The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-02-19
THE HAsKIN LITTER
Ships and Slides AT Panama.
TH d y
By Erederie ]. Haslsin.

Il g.
WHAT is the mute, with the Pam
ANA Canal?y Is q question that many
people are asking.
Although the great Isthmian water
way has been completed and ali prep
arations have been made to celebrate
its formal opening to the commerce; OF
the world, the date Of that ceremony
remains uncertain. as Governor Goe:
thals has told the president that d
postponement Of the opening date was
advisable.
| 1t would seem that to the average
American this formal opening means
the completion Of this great national
project aud the beginning OF its USE
fulness; hence, the postponement OF
the ceremony, together with newspa-
per reports Of Lore slides in Guile
bra Cut, has given rise to a good deal
OF speculation and query about com
ditions on the lsthlnus.
The best answer to this uncertainty
Is q statement Of the fact that the
ikroonland, steamer drawing thirty
feet OF water, passed Through the ca
nal q few days ago without the slight
est difficulty. This Is the largest yes
sci that has ever made use of the ca
nal, and there are few, IL any, veS-
sells upon the canal route having a
greater draft In q word, the PAN
anna Canal Is today able to accomo-
date practically ali Of the commerce
that comes to 1t.
Few persons in the United States
realize that since the secretary OF
war authorized the opening Of the
canal last August to all vessels not
drawing more than thirty feet Of wa
ter, hundreds Of vessels have made
use Of the new waterway. Chile and
Sweden have snapped nitrates and
tools, Philadelphia firms have shipped
petroleum to- Japan, and New York
has been getting fresh vegetables. from
California by way Of the new water
way. AS factor in the business Of
the world, the Panama Canal is an
accomplished fact. While the date
of its formal opening is uncertain, 1t
is now carrying goods and earning
tolls, and 1t may be expected to con-
tinue to do SO.
i A vessel that recently passed
through tho canal was The Rhodesia
from Danish and Swedish ports, car
\ rying from those countries 40 tons
of exhibits for the exposition at San
Francisco. Also bound for the cxpo-
sition was the old British prison ship
Success which was launched in
A i1T90 and has recently been touring
the world for exhibition purposes. She
passed through the canal few
Il weeks ago-a vessel built century
before the idea in breaking Culebra
was conceived.
The possibilities Of quick anl cheap
transportation between the coasts OF
the United States, via the Panama
Canal are being rapidly realized. on
January %, the steamer, Santa Clara,
passed through the canal on iler say
from California to New York, with q
cargo including 5000 cases of apples,
1000 cases of celery. 5000 900. feet OF
lumber and $50 tons of Ash.
The steamship, Capac, not long ago
passed through the canal with load
of nitrates and other ores from Chile,
bound for New York, having complete
Il ly circumnavigated South America. ON
her way south she left a cargo OF
goods from the United States at var-
ious ports on the east coast, sailed
around the horn, picked up u cargo
OF ores at Chile and returned 10 New
4 York by way Of the canal.
These examples. chosen from among
hundreds, show that the Panama Ca
!: nal is in working order and IS ac-
tnally doing business. It's formal cp,
ening is nothing more than cere-
mony. Its usefulness is already q
fact.
What about the slides, then? The
slides are also a fact, and an impor'-
tant one. Connecting two oceans
through q continental divide Is a
piece of impertinence on the part OF
man which Nature sttlbbornly resents
AT Panama she has shown her resent
ment by pouring her hills into his
ditch almost as fast as he can dig 1t
so that keeping the canal open in the
great Culebra Cut promises to be q
task Of indefinite length. Neverthe-
less, 1t is being kept open, and will
be kept open, with the possible eS.
ception Of short periods when tbs
slides work faster than the dredges
But no one can tell how fast the
slides Will move. That is why nei-
Their Governor Goethals, nor any 9th.
~ Hlau, can say poSltlvely tnat the
canal will be free OF them on any
given date
The battle with the slides has been
a long, discouraging one. 1t is this
feature that has soerly tried the tenn
per of the men who built tho canal
First they carefully calculated how
many cubic yards OF earth would have
to be removed before Cu,ebra Gu
was completed. The task was Hercu-
q lean, but apparently measurable. The
engineers agreed that when the sides
OF the canal were excavated to u GER
, tain angle they would cease to side
These movements were obviously
caused by the pressure Of the hills