New-York tribune., 1909-01-25
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
CANAL PLANS CoNTRASTED.
Advantages Of the Sea Level and Perils Of the
Lock System.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.


To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The reasons for deciding upon lock canal
at Panama. against the level type. were
time and cost. now shown by actual results TO be
fallacious. as proved in your issue of the 18th
inst Still. there three arguments that were
used in favor of the lock type that in this critical
epoch it seems advisable 10 answer anew. They
Ffrst-That passage OF large ships would be
quicker in the lock canal. owing 10 the free navt-
cation Of the Bohio Lake.
Second-That the European engineers favored
level because their great canal is the Suez,
which is sea level and FIVE of the eight American
engineers favored the lock type because the 500.
the most active waterway earth. Is a lock canal
Third-That lock canal is preferable to a sea
level, even II the latter cost and could be
built more quickly this being the expression OF
the second chief engineer Mr.. Stevens. eminent
railroad man, and being at complete variance with
the statements based careful analysis Of the
situation by his predecessor, wallace
Regarding these three points. please allow ne
TO call attention the following The Bohio Lake
is by means clear, open water body across
the isthnus. The greatest straightaway run is
the four-nlile from the twelfth to the six
teenth mile. The total in the lake. or what
by OF wide bottom might be called the
lake, is from the eighth to the eighteenth mhe'
total of ten miles with the advantage OF
unlimited speed, although with three sharp curves
in this distance The restriction of the channel
and the curves in the remainder of the distance
would make the time of passage approximately
the II the canal were sea level, and ailo"
a large steamer to proceed at a rate of. say eight
miles an hour under either plan. The maximum
average speed to be expected OF the vessels that
will trade through the canal is fifteen miles an
hour. Therefore, in the ten miles of lake rfaViga-
tion a steamer could forty minutes at tui
speed and so gain nearly twenty minutes in this
stretch what might be assumed as normal
speed If il were level. On the other hand, the
lowest estimate of time that the lock advocates
dare to make is hour and half for the Two
flights and deductnG the twenty minutes from
this would give net loss of time Of an hour ana
minutes in the passage Of large vessels under
the lock systenl-provided, course that the lake
had water it. which In the dry season Is ques-
tionable: that the earth dam demaned intact with
out any such flow and bulging has been re-
Gently observed in the Culebra cut; provided there
were no earthquakes to ruin the locks by one OF
the frequent shocks that liable in that LOCALITY.
and provided all the world we're az peace and no
aeroplanes or submarines had put the canal out
Of business-from all of which pEovisos the sea
level type would be free.
AS to the question Of the 500 and the Suez-the
500 has no military significance is not IN an EARN
quake zone and its lock is low lift II should pc
well remembered that the Manchester ship canal Is
perforce a lock canal, and that its chief engineer
Hunter. was among the foreign members OF The
board who unanimously recommended sea leNel
canal and Furthermore that Sir Robert Perks
the builder of the Manchester canal, urges against
reasons therefor from his own experience. Every
vessel going through the 500 Is manned by Grey
that has the experience every few days and Is
keyed up I the notch at the critical moments
Yet despite this there have been accidents to the
locks both there and in the Manchester canal that
as the board showed and Parsons subsequently
testified Senator Kitredge would have been dis-
astrous at Panama, meaning the draining OF the
lake, with it's entire OF over one hunored
square miles 10 a poSnt that would require from
rta rfTh
of the Chagres and sill the other streams. Such
disastrous accidents are as mathenstically certain
in a Panama lock anal the mortality tables OF
a assurance company.
The Suez Canal dug over a generation ago
at sea level. with a minimum bottom width Of only
seventy-two feet. To II Europe largely owes its
prosperity Despite its great length. its width has
been more than doubled without hindering traffic-
Great sums must annually expended TO dredge
out the enormous quantities OF sand that blow IN
from the desert. The Suez Canal In all its history
has had serious blockade. except for a
couple Of weeks required to blow up vessel that
sank with a load Of dynamite. The sueE Canal
is not disseminated against by owners or insurance
underwriters IS dreaded by navlga tors
With no more favorable situation for developing
a large traffic than would be sea level canal at
Panama, It pays It's owners over s7,ooo.oo net per
annum. with a great annual expense. where we
would have none beyond one dredge ana the Aght-
ing and toll gathering
As 70 Mr. S-evenS's remark 81 his preference for
lock. even greater cost OF time and money. This
is unanswerabe. 1t can only be commented upon.
One said regarding It that If he is ever on
trial for homicide that statement will be sufhcent
evidence Of subjection to emotional alteration TO
save him from the chair Another observed that
he was welded Miss Lock and gave her the
compliments that she and her father liked, blind
10 her faults and dishgurements because she had
the money, while poor Miss Sea Level hadn't a
friend At court" Personally believe that this
statement was simply evidence OF auto-hypnosis
on the part Of a sincere man blinded by his duty
as ne saw it and lacking personal knowledge of
ship handling and appreciation OF the dlfhcultes
of docking vessels of all nations and classes under
circumstances of unprecedented danger.
With facts now know them, and the
highly satisfactory results achieved by army
engineers which prove sea level canal feasible
even with methods and machinery now in use in
the same time and at greater cost than the
lock canal with it's question mark opposite every
featur its certainty of financial loss, it IS our
duty to make the change. Now is the time when
without waste Of time money. as would ne IN
evita bic later the Panama Canal can be carried
! through At sea level. HENRY q. tIRANGtR
New York. Jan. Il. lSF',