Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-04-25
THE PANAMA CANAL OPENS
: By FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.

was howl Of protest from the employees. many Of
whom kept a few chickens their premises They
loudly asserted antchcken proclamation was
violation of individual rights. The government
polite 1t issued long statement explaining
that above all fond of chickens and were
invariably found where chickens were kept 1t would
absurd to risk an epidemic of bubonc plague for
the sake of few eggs and broilers. So now the
chicken has disappeared finally and completely from
the canal zone.
Governor Goethas returned the United
States not long said that the defenses of the
canal made it safe from attack. With inter-
national complications arising both to east and to west
US. only hrst-class to defend both
coasts the safety of the Panama canal is most i'm
portant consideration. and harbor defenses
have long been considered very adequate. but army
officers have asserted that 1t far from impregna
BILE by land. More troops they declared to be
and troops have been pouring into the canal
in small attachments for nearly few weeks
ago squadron the Twelfth cavalry reached the
canal zone from Galveston They the first mounted
troops to be stationed canal The second bat
talon Of the Fourth field artillery followed them
garrison includes all of the three main
branches of the service and generally conceded to be
strong enough for its Owing to the nature of
the country and the strong defenses the taking
of the Panama canal by land would be difficult under
any circumstances. There however, stretches Of
open country reaching north and west from the
which invading army could advance with
rapidity. and troops are needed to guard these.
The canal has been restored working order
in better trim than before; but there is i'm
closed to traffic, all the expense of maintaining
great establishment the zone, well
dredging operations, has gone steadily forward For
the last fiscal year the Panama showed slight
profit its operations. During the first
of the fiscal year working order only
and one-half months, for that period the ex
cess of expenses tolls $245o00O That is the
bill which the American people must pay. many
private investment that promises large returns
canal keeps calling for the investment just little
capital ultimate financial success aside
from its strategic Importance, has been
by the who know its possibilities best When
the European is world commerce is re-
sumed, nothing prevent the great waterway from
developing tremendous earning capacity-nothng but
another slide. And the who lighting them
believe that they conquered last There may be
small movements, they admit, but the backbone Of
Culebra mountain, they assert, is broken.
The struggle with the treacherous mountain which
has finally restored the canal to usefulness has been
hardly spectacular than the first digging Of the
great ditch Day night months all the dredges
that into the cut have been laboring with
out a moments break The in charge have slept
with telephones at their elbows At any moment the
riven mountain might strike another of its mysterious
blows and undo the work Of weeks.
That is the heartbreaking part of the job. To the
men who work in the cut the mountain has become a
personality and diabolical that The
present possibility of sudden and overwhelming dis
couragement is harder than the work itself.
Least coveted of all graveyard watch" from
midnight until the morning. 1t Is very dark then
despe the brilliant tropical stars and there Is chill
IN tbe air The workers tell whether the slides
dredges Iaboring the night knowing that they
cannot afford to lose a moment. These workers are
triumphant They believe their labor. which has
been dozen times. is permanent at last