Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-02-19
RIVALS The panama WATERWAY
Kaiser Wilhelm Canal Will Be
Opened in April.
ymperor william Enjoys Making Conn
parisons between His Canal, Con-
Meeting the Baltic and North
Sens, and the Great United
States Enterprise.

Emperor william expects to steal !
utte march on President Wilson IN
canal celebrations by opening the en-
larged waterway connecting the Bal
tic and North Seas probably as early
as April The work of Improvement,
which has cost more than the build
Ing of the original canal in 1891 will
enable the passage of the biggest bat
tleships, The emperor will probably
accomplish this for the first time by
personally commanding the main Ger
man battlefield through the inland
waterway.
Such world wide attention has been
directed to the American enterprise in
connecting the two oceans that 1t Is
scarcely realized that the German en-
gineers have been building locks even
bigger than those at Panama. The
Emperor, who Is fond of making com
PARSONS between his canal and the
American enterprise is never weary
Of pointig out that american battle
ships now under construction can
barely squeeze through the Gatun
locks ana that the $4,000 ton super
dreadnought which is already in sight
will have to follow the path of the
Oregon around Cape Horn to get from
the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The
German canal will have locks SO feet
longer, 37A feet broader and of four
foot greater draught than those of
Panama and will accommodate a co.
600 ton battleshp, should naval de-
signers go as high that in the flu
ture. There is room and 200 feet to
spare in them for the newest and big
gest ocean liners of the Imperator and
Aquitania class SO that ample provis-
Ion has been made for possible de-
velopments of commercial navigation
as we'll
The existing canal was opened in 1895.
the cruiser Brooklyn, commanded by
Captain Bob Evans, representing the
United States in the international naval
pageant on that occasion. 1t runs from
Kiel on the Baltic to Brunsbuttel on the
Elbe estuary, a short distance from the
sea, and cuts off the long and rather
hazardous passage through the Cattegat
and around the northern end of Dem
mark. 1t jumped into Importance imme-
diately as a maritime highway and was
used by about 10000 vessels during it's
first year. The traffic steadily grew. the
canal being traversed in 1912 by 1866
ships OF 9,9A2S total net tons, traffic
larger than that of the Suez canal. To the
German navy it was of inestimable ad-
vantage enabling commander to throw
the entire fleet from one sea to the other
In few hours and to menace, for exam
Pile, an opposing British fleet from points
several hundred miles apart. With the
advent of dreadnaughts, however, this
advantage was lost, as the old locks. 500
feet long, SO feet wide and 80 feet deep.
we're too small to accommodate the naval
monsters and 1t was determined to pro-
vide larger locks and double the width
Of the canal
The new locks. which lack the impos-
ing height of those at Panama but are
bigger in every other respect, are 1852
feet long panama. 1000 feeO. 1471h feet
wide panama, no feeO and have a
mean depth Of As feet of water al feet
over the stills. The new canal is 400 feet
wide at the surface, $50 feet vide at the
bottom Of the excavation and has beer
provided with II "sidings" at which yes
sells may pass. New harbors have beer
built at each end, several sharp curve!
have been eliminated, two new railway
bridges $50 feet above the canal have
been provided and other details hav,
brought the cost Of the improvement VI
to .s55, COO. 900, whereas the original cana
cost was only $39. 21S.00O The enlarge
ment involved the excavation OF 14O 200. 90
cubic yards Of earth; the original canal
liz, 100000 cubic yards. The work. which
has occupied five years, has been carried
on without interrupting traffic in tn
canal, the new locks. one at each end o
the canal having been built beside tn
odl ones
To protect the locks of the Panam
canal from bombardment and destructio
by hostile fleet they were paced sew
eral miles inland from the ends of tn
canals In the Kaiser, Wilhelm canal tn