Evening star., 1918-06-30
By CHARLES M. PEPPER,

tends to reality a8 one OF the
consequences Of the great
q war. The Gibraltar tunnel 10
the latest Of these to receive atten-
ton az q feasible proposition. It is
the coroI1ary of the tunnel under
the English channel. It means In
the future, not so Tar away. the pos
sibility of q through rail Journey
from London to Cairo. and then on
to Cape Town by rail and river and
lake links
The tunnel under the English cham
mel VIII be buflt. That Is ono thing
that the war has made sure. The
fear Of British politicians, which held
the project back before the entente
cordtale with France, was sealed by
the blood Of the two peoples. disap-
peared overnight. The only question
that remained was regarding the en-
gineering problema
-
When Mr.. McAdoo, after building
the tunnel under the Hudson. went 70
England on Q vacation trip he told
the London newspapers that a. IN
engineering proposition the channel
was no more difficult than the Hud-
son. 1t IL not unlikely that he was
ready to. undertake the enterprise
had British statesmen and British
capital proved sympathetic. Now
that the conditions have changed. 1t
is presumed that the engineering de.
tails have been thoroughly studied
and the end of the war. IL not sooner.
will see the British and French gov
actual construction. The channel
tunnel means the first link in the
through rail connection between Eng
land and Africa
The Gibraltar project now comes to
the front through the action OF
attention to 1t. apparently with the
acquiescence Of the French govern
ment. An outline has been submitted
by M. Henri Bressler. This is based
very largely on the plan proposed
many years ago by another French
drew up q very definite scheme His
project was pronounced visionary. but
IL received respectful attention OF
engineers.
The proposed tunnel under the
Straits Of Gibraltar provides Tor .
total length of twenty-five ktlometers,
or about sixteen miles. The water Is
very deep In some places, but 1t Is
believed that in the deepest undersea
section It would not be necessary to
go more than 2,600 feet That Ii
half a mile. and the ordinary observer
is apt to hold his breath when ne
talks of boring . hole at . depth OF
half a mile under the sea, but en-
gineers look at it in q very practical
way.
International political considera-
tions enter very largely into the prof.
ect. in particular as relates TO the ter
minals or points of departure. Gi-
braltar proper is British territory, and
that might be looked upon as settling
where the European terminal should
be. But the fort has very limited
area, and Is not the most feasible
point for a tunnel terminal
Spanish territory offers the real ad-
vantage. and since the whole project
would involve the cooperation Of
Spain II IL doubtful whether any at
tempt would be made to carry 1t out
until the tunnel terminal in Spain had
been arranged. Tarifa is the most
promising point of departure on the
Spanish side of the straits. Tarifa Is
where the Barbary powers used to
levy tribute on commerce, and 1t is
from this place that the word tar
In" comes. Political orators Of the
Iree-IGade SCnOOt usually MAKE y
point of this. as any one can deter
mine who reads the speeches when a
campaign Is in progress. But that
has nothing to do with the engineer
ing and commercial advantages of
Tarifa as tunnel terminal
spain's interest in the project would
be both political and commercial Po-
litically. she would be the ally Of
France and England, and would be-
come even more than in the past a
bulwark against Germany. Her trade
with Morocco would benefit and she
would enjoy the benefit Of a large
transit commerce. The railways Of
Spain and France are of different
gauges. and as an economic measure
It would be desirable to readjust the
gauges of the Spanish railways, but
that already has been given consid-
GRAFTON in the discussion of the gen.
eral commerce of the two countries.
1t has been given some encourage
ment also by the Spanish govern
ment.
Spain would not be called on to fur
nish the capital. That would be pro-
vided for by the French capitalists,
who would probably be able to finance
II purely as a business proposition
Without direct aid from their govern