The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1914-01-09
Continued From Last Fridays Issue)

President Taft signed on Aug. "a.
1912. a bill for the permanent govern
ment and operation of the canal
Colonel Cocktails ideas were followed
almost to the letter in drawing this
bill. The president is authorized as
soon as the canal is sufficiently near
completion to abolish the present COM
mission and to appoint governor for
a term of four years at a salary of $780,
600 per annum. In time of war the
president may substitute an army Of
fcer for this governor. Salaries and
wages are not to be more than Is per
cent greater than in the United States.
and many Of the perQuisites now en-
joyed by the employees are to be elimi-
mated The canal zone will be open to
only such persons as the governor may
admit. American coastwise ships are
exempted from paying tolls for pas
sage. foreign built ships owned by
Americans may register under the
American flag, ships owned by rail-
roads cannot pass through the canal,
the interstate commerce commission Is
given power to determine questions of
competition, and the present judiciary
system is continued with right Of ap-
peal to the federal courts In the United
states. In addition, the government
may sell ships supplies and coal and
provide facilities for repairing vessels
at the canal terminals.
At the close Of the fiscal year ended
June 80. 1918, Colonel Goethals could
look forward to one year more of the
ar1uous labor and heavy responsibility
he has borne before the big job would
be in the. clear. Invoicing conditions
at that date, we find that the great
Gatun dam was completed; the con-
crete work in the locks and spillWay
was about 80 per cent completed. the
Culebra cut was approximately 96 per
cent completed; the relocated Panama
railroad was finished, and the work of
establishing permanent shipping facil-
titles at Balboa and Cristobal was un-
der way.
Owing to fresh slides in the Culebra
cut and to changes in plans in the Pa
cific division a new estimate of the to-
tai excavation for the completed canal
and accessory plant became necessary
at the beginning Of the last complete
year of canal construction. JAM 1, 1912,
to Dec. 30, 1913. The revised estimate
then placed the excavation at 21S,1
300 cubic yards, of which amount 202,-
901 900 cubic yards had been removed
at the end Of July, 1913, leaving to be
eXcavated for the completed canal 15,-
1926 94S cubic yards. The canal organi-.
cation cannot remove the uncompleted
portion before the first ship is sched-
uled to pass through the. canal in Oc-
tober. 1918, but of the amount left
moro than 100000 yards are to be ex-
cavated outside of the canal proper, or
in the sites for the coaling station.
drydocks and terminal at Balboa, so
that the actual canal channel substan-
TALLY will be finished before the pas
sage of the first ship.
During the early part of 1918 the
Gatun lake was stationary at about
fifty feet, but with the beginning of
the rainy season in May 1t began to,
rise and will be allowed to, rise to
eighty feet, and this would back the
water up by October, 1918, to depth
through the Culebra cut to permit the
passage of some kind Of ship. The
ultimate level Of the lake. will be
eighty-five feet.
Colonel Goethals is indeed a great
administrator. Even II, the employees
have had soft conditions Of employ
ment it is an achievement to impress
$4,000 men with a faith both in your
capacity as an engineer and your sense
of justice. This writer knows Of no
higher tribute that can be paid to him
than the statement that In five months
in the canal zone he never heard any
one speak slurringlyj Of the chief engi-
neer.
AS Admiral Schley said Of the con-
troversy over the battle Of Santiago,
''There is honor enough for us ALL" SO
with regard to the Panama canal.
Colonel Goethals. as the star of the
last six years. gets the curtain calls.
but Messrs. Stevens and Wallace, too,
did their parts well, And the whole
company of Americans. composing the
chorus or supernuneraries, have con-
tributed vitality to the success Of the
play. After all, it is no one man, but
the spirit of ,Americanism. indomitable
and triumphant, that we admire in
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