The Washington herald., 1913-08-31
Engineer Figures that in Five
Years Passenger Traffic Be-
tween London and Paris
Would Be Doubled or
Trebled.

In France it is difficult to find any one
who is not in favor of the construction of
the channel tunnel This applies equally
to all classes Of the community, from the
| President downward. Months ago French
public opinion made up its mind that the
! tunnel would come some day, says a Paris
I correspondent of the London Daily Tele-
graph. Sixteen years ago. when the bill
/ empowering the English company to pro-
Ceed with the work on the English side
was thrown out by the British ParIia-
ment, French people spent some time at
tempting TO understand the English point
1 Of view, and they never completely sue
\ Ceeded.
Many things have happened since Lord
! iWolseiey. in lS9S, characterized the scheme
as an insane project which would place
our island at the mercy Of the first in
vader who cared 10 avail himself of the
submarine way of landing on the shores
! OF this hitherto invulnerable Albion In
! those days there was no Bleriot: there
| were no aerOplanes. England IS now
| daily invaded by French aeroplanes, and
some aver. nightly by German airships.
The project of the channel tunnel has.
therefore. lost it's terrors for the timorous
, ones on John Bulls island. and if those
fear invasion today they admit il is from
the air and not from under the sea, that
England's invulnerability is question.
Plan Submitted to Napoleon.
Over a century ago. in lsO2, a scheme
for submarine tunnel was submitted to
Napoleon Bonaparte by an engineer
named Mathieu. but It was only in the
latter half of last century that a really
practical scheme was put forward by a
French engineer. NJ. Thome de Gamond.
The scheme came to naught, chiefly be-
cause of English hostility to the work,
and suspicion with regard to the designs
OF the third Napoleon.
With regard to the channel tunnel of
today, French and English engineers are
in accord as to the means to be adopted
in its construction. SOundings have DEM
onstrated that no insuperable or even
serious engineering difficulties are to be
met with on the way. The channel bed
between the two coasts is largely COM
posed OF gray chalk. which Is hard and
limpermeable and can be easily drilled. In
order to take full advantage of this chalk
terrain, the tunnel would follow a sinuous
rather than a straight course, and for
this reason its length would probably be
about thirty miles. The financial aspects
of the problem have been carefully con-
sidered by many experts on both sides,
and they are distinctly optimistic.
Iranc would Increase.
NJ. SartiauN. engineer OF the Nord Rail-
way. estimates that within a few
years passenger traffic between London
and Paris would be doubled or even treb-
led through the opening of a channel tun-
mel Only five hours would be required
for the journey, so that commercial men
might leave on their side at 8 o'clock in
the morning, devote the whole afternoon
from to in the evening to business in
in the foreign capital. and reach home at
II o'clock the same evening In the course
of standard pamphlet on the channel
tunnel question NJ. Sartiaux estimates
that, supposing the tunnel to be opened
under existing circumstances, II would
convey 100000 persons during its first
year. This estimate does not take into
account the tremendous increase of pas
senger traffic that would inevitably result
from the opening of the tunnel. by which
the tunnel inanciers would just as inev-
itably benefit
Baron Emile d'Eranger chairman of
the Channel Tunnel Company. has natu-
rally devoted the greatest attention to
the question of cost. After consulting the
leading experts on both sides Of the chan
mel. and taking all possible contingencies
into account. he declares that the lowest
cost of the undertaking would be Sso,-
100000.
Financing of scheme.
In France the financing of the tunnel
scheme has been undertaken by NJ.
Rothschild and by the Nord Railway