Evening star., 1911-06-05

The canal commission is now arranging
to carry out the work of making the
Panama canal impregnable against the
attack of any hostile nation. 1t will pro-
vide the emplacements for the armament
and the Notifications and quarters Tor
the small army which will guard the big
waterway from cranks in time or peace
and from invaders in time of war. What
ever may have been the opinion of men
as to whether the canal should be forti-
fled or neutralized, there is now no diff
ference of opinion that, since Congress has
elected to fortify it, the work must be
done so thoroughly that there never will
be possibility Of its being wrested
from us.
The troops to be stationed on the 1sth-
mus will consist of twelve companies of
coast artillery. four regiments of infan-
try, and battalion of field artillery and
one squadron Of cavalry. In time of war
this force would be augmented by such
additional troops as the exigencies of the
time might demand. Such general provi-
sions for the location of these reinforce
ments will be made as will assure them
Of good camp sites when they arrive.
X
1t is the intention to fortify the two
ends of the canal with extreme care. AT
each end there will be
Proposed placed four fourteen
-c. inch rifles, giant bark
EoitAAcdtAoA'~ ers, which will begin
the formalities of a warm reception by
the time hostile fleet is ten miles away;
six six-inch guns and twelve-twelve-inch
80
and Panama bays lends itself admirably
to the purposes OF defense. In Lmon
bay, on the Atlantic side, the distance be-
tween Toro point and the opposite side Of
the bay is inconsiderable, and this will be
narrowed down by the big breakwaters
which are being thrown across the bay to
protect the mouth of the canal from the
violent northers which sweep down upon
Colon harbor and the entrance to the big
ditch.
On the Pacific side the same conditions
prevail A breakwater is being con-
structed from the mainland to Naos Is
land, a distance OF about five miles. Be
yond Naos Island Is Perico and beyond
that is Flamenco. On the latter island
the big coast defense guns will be sit
uated, and bridges will connect Flamenco
and Perico with Naos, and thence with
the mainland over the breakwater.
X
In addition to these defenses Of the en-
trance to the canal there will be a COM
plete system Of mines
Cost AbOut to be planted In case
am of war. The original
VAS,VOo,ooo' plan was to spend
SIC, ,OOO, 600 for the defenses, but in the in
terest Of economy. the number OF guns.
the size of the permanent garrisons and
other matters were reduced so that the
total cost will be something above $l2,-
600, COO
1t is fortunate from the standpoint OF
economy that Congress decided to carry
forward the work of fortiication at the
same time that the canal Is being con-
structed. AS the work on the canal nears
completion one steam shovel after an
other finds no room to operate in, and
other parts of the equipment must go
out of commission with the steam shovel.
The same is true of the force. BY util-
| izing the men and machinery no longer
needed for canal work, under the efflclent
labor system Of the present canal re-
gfme, q great saving is assured In the
cost of the fortification.
The fortification of the canal will cost
about seven million dollars less than was
originally estimated. When the fortifca-
tion board went over the grounds 1t de-
cided to make recommendations such as
would give the isthmus fortifications OF
the highest type and provide for army
posts which would be the last word in
military architecture. But the nearly
| twenty million dollars that this would
have cost seemed too large an amount to
| President Taft, and he asked the board
| to scale things down as sharply as safe
| ty would allow. So 1t cut out q gun
or two at each end Of the canal. at a
saving OF more than a million dollars.
They saved another million by emitting