Evening star., 1911-06-05
THE PANAMA CANAL.
XII-FORTIFICATION.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

the reclamation of land at Naos, Pericc
and Flamenco islands. the total saving
on the entire cost of the fortffication.
proper amounting to little over two and
remainder of the seven-million-dollar re-
auction came about largely through re-
duction In post costs.
The work of constructing the fortifi
cations will begin at once. and it probably
will be completed by the time the cana
is ready for operation. In addition t
the defenses at the ends of'the canal ther,
Will be mobile artillery ready to NOV,
upon an lnStants notice to any threat
ened point on the zone. There will be {
highway and railway across the 18th
mus ready at all times to finish the de
tenders with means of rapid communica
ton, and small body Of men will b,
quartered at all times at each of tn,
vital points OF the big waterway.
X
1t is the belief on the isthmus tha
waters ought by all mean.
Best Naval to be located at the Atlantic
D. end OF the Panama canal
Se' In point Of cost Of construc
ton. as well as cost Of maintenance. ev.
erybody admits that such a base a
Colon would have immeasurable advan
tages over Guantanamo. or any othel
place in the tropical seas. In the first
place. there must be a commercial dry
dock built and operated anyway, and the
demands Of shipping as to the size o!
this dock are such that as large a one
will be required as ever will be needed
by the navy. SO that this expense will be
cut out. In the second place, q coaling
station for commercial purposes must be
fv,f ,1d nd &c ha rc0dx
additional expense by the navy-another
important item. Large machine shops
will be required for the purpose OF main
tanning the canal and for the repair OF
commercial vessels that may be used
with practically no additional cost for
construction or operation by the navy.
In short, a naval base Of any given size
might be built at Panama for very
small fraction Of the cost OF building
one at Guantanamo: while the reduction
in cost of maintenance would be in as
great proportion.
The strategic advantage OF having the
southern naval base at Panama rather
than on the southern coast of Cuba is very
decided, according to the strategists who
favor the Panama site. 1t places the
fleet two days closer TO any Pacific coast
point. and this distance might decide big
naval engagement: Although 1t brings
the fleet two days closer to the Pacific
coast, it does not remove it far enough
away from any Atlantic coast point ma
terially to interfere with conditions there
1t still leaves the fleet closer to any At
lantic coast point in the United States
than the fleet of any other country.
No more Interesting contention was
ever raised with reference to the canal
than that OF fortiica-
Neutrality VS.. tions versus neutrali-
ty. The proponents OF
fOIIlACdtloA' Notifications declared
that the United States entered upon
the project as q matter OF defense.
after the remarkable lesson OF the
battleship Oregon, which during the
war with Spain took eixty-fve days
to make trip that might have been
negotiated through a canal in nineteen.
They asserted that to have declared the
canal neutral would have been to forfeit
the great military advantage afforded by
ii, and that not to have forfeited 1T
would practically have necessitated the
doubling OF the size of the American
navy.
The opponents of fortifcation insisted
that the rising science of military aero
nautics would make the best Notifications
that could be built helpless before an at
tack Of airships, which could blow up the
vitals of the canal without great difficult
ty, and that anyway the canal is es-
sentially a commercial proposition, and
that the declaration of neutrality would
promote world peace. They insisted
that if the canal were fortified 1t might.
in the exigencies Of war. be taken from
us, while If kept neutral. no matter what
the fortunes OF war. 1t could never be
closed against the American navy.
The proponents OF fortification rejoined
that the flying machine will be subject to
the law of al, military progress. that
every new means of offense is countered
with q new means of defense. They in
sisted that by day the horizon can be