El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-04-27

It is made such it will unity the man
agement and reduce the cost OF oper-
alton BY the terms Of the treaty the
10 mile strip was 70 be devoted 20 tne
construction. operation main lenaIlCS
sanitation and protection OF the canal'
That is the foundation upon which our
right to 1t stands, and II should De
kept So"
The FOrtificatfOns Of The Canal.
There are many Of our people, Col
GOethals, who think the canal sAOH4u
not be fortified"
.sThat may be So" was the reply, but
I am not one of them. There Is no
question about the need and deslra-
bility OF Qualifications IN my nina IN
deed, We are bound to 1Orti1y II by our
treaty obligations, II for no other rea-
son. BY those treaties We have en-
gagged to maintain the neutrality OF the
canal. to keep II free for al nations
and to prevent its being blockaded- To
do that we must have Qualifications.
But that is out side the main Ques-
ton" Col GOethals went on ne
chief thing is that we nave built the
canal as q military necessity, and tnaJ
in order that IL may benefit the United
states we must be able to defend u
against all possible attacks BY sea
and land"
1t can be-
''How?"
BY sea it can be defended by sea
coast batteries against bOmborament
ana naval attacks BY land il must
be defended BY notifications on land
in the vicinity Of the locks and
dams There must also be other de-
fences against landing parties"
What do such defences mean?' /
They mean forts on the islands and
on the main land at the Pacific termt-
nus. and they mean fOrtitlcat1ons at
the entrances at the Atlantic Ihey
also mean fortificatlons along 1ls
line Of the canal at certain points W e
have planned such Qualifications and
are already building them"
The Cost Of FOrtifying.
But viii not these defences add
greatly to the cost of the canalE'
Nothing like as much as one would
suppose" replied Col. Cocktails. one
reason for this is that the character
OF the modern battleship is such that
the number Of guns on shore to keep
off a fleet can be reduced TO min
imum No naval attack will be at
tempted on any fortified position IN
I'll the supremacy OF the rival navy
az sea has been settled Moreover, the
loss of a single battleship would de-
stroT the balance of power and involve
the risk Of lOsing a fleet. Now. one OF
our shots could destroy snip, ana
under such conditions the fleets would
be very Chary of coming near them
The navies realize this danger. and Tor
that reason the japanese fleet kept
pretty well out from Port Arthur. IN
deed. as il is now. the naVies OF the
great powers are so evenly balanced
that none would risk the destruction
OF a part Of its force at sea by at
lacking Qualifications on land, and as
suming that one fleet had been de-
strOved the enormous cost OF 4 pat
ueship would. keep an enemy from
risking it in an unequal fight with
land defences"
What will our fortifications cOstT'
They viii cost infinitely less than
would have been spent had we tried
to increase our fleet and depend upon
IL alone to defend the canal livery
additional battleship. OF the type now
needed, costs not less than SlO.OOO,OO0
10 build and there Is IN ADDITION 70
that an ever-increa sing maintenance
charge. When all these seacoasJ oe-
fences are completed and those OF tne
land added the expense altogether VIII
not equal that Of two baLtleshlps' anu
q the fortified tons VIII be iar more per
manent than the ships IhoSe Whq
opposed the fortifications claimed
that the defence could be accomplished
by the navy in case OF necessity IN
that event we should have hao 10 nave
a standing fleet for this purpose
alone"
The Permanent Force And The Cost.
How many men will IL take 10 run
the canal after it is completed. Col
7 estimate the number at $500, but
this does not include the possloie san
itation and civil administration OF tne
zone. II does not include the military
forces TO fortify the canal. ana II is
based upon the suppositlon that the
zone viii be depopulated- ,,.,
What will II cost TO run the canal
The total expenses OF the canal
proper. not including It's de1ence'
which belongs to the mlIltary o esI90o
lishment. should not exceed S4'Ooo'U9V
a wear"
But will the income be as large as
that?"
Il think so" said Col Goethals. II
viii be ~ we fix the proper toIs.
think we should Fix them as hlgn as
the traffic will bear, and II we 90 that
we shall have plenty to run lHe Canal
and still leave a surplus as 10 the
shipping which win go through oy es-
Inmates made q few years ago Dy our
engineers. there should De at least
1000 900 tons per annum- VOW, we
can safely make our toll - per ton.
This would give sufficient 10 pay all
expenses and still leave a surplus
Then" Col. Goethals cohunTed, II
in connection with the operation Of
the canal we retain our present COM
missary. cold storage and manufactur-
ing plants for the benefit OF the ship
ping: il We sell them fuel. water and