Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1912-05-19

@F 1855 14A4 huAlh MHAl
means Suppose you had to earn it and
your wages were 8 a day. How long
would It takef II would take aaooo, oc
Gays, or more than 100000 years. The
History Of man goes back only 600 years,
Ind you would have had to work 100
times the life OF this world as far AZ
history is concerned to have done thii
Job IS
-Four hundred million dollars. suppose
were all In silver coins, such As are
now paid to the men who are doing the
digging. What pile and what a weight
one thousand such dollars equal to fifty
nve pounds, and the whole sum would
weigh in round numbers 2,o0.ooa pounds.
OF n.ooo tons AT ton to the wagon IL
would be enough to load a train OF two
morse teams. making single file over
sixty miles or roadway, and the noses
or each team might rest on the taiiboard
OF the wagon in front Of IT.
~ Indeed 1t Is goodly sum, Where has
II gone? And Is Uncle Sam getting the
worth Of his money? These are some Of
the matters / have been looking into
this week. have gone over thu canal
work and iSSted for leaks. and have
also made notes of some places where
Uncle Sam is using the principle Of SCI
entific management and modern economy.
! had a look at the books in the ad-
ministration building here in Culebra,
and with the clerks have gone over the
ledgers to learn how Uncle Sam counts
the cost and to show you what has al
ready been spent and what we must
spend in the future.
Our 5000, 900, 600 Ditch.
But first let me satisfy you as to the
total. President Taft and Colonel Goe-
thals have estimated the cost Of the
canal at ss7s.oooooo In one way they are
right. but there are other items which
VIII amount to at least s5.0ooooo. These
are the extra charges entailed by the
tpnual sum we pay Panama, and the
Qualifications. The first estimate Of the
cost Of the latter was s1s.oOo.ooo and con
gress has now cut It down to $1,000, 600
We have already spent more than s.0o0,-
wv and We VIII run up to so, 00o, 900 before
we get through. Moreover we have
agreed to pay Panama s25o,ooo a year,
beginning with nine years after the
treaty by which we took the canal.
Eight years have already gone. and n
year from now we will be spneding that
825oo@. which win be fixed charge
upon the treasury for all tine to come.
Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
is the ahhual interest on more than
ss.ooeoe. and so We must capitalize that
100000 and add Il to the cost OF the
canal And so you have the 900
witssit going farther. making. as have
said. a total Of 100000 900.
Now. let Us see where the money has
Zone, We shall first take 1t In the rough.
We spent t5o.oooooo at the start to get
control Of the canal property. Tho French
company received siocoo.ooo for its rights
and the work II had done and Panama
got sleooeooo for the canal zone and
other rights, Then we began to clean
up the canal. to organise the work and
to dig, I'VE spent less than, q. 10000 in
lso4, the year. we bought the, canal. We
paid out about Saoooop In lst6. slloooco
in 1905, s2loOe.oco In 1907 and from then
on have steadily increased until we arc
now spending millions a month. BY June
% next We shall have used up the tota,
appropriations so far made by congress,
and they now equal the vast sum Of sass,-
bs5,s727e. At the beginning Of this year
we had already expended more than saes.-
oooooo and the remaining is2ooo. 900 Ia the |
cost OF tho current six months. s@s
Uncle SAINTS Money worth.
Is the Job q cheap one ana is Uncie
Sam receiving the worth Of his money! |
The job is not cheap and nevertheless.
Uncle Sam is getting the worth OF his
money. He is getting more than any
other great company or government has |
pad for similar work. -sLet sne give somej
comparative figures. When the French
started this canal In 1873 II was. planned
to buiid n at sea level and at q cos, OF
t2te@e.oo. The first company continued
its work for ten years. after whicn time
1t became bankrupt In that time II 4
spent s264ooo0oo and excavated about ca
10000 yards Of earth and rock, 90 that.l
the average cost Of digging was about
"a q yard;
Uncle Sam. with all his preliminaries IN
the way Of sanitation and getting ready
Tor work. has been on the Job less than
eight years and at the end Of last Feb
ruary he; had taken out over 10000. 900
cubic yards Of earth and rock. He has
been able. to use q little less than 5000
900 yards Of the French digging and has
now total excavation all told Of q little
more than ao.oo,ooo cubic yards, With
something like seoooeoe yet to dig.
The French cost. as i have shown, was
- yard. Uncle Sans cost was at one
time 81 q yard. but II has been steadily
cut until. on the culebra division. where
IT is almost solid rock and the expense
Is the greatest. the total average per
cubic yard is less than "a cents. while
the dredging cost at the Atlantic end of
the canal Is less than 8 cents. Does Il
not seem as though Uncle sam Is gettinr
the worth OF his money!
The Suez canal cost all told about yioo L
co., 600 TO build. and the original excava-
ton was se.oo1,ocs cubic yards. The cost
was about stB per yard or just twice
what we ARE paying nov for taking the
rock out hera at culebra This - so not
withstandins suez was q ditch Through
a desert without hill or hollow where
the sand could be shoveled out onc ths
banks and where thossandx Of feIlahs
were furnished by the khedive 10 do the
work at practically nothing a. dax.- -
The Chicago DRAINAGE canal cost q ut
tie over ssiooo.eoe and. its excavation
amounted 4, over 42.eoae0o cubic yards.
Of which. hcvever. only about 100000
were rock At that rate the eigEing
there cost an average of % cents per
cubic yard or sJeents more than that We !
are uoxv "a sinx at Panama - +,