone with President-elect Taft ifs in reality merely an attack upon the policy of building any canal at all"
 The report, In Mir. Rooseve1t's opinion, shows in the clearest fashion that the congress was wise in the an inexcusable folly to change from the proposed lock canal to a sea level canal"
 q commend to you" he says to Con- gross, ''the most careful consideration of the report. They show that the cnly criticism that can be made of the work on the isthmus is that there has Sometimes been almost an excess of caution in providing against possible trouble.
 "As to the Gatun dam itself, they show that not only is the dam safe but that on the whole the plan already adopted would make it neediessly high and strong. and accordingly they recommend that the height be reduced by twenty feet, which change in the plans have accordingly directed"
 President Roosevelt says the engi- neers who made the report "are of all the men In their profession, within and without the United States. the men who are on the whole, best qualified to pass upon these very questions which they examined"
 Approves Gatun Dam.
 The engineers report that as the Gatun earth dam was the central point of discussion, they gave it. under IsamA alteration in the light of all new evil dence" and they add that ''the type of dam now under consideration Is one which meets with our unanimous ap- prevail
 They say that they are "satisfied that there will be no dangerous or objectionable seepage through the materials under the base of the dam, nor are they so soft as to be liable to be pushed aside by the weight of the proposed dam so as to cause dangerous settlement. We are also satisfied that the materials available and which 1t is proposed to use are suitable and can be readily placed to form 6 tight, stable and permanent dam" Dams and locks. lock gates and all other engineering structures involved in the lock canal project are feasible and safe" according to the engineers,
  perform with certainty their rsspecel tive functiona"
 They report that they do not find any occasion for changing the type of canal that has been adopted A change to sea level plan at the present time would add greatly to the cost and time of construction, without compen- sating advantages, either in capacity of the canal. or in safety of navigation. and hence would be a public misfor- tune.
 We do find" they say, "in the de- tailed designs that have been adopted or that under consideration some mat ters where other arrangements than those now considered seem worthy of study. As these proposed changes are of tentative nature and do not in any case affect the main questions herein discussed. they are not taken up in this report"
 They declare that the "most practical question in the construction of the 0atun dam Is the possible slipping and sliding of the materials underneath and in the body of the dam" In re- gard to this question they have reach ed the conclusion that ''the design upon which the work is now being prosecuted abundantly fulfills the re- quired degree of stability and goes far beyond than the limits of what would be regarded as sufficient and safe in any less important structure"
 In regard to the slips which have occurred at several times. they assert that they are "of no serious con- sequence, either in the practical execu- tion of the work or in the ultimate stability of the structures"
 Having considered the proper height for the crest of the Gatun dam they concluded that 'it could be safely re- duced twenty feet from that originally proposed. namely. to an elevation of 115 feet above the sea level, or thirty feet above the normal level of the water against the dam" This change they say. will facilitate the work of construction and will reduce somewhat the cost of the proposed work
 Change of Location.
 As to the change of the lower locks on the Pacific end of the canal from . La Boca, on the shore of the Panama Bay. to Miraflores, about four miles finland, they report that the settlementa which occurred as a result of the change cause no reason to doubt the stability of the proposed dam" This change having been made because objection might be made feom a mill Iary point of view to placing locks on the shore of the bay. exposed to guns of hostile ships" the board of engineers estimate that 1t will increase the cost by about $10000.000 but that if wiII greatly lessen the cost of fortifca- tion.
 Another change. that of increasips the minimum width of the bottom