The Washington herald., 1913-12-28
CANAL LOCKS ARE DANGEROUS
IN WAR, SAYS NAVAL OFFICER
Enemy Could Offer Bribe to Blow Them Up and Block
Battleships Declares Admiral Goodrich Should Have
Been Built at Sea Level, Regardless Of Cost

The enormous advantages Of a canal at
sea level over one with locks were so
automatic that no substantial dificulty
was encountered In persuading Congress
to sanction the Panama project, because
it was there and there only that a sea-
level canal could be built.
The scene was then shifted to the 18TH
mus and the play-it might almost be
called an opera bouffe-went nerrily on.
A new republic was brought into being
"entre deux jours"-under circumstances
which We have been unwilling thus far
to lay before a tribunal of arbitration:
We lost standing and caste with our
former friends of the United States of
Colombia; We aroused afresh the sus-
picions and animosity Of all Latin-Amer-
lea; We have but a lease of the Canal
Zone; We do not actually own this strip
upon which we shall have spent nearly
billion of dollars: we have obligations
without rights at its two extremities,
quite as II the city of New York had
built the subways but left the approaches
and exits in the hands of an alien cor
poration: after this year we are bound
to pay $25eOOO annual rental for territory
whose value is created by our own ex-
penditures. and to crown all We have
built the wrong type Of canal.
Locks Too Small.
As to this last point, a few words in
explanation seem necessary. The sea
level canal is capable of deepening and
widening at will; the lock canal Is Just
as deep and wide as its gates. Thus the
one is elastic and can be stretched to
any desired extent by the necessary dig
ging; the other is rigid and incapable Of
expansion. n ships grow much larger
than some now afoat they can never use
the Panama Canal One prominent ship
building firm in Europe has completed the
designs of a ship LOO feet in length, 100
feet longer than the canal locks our
naval constructors already find that they
cannot materially increase the beam OF
our battleships, the easiest and most eco
nomical way of obtaining larger displace-
ment, because our super-dreadnoughts are
about as big in that dimension as the
canal locks will admit. The Germans in
this respect have an advantage over us
In that their Kiel Canal Is ten rect WIDER
in the locks than ours at Panama The
one type, being a mere ditch without
power plants, heavy gates and an army
and his subordinates; the other needs
mechanism, needs only traffic manager
OF skilled operators on deservedly high
wages The one needs Notifications at
the two ends only; the other, forts at the
locks, in addition with their standing gar
risons.
The risk to the ship during transit Is a
minimum at Suez. She may ground and
block the passage for few days, as hap
pens occasionally. but at Panama it is
eppalling to think what might occur. Il,
on the approach of hostilities, when we
find it well to move our battle feet from
one side of the continent to the other. and
when a dozen or SO of these vital elements
in our national defense are in the upper
reaches of the Panama Canal, some mis-
creant dynamltes a lock gate. the war
will be over as far as the navy is con-
cerned.
The natural reply to this suggestion
of possibility is "Our guards would not
permit any such wrecking." Doubt
less every conceivable precaution will
be taken to maintain safety, but why
run a risk from which the sea level
canal is free? "Our men could not be
corrupted" would also be alleged Pos
sibly-but a bribe Of a million or two
of dollars might find a taker, and any
to effect its purpose. Again why -un
an earthquake may wreck the canal
and all the shipping in it. Was the
risk justifiable?
canal will cost; we know that about
three times the original estimate has
been expended already; we know. per-
canal would have cost II Is idle to
vast amounts spent on gigantic con-