The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1913-10-02
Our Washington Letter
(By F. j. Dyer,)

| Special TO the keVleW.
Washington, Oct. when the
last dyke of earth at Gamboa in the
Panama Canal is blown out with
dynamite on the tenth of October,
the news will be flashed to Wash.
ington by telegraph from the Canal
Zone, and the cities On the Pacific
Coast will unite in celebrating the
event which means the actual reali-
cation of the dream, centuries long,
of the physical joining of the waters
of the Atlantic and the Pacific.
The great international exposition
at San Diego is being created to
celebrate the completion of the
Panama Canal. 1t is true that the
canal will be completed and in use
by the commerce of the world be-
fore the gates of the exposition will
be thrown open officially on the 1st
of January, 1915 The removal of
the last dyke will not mean that the
canal is ready for the passing of
ships. There will be debris to re-
move, and considerable work to be
done to render the canal available
for commerce, but what remains to
be done is but trif1ing as compared
with the vast work that has already
been accomplished. To all intents
and purposes, the canal is finished.
Within few weeks at lmost, the
first vessel will be sent through the
completed waterway. which is to
cut the length of the route between
most ports in the far East and on
the western shores of the two
Americas, and the ports on the At
lantic coast both in Europe and
America. Even after paying the
tolls for passing through the canal,
the commerce of the world will be
saved many millions of dollars an
nually because of the shortening of
the distances that must be sailed.
The United States will collect toll.
to be sure, but it will not receive
money enough from that source for
many years to come to amount to
adequate interest on the vast sum
expended in building the canal and
in its upkeep and administration.
Part of the benefits to be derived
from the caral by this country will
be of a military character. The ef-
fciency of the fleet will be almost
doubled, for without dividing it and
50 weakening its effectiveness as a
fighting unit, it can be transported
via the canal from one coast to the
other as occasion may demand.
Should the canal not have been
built, the time would have come
when it would have been found
necessary to have a strong fleet on
both the Atlantic and the Pacific
coasts. The canal also will stimulate
commerce between the east and
west coasts of the United States,
regulate transcontinental rates, and
shorten the haul from the Mississippi
pi valley via gulf ports to foreign
markets.
EPOCH MAILING EVENT
1T is not merely that the open.
ing of the canal is an engineering
feat that deserves to rank with the
greatest achievements of the race"
said Congressman William Kettner
of California, but it is destined to
be one of the greatest civilizing
agencies the world has known, 1t
will bring the nations of the earth
into closer relationship. 1t will pro-
mote commerce and make travel
more easy and pleasant. 1t will
:. help to break down barriers Ct ignor
ance and prejudice. 1t will reduce
, the cost. of transporting the com
moditles of every cline. and so
ameliorate the condition of the poor
while charging the opportunities of
the we'll TODD. 1t will, moreover,
tend to promote the peace of the
world while making the strategicaI
position of this Nation more impreg
nable.
President D. C, Collier of the Elk
position is now in the East and he
reports that there is much interest
among large industrial concerns
over the exposition. Some of the
biggest of them, whose names are
household words" throughout the
Nation. are preparing to make III
structive and educational exhibits
which will rival the best there is a,
the exposition in attractiveness tc
the public.
TIE DIN NDnCC cEA1c