New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-25

Joke is not so much that the wall was built,
but that the embrssures in 1t face the
wrong way-that they open inward IN
stead Of outward.
Should you ask Zone officer his honest
opinion of this wall, he will probably as
sure you. guardedly, being AT all times
fearful that his words may get 10 Wash
ington, that the wall. like the clearings
around the locks, has "a certain defensive
value" That is what one officer told me-
He also admitted that sling-shot or
slippery elm club had "a certain defensive
value" although nothing to brag about.
Do not for a moment think that our
military men are ignorant Of the weak
nesses Of the Canal defences. They have
long since appreciated the truth and have
tried-are trying-to bring the defences
I'd TO date. But that is slow, expensive
work. and the fact remains that the Canal
is vulnerable to attack by land or sea, or
both, and that an enemy, without landing
a man or running any considerable risk TO
his ships, could in an hour undo all the
work that we have spent twelve years and
S4OO 100000 in doing. It will remain vul-
nerable to attack during the long years 1t
requires TO build new forts, and even then
its successful defence will not hinge upon
those forts. for let me repeat, without
ample mobile troops the guns already
mounted and to be mounted are, and VIII
continue TO be, not only a weakness but
also a positive danger. The fact OF
greatest Importance is that the present
garrison and the garrison contemplated
bv all existing plans is wofully deficient.
THE Greatest Strategic Prize in the World
In building the Panama Canal we not
only reaped a benefit by performing ser
vice TO mankind. but we assumed respon-
sibility in direct proportion to the value
Of that public service We must face that
responsibility regardless Of expense. dis
comfort or desire. The linking Of those
two oceans was one Of the few truly ire
mendous events which change the whole
current OF world history. No longer is
The Caribbean a lethargic sea trimmed 10
the north and east by ruined Islands, and
to the south and west by malarial repub-
lies. Il has awakened. it has been trans
formed by our hands into one OF the great
est ocean highways Of the globe.
"The results of this transformation !
quote recent admirable article, ARE
startling in their farreaching immensely.
The mighty currents of world trade which
have so long passed through the Mediter-
ranean will presently sweep through the
rew Mediterranean. The Panama Canal
will soon be the great sluice-gate for the
foaming tides Of East and West. But be-
cause Of this very fact, the sluice-gate
must be we'll buttressed and the hand of the
gatekeeper must be string. The Panama
Canal is the greatest single commercial
and strategic prize in the world 1t has
enormously increased our national respon-
sibilities in the very quarter where they
were already so great before
The truth Of those words is incontes-
table. Can we then, with the clangor of
Europe's cannon in our ears, afford TO heed
the pacifst patter, and continue to hold
this priceless treasure in nerveless
grasp? Can ~ dare TO put dependence
+ in our navy s.on<! Can we rest content
with reasonable" defensive measures,
which, translated, means one fort in place