The Washington times., 1915-10-13

u " n TACT we'll enough knoWn III "hSh-
ington. that General Goethals manage
ment OF some aspects OF the canal con-
struction has not made great hit
| either with scientific folk or with prac-
! tical statesmen.
More than once the chief engineer Of
| the canal has been subjected to close
questioning by committees of Congress,
| because Of persistent reports that there
were differences between himself and
his subordinates. and that the subordi- |
mates could not get their claims and |,
contentious duly considered General
| Goethals was commonly referred to In |
the eulogstic press as the "czsr Of the
zone" the responsibility for everything |
was generously heaped upon him when
the canal was supposed to be COM !
plete success.
Now there Is widespread disposition
among people who have given uncon-
sldered advice. and among others who
have been subordinates with the feeling
that they were not getting their share
OF credit. to open up the whole
back to the Canal zone and withdrswn
his resignation Hs governor. In order
TO take not only charge but full respon-
sibility for conditions. He has acted the
real soldier from beginning TO end. and
whatever happens there IL small-chance
that the outcome will he to his serious
or permanent disadvantage.
Problem OF the Slides.
Rut that's another story. At present
the other side is getting its airing; and
things not heretofore regarded as prop
er material for -parlor conversations in
canal connections are being talked
about
before the canal was nair finished the
problem OF the slides at Culebra had
become the real uncertainty. There
u nepnla talked
= learnedly about the dam that was to
: hold back the waters. OF Gatun Lake:
, hut that was solved without much dif-
hculty The event proved that there
had never been any real problem OF the
Z dam. save IN the imaginations of tho
people who were looking for trouble.
;. IL they had turned their attention
n toward Culebra they might have
{ found 1t.
;. The problem Of Culenra has been a
~ JOINT debate. for long time. between
" the engineers and the geologists. A
s. long time ago geological authority tried
3 to convince the engineers that they
% were altogether wrong. General Goe-
thals was told that the right way 10
" the land alongside the canal in this
n section. keep the rain from seep,ng into
y the soil. bore wells and pump out the
I. water already in the earth. and give
the soil n chance to dry out.
!. Advice Given Goethals.
,fl II was suggested that he ought frs
" to cut away a S-eat share of the weight
n OF the hills along the cut. and ther
n 10 roof over the remaining mass with
IA an asphalt surface that would preven
IA any more rain water being absorbed
N into the earth TO keep 1t slippery ant
m ready to slide into the ditch becaus
OF It's own weight. That advice wa
regarded at the time as rather ludl
crous. Now It Is beginning to be takel
seriously: and there Is inquiry as 4
why 1t could not command attention
q earlier.
hearing insisted that. while the char
ID acter and stratification of the forma
" tons at Culebra favored slides. tn
A. real cause OF the trouble was the sur
-. face absorption of rain. The huge pre-
III cipltation that in certain seasons take
H. place on the zone may be judged fror
mt the fact that reports have shown rain
he fall as high as four inches in an houi
"i q, dry rock and soil would not slide, b,l
iii that when water In such huge quaint
I'll ties was mixed with IT. slides wer
.ic inevitable. They showed by wide ,es
gorges are often found or mad,
er through beds of soft consolidated set
ro iments. salcareous sands. clays, vo
co canic ashes and the like. where. III
he of feet high and near vertical. stan
m for great lengths of tine. The instanC
n Of the railroad and street cuts
~ the silt formations along the Nilsson
ID river have been cited. These will cay
~ in when they are continuously wet:
the dry regions they stand indefinitel
Conclusion OF the Matter.
, The rainfall at Panama is heavy, ar
n the sofe permeable formation of y
hills IS always more or less saturatt
with water This water softens ar
II" disintegrates the rock and soil formi
'H tions, destroys the cementing mate
me ials, and wrecks the cohesion OF Il
'as mass. 1t adds weight to the soil al
he rock materials. and gives the attra
iy. ton OF gravitation better grip,
ON to say. Then, too, clay and other III
d.. sediments are mixable with water
OF uct Is plain mud, which will flow at
the very slight slope. as low as l to II
cy, Imperylous and dry rocks are stahl
is but In general, the geological diCtu
the is that the rock foundations at Cule
ra are pervious, and that their mObili
Is about proport'on TO their wat
content. CLAY with enough water b
comes a lubricant: and at Panama Il
strata are so arranged. and the wat
rs supply so largo, that everything ten
to produce the slides.
The conclusion OF the whole matte
IH nth the geological authority that pr
IA dicted the present slides. was that {
as- region adjacent to tho canal ought
ool be stripped on. surfaced. and cover
insI over WIN macad'm and asph'
vi cover that would enable 1t. exactly II
IN n city street, to turn on the water.
the wns never calculated in detail hc
ION much area would have required to
adj thus in-proofcd One computation
to dicated that v a section 5000 feet