The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-05
SEE TIE CANAL.
 BY APRIL 1913 Col. Goethals Talks of Great
 Project WHEN WATER GOES IN Canal Will Seem Small-Ahead of Schedule and All Moves Along as Smoothly as It Is Pos Sible to Do
WHEN WATER GOES IN

Washington, June 4.-(speciaL) )-Every- body who meets Col George ". Goethals, the Panama canal builder, asks him the same question: Flows the canal com ing on?'' It must sound monotonous to birn but he always answers cheerfuly, the canal is getting along in fine shape. Colonel Goethals has been spending a few days in Washington and has talked to the President about the work in the canal zone. He spent some time at the capitol, where he met lot of congress- men who have at various times, paid a visit to the scene of the greatest en- gineering work now going on anywhere in the world.
 "rhe time to see what has been done at Panama" said Colonel Goethals. lis be- fore the water Is let into the canal. That will be year from next April. People who go down there after the canal is filled with water will never be able to understand what 8 big piece of work has been done. They will wonder why in the world the United States spent all that money and where it went to-"
 "Yes," said congressman who over heard this remark, and some day you will see an investigation by Congress 10 find out why the canal cost so much money. People who go down there will see a ditch filled with water and it will look so easy to them that they won't understand why all those millions of doi- lars were spent"
 The confidence with which Colonel Gos- thals speaks of the work of cutting a channel through the Isthmus would reas- sure a lot of doubters who still think the canal may be a failure for any one of a variety of reasons. The colonel does not talk about the canal as anything like an experiment. He speaks of it as if V were most ordinary undertaking, sim ply requiring a certain amount of time for it's completion
 We are a little ahead of the schedule" he said, 'tand everything Is going along as well as any of us could hope. The human element that enters into the con- struction of the canal perhaps is it's most interesting feature. We have our joys and our trials in this respect, but it Is ceIldiHly Oie oi tiic iiioSt i~iiieeA iA''iS A0e% lures of the work"
 Colonel Goethals' attention was called to a recent statement by man who vls- tied the canal zone and who declared that the slides which have from time to time been experienced in the Culebra cut and other places always would continue and always would threaten the canal.
 That is not true,' said Colonel Goe- thals. I've have had twenty-two slides thus far, and undoubtedly will have. more. But these slides mean that the material through which we are cutting the canal is seeking it's natural level. A great many different kinds of material are encounter ed and the angles at which they will come to rest vary greatly For instance, a pile of sand will come to a rest with it's side at angle of about 45 degrees. We have material at Panama, principally clay, where we can make the side of cut almost perpendicular. On the other hand, we have material that will slide until fl comes to a rest at only 15 degrees above the horizontal That is it's natural point of stopping.
 '.rThe Paraiso slide was one of the larg- est encountered, but 1t was entirely nat ural to be expected. After 1t had come to a rest we had to make another 10- foot cut and it slid again. But that also was to be expected. To say that these slides will never stop is to make all incorrect statement because, when the materials where they are composed reach their natural level they will come to a and stay thara'