The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1910-09-21
F0RT|f|cAT|0N Of CANAL.
PLANS FOR DEFENDING CANAL
ZONE IN HANDS OF PRESI-
DENT TAFT.
Engineers in Charge OF the Work
Believe the Canal VIII BE Com
pleted Within Two Years.


the United States is about to com
plete the Panama Canal many ma
lions are interesting themselves in
the question of its fertilization ano
have succeeded in raising discussion
OF the proposition. The Unitcc
States, however. is going ahead
calmly with plans for defending the
canal. which are before President
Taft, and the question, if any seri-
Gus opposition develops, must be
settled in Congress this winter.
The eyes OF the powers are turn
ed toward the little strip of land ten
miles wide Sand forty miles long
through which the United States, to
the creaking of the steam shoveis
and the boom of the exploding dyna-
mite, is rapidly opening the big
ditch which is to unite the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans.
The Panama Canal is no longer
a project. 1t is now a reality. AL
though the date set for the opening
is 1915, the engineers are confident
that ships will be taking this short
cut between oceans year sooner,
or 1914.
Two years or even year ago
foreigners were content to admire
the energy and skill which was
sweeping away giant obstacles. To-
day they are wondering what its eff
feet will be on the world politics ana
what advantages are to accure to
the United States through control of
this strategic waterway
For this reason, more than any
other, foreigners are debating the
question of the fertilization of the
canal. AT the present moment also
this consideration is of paramount
interest to the United States be-
cause the defense must be in place
by the time the canal is open foi
traffic.
The two problems, therefore,
which are agitating the officials of
the United States and of other coun-
tries, are whether we have the right
to fortify the canal and whether we
can do it successfully if we have
the right.
No less an authority than ReaI
Admiral Bob" Evans has said that
it cannot be done. The board of
army experts says that it can. The
task offers difficulties but they are
not insurmountable. The essential
feature of the defence plans is that
the big guns of the shore batteries
must be placed so that no fleet in
to the entrance of the canal on either
side to bottle it up against another
fleet
If the canal is to be strictly
neutral it must be kept open to ships
of any belligerent nation. This can
not be done if a fleet of one of the
combatants can stand off the EN-
trance at sufficient distance to %,
beyond the range of the guns of the
tile fleet coming through ship by
ship before it could deploy in battle
formation. If this were the case
the canal would be as effectively
bottled as though the Louisiana were
sunk in its channel for no fleet of
battleships would run the risk of al
fight under such adverse circum-
stances
For this reason the Notifications
must be so placed that the coast
guns can stand off a fleet at sufrl-
cient distance to allow another fleet
to pass through and form in battle
line for it's own defense before COM
ing in range. As the range o. the
coast gun and the modern big gun
of battleships are approximately the
same, it will be necessary to mount
batteries in Notifications on islands
commanding the entrance of theI
canal.
Fortunately no artificial islands
need be built to obtain this end On
the Panama side there are several
admirably situated. On the Colon
side there is one which will serve
the purpose. From these positions
the batteries or mortars and big |
guns will command stretch Of wa
ter large enough for the fleet TO
in.
The guarding Of the canal at in
terror points is not SO difficult a
problem. A garrison will be main
tanned within the zone which can
patrol the route. The vulnerable
points will be the locks which could
easily be disabled by the explosion
De stick OF dynamite and serious