Evening star., 1911-06-08

1t is also proposed to maintain COM
mercial dry. dock, where ships of all
classes and condl-
Plan to Maintain tions can be re-
Special Dry Dock. prsa practically s one Of Of
the essentials in the operation of the
canal. It Is also planned to continue the
ice factory at Colon. supplying ice to the
passing vessels at commercial rates: also
that laundry be maintained for the pur-
pose of meeting the demands OF shipping.
1t would then be possible for a ship to
put out of Liverpool, have its laundry
ready when 1t reached Colon, send it to
the laundry there, and have it finished
and sent to Panama by rail in time to
oyertake the ship at the Pacific entrance.
All of these things would make the
Panama route attra ctive and would pre-
vent the greed of local enterprise from
charging extortionate prices and thus
interfere with the usefulness of the
canal.
When the canal is completed some time
will be spent trying out the machinery
and breaking in the picked men who are
to constitute its operating force. The
problem of sanitation for those who re-
main to give force and effect to what
American enterprise has done on the
isthmus will be one of the greatest OF
the future. 1t will require unrelenting
vigilance to keep the Canal Zone settle
ments, which will remain, from relapsing
into typical tropical regions. Most of the
towDs will probably pass into the hands
of natives or West Indian negroes.
An equipment of dredges and all sorts
of repair machinery will be maintained
throughout the years, since there always
will be large deposits of silt and sand
brought down by the twenty-five streams
which flow into the canal.
Provision will be made to prevent the
transcontinental railroads from gobbling
for themselves the
To Check Greed benefits of the canal.
of Railroads. ,0,lras W .oor,,s oogn.' 90 o,
the whole people. If they were permitted
to control the domestic steamship lines
which use the canal they could easily
make the rates so high that 1t would
not materially interfere with their pres
ent transcontinental rates. A law prob
ably will be advocated which will prohib-
it any transcontinental railroad from be-
ing directly or indirectly interested in
any vessel seeking passage through the
canal. 1t is calculated by we'll known
shipper that the cost of TRANSPORTING
lantic can be reduced more than three
fourths once the canal is in operation.
Last month a. Pacific Mail steamer car
ried in it's cargo some California fruit
for eastern markets. The success or this
experiment is being watched with inter
est. 1t Is probable that the less perish
able California fruits may be brought
around by Panama in large quantities
during the coming year.
There seems to be no need Of fearing
uhap ch{pS begin to go through
there will be any shortage of water. 1t
is estimated that the locks can pass
total of forty-eight vessels through the
canal each day. This will take care of
possible SO,OOO,G00 tons a year. If the
canal starts out with only one-eighth
of that amount the people will have rea-
son to congratulate themselves Suez
now has q ,OOO. 600 tons to handle a year,
and even the busy 500 canal has only
40. 900 year. But should the de-
mands go beyond anything anticipated
there is room for extra locks and an
extra water supply. Gatun lake already
Is beninning to fill UP as the dam rises
and by the time the machinery is INSTALL
ed it will be full. A record Of the flow
of the river running into it, allowing for
seepage. during 1909 showed that 1t would
have been filled in nine months that year.
With a view to saving water and to
Fastening the process Of lockage each
lock chamber is divid-
Tnn1r Chamhers ed into two subcham-
Are Divided. and the other aso fee+
Al more than 90 per cent Of the vessels
on the high seas are shorter than 500 feet
there is little possibility that many OF
the ships passing through will need more
than the larger Of two subchanlbers. II
Is expected that a ship will be raised the
arnroximate thirty feet Of each step In