The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1915-12-23
Removal of About Ten Million
Cubic Yards of Dirt viii
End Slide
CAN'T SET FINAL OPENING
Nothing to Do Now but Carry Away
Earth as II Observation-Disclosures
Strata Not Strong Enough
to Withstand Pressure
of Banks.


sent a long report from Panama on
the recent slides in the big ditch. He
estimates that from seven to thirteen
million cubic yards Of earth will have
to be removed from the cut before the
slides are entirely stopped. He be-
lieves that the amount will really.
prove to be about ten million cubic
yards. 1t should not be inferred, how
ever, that the canal must be closed
for ten months, or until this large
amount is taken out. for 1t Is the in
tention to pass ships as soon as nav
igable channel is opened with a fair
prospect of maintaining it. He does
complished.
Canal Means Much Loss to Shipping.
While no figures are available at
the Washington Office of the Panama
canal or at the war department, show
ing the actual losses sustained by com
merce by reason of having large num-
bers of ships tied up at the Atlantic
and Pacific entrances to the canal. Of
ficials concede that the losses have
been enormous. There Is a feeling
however, that some shippers are in
clined to exaggerate their losses. Only
the shippers can give actual figures Of
their losses or even approximate them.
The loss to commerce would not
have been as great had the Panama
railroad been in position to move a
larger volume of traffic across the
isthmus. The inadequacy of the old
rail system to meet the situation can
be realized when 1t is known that at
the height of it's activity before the
opening of the canal 1t hauled a total
of 643,178 tons across the isthmus
in IL months. There were about 375,-
600 tons of cargo in vessels awaiting
passage through the canal after the
slides blockaded it and before any of
them left to take the longer routes.
Even If the Panama railroad had pre-
served all of it's rolling stock much Of
which went out of business when the
canal was thrown open to traffic a
year ago, it would have required
months to move the freight tied up at
the Atlantic and Pacific ports about
October /, to say nothing OF what has
arrived since.
Governor Goethals and the Panama
railroad authorities are doing every
thing possible to facilitate traffic
across the isthmus by rail, giving pref
erence to rush" and perishable COM
modities Between October and Oc-
tober Is the railroad moved upward
of forty-six thousand tons of through
freight transshipped from the Atlantic
and Pacific sides, in addition to the
usual volume of 10000 tons of local
freight.
Minimum Flat Rate by Rail-
Including coal shipments, the Pan
anna railroad is now handling between
four and five thousand tons of trans
isthmian freight per day. Two extra
freight crews have been put on. The
run across the isthmus is about 21a
hours. At the time the great slides
occurred the traffic through the canal
was averaging upward of sixteen thou
sand tons daily and gradually increas-
ing. While the railroads facilities
are wholly inadequate to handle the
entire traffic, 1t Is taking care of con-
siderable OF it,
To make the financial loss as light
as possible on shippers Secretary Of
War Garrison issued an order estab-
fishing temporarily fat rate rate by
rail of SO per ton. The regular rates
range from 81 per ton on Class COM
modities to $15 on Classes DE- and tt.
While only small volume of traffic
moves under the higher classes, the
fiat rate of SO per ton is exceptionally
low. Shippers can elect to pay the
regular schedule of rates, including
wharfage, craneage and stevedoring.
The fat rate of SO covers all of these
charges and just meets the actual cost
of the operation.
Discusses Earlier Slides.
General Goethals in the first part Of
his exhaustive report discusses the
causes of the earlier slides, the theo-
ries offered in explanation or them,
sand the steps taken to check the move
ment of the banks and bottom of the
ditch Then he comes to the slides
of October of last year and their
treatment. He says In part:
"Ships were passed through the ca
nal when channel of sufficient width
and depth was dredged through Cuca-
racha slide, and when there was every
reasonable hope OF maintaining 1t. In
this respect there was no subsequent
Disappointment and the dredges were
completing their work In this locality
when, on October IA. 1914. without
any warning, section Of the east bank
north of Gold hill settled vertically 20
feet. This section measured 1000 feet
along the prism face and extended
back about 1000 feet from the axis Of
the canal, generally along an irreeu-
lar curved line.