The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-07

for a partially elective Senate, the num-
 Der of elective members being progress | sively increased, is unwise, and that the
 composition of the Senate as provided | in the bill as introduced In the House
 far better meets conditions existing in 1 Porto Rico. This Is an important meas
 ure and I recommend its early consid-
 eration and passage.
 | Rivers and Harbors
 | I have already expressed my opinion | to Congress in respect to the character
 Of the river and harbor bills which should
 be enacted into law and have exercised
 as much power as I have under the law
 in directing the chief of engineers to
 make his reports to Congress conform
 to the needs of the committee fram- | ing such a bill in determining which of
 the proposed improvements is the more | important and ought to be completed
 first and promptly.
 Panama Canal
 | At the instance of Colonel Goethals,
 the army engineer officer in charge or
 the work on the Panama canal, have
 just made visit to the isthmus to in
 speet the work done and to consult with
 him on the ground as to certain problems which are likely to arise In the near fu-
 ture. The progress of the work Is most
 satisfactory If no unexpected obstacle
 presents itself, the canal will be com | | Colonel Goethals, to-wit, January l, 1915, and within the estimate of cost, $375,- | 100000.
 Press reports have reached the United | States from time to time giving accounts
 of slides of earth of very large yard
 age in the Culebra cut and elsewhere
 along the line from which it might be | inferred that the work has been much
 retarded and that the time of comple-
 tion has been necessarily postponed.
 The report of Dr. Hayes of the geo. Logical survey, whom I sent within the last rconth to the isthmus to make an investigation, shows that this section Of
 the canal zone Is composed of sedi-
 mentary rocks of rather weak structure and subject to almost immediate dis tntegra tion when exposed to the air. l Subsequent to the deposition of these sediments, igneous rocks, harder and
 more durable, have been thrust into them, and being cold at the time Of their intrusion united but indifferently
 with the sedimentary rock at the con tacts. The result of these conditions Is
 that as the cut Is depened. causing un- balanced pressures, slides from the
 sides of the cut have occurred. These
 are in part due to the flowing of sur face soil and decomposed sedimentary
 rocks upon inclined surfaces of the un- l deriving undecomposed rock and in
 
 weak beds under excessive pressure. | These slides occur on one side or the
 other of the cut through a distance of | four or five miles, and now that their | character is understood, allowance has
 been made in the calculations of yard age for the amount of slides which will have 10 be removed and the greater
 slope that will nave to be given to the | bank in many places in order to pre-
 vent their recurrence. Such allowance
 does lot exceed 10,000,000 yards. Con- sidering that the number of yards re- | moved from this cut on an average of
 each month through the year Is 1,300,- l 900, and that the total remaining to be
 excavated, including slides, is about
 30, ,000,000 yards, 1t is seen that this ad- dtion to the excavation does not of fer any great reason for delay. While this feature of the material to | be excavated in the cut will not seri- | ously delay or obstruct the construc- | ton of a canal of the lock type, the
 increase of excavation due to such
 slides in the cut made S5 feet deeper | for a sea-level canal would certainly | have been so great as to delay its com
 pletion to a time beyond the patience
 of the American people.
 | Among questions arising for present
 solution is the decision whether the canal shall be fortified. I have already I favor Qualification and I now reiterate this opinion and ask your considera- | tion of the subject in the light of the
 report already before you made by a
 competent board.
 | 1f in our discretion, we believe mod ern Qualifications to be necessary to | the adequate protection and policing
 of the canal. then 1t Is our duty to con struct them. We have built the canal | It is our property. By convention we
 have indicated our desire for, and in | deed undertaken. it's universal and
 equal use. It is salso well known that one of the chief objects in the construc- | ton of the canal has been to increase l the military effectiveness of our navy. | Failure to fortify the canal would | leave the attainment of both these aims in the position of rights and obli- | gations which we should be powerless to enforce and which could never in any other way be absolutely safeguard ed against desperate and irresponsi- | ble enemy.
 Canal Tolls
 | Another question which arises for | consideration and possible legislation | Is the question of tolls in the canal | This question Is necessarily affected by the probable tonnage which will go
 through the canal. It is all a matter | of estimate, but one of the govern
 ment commission in 1900 investigated the question and made a report. He concluded that the total tonnage of the | vessels employed in commerce that could use the isthmlan canal in 1914 would amount to 6,S43.S05 tons net
 register, and that this traffic would in- crease 251 per cent per decade; that | 1t was not probable that all the com
 merce included in the totals would at once abandon the routes at present fol- | lowed and make use of the new canal, and that 1t might take some time. per | haps two years. to readjust trade with reference to the new conditions which | the canal will establish. He did not in- clude, moreover, the tonnage of war vessels, although it is to be inferred | that such vessels would make consid- erable use of the canal. In the matter
 of tolls he reached the conclusion that | $1 net ton would not drive business
 away from the canal, but that higher
 rate would do so.