Norwich bulletin., 1921-08-23
IN THE DAYS NEWS
Uncle sam's Gate to the Pacific.

AncAC Se4KH OztEe tO the EAElHc-
 The interchange of some of the Iargestl battieships in the American navy between the Atlantic and Pacific fleets through the Panama canal shows that the big water way is funetioning along the lines laid down for it when the United States un- dertook the task of constructing a seaway
 between the two Americas" says bull letin just issued from the Washington. D.
 C., headquarters of the National Geo.
 graphic society,
 When the work of building the canal
 was undertaken" the bulletin continues,
 mo one dreamed what a tremendous
 amount of material would have to be
 moved to make it 8 usableN waterway such as it is today.
 At that time it was figured that the total excavations for the canal proper would be 101 .0o0 900 cubic yards. But by reason of enlargements and slides the task continued to grow until approxi- mateiy quarter of a billion cubic yards of material had to be removed. The rail
 distance from Union station, Washing ton. D C., to the Pennsylvania Terminal, New York, is approximately 22S miles. Imagine instead of the roadbed a canal with certieal banks, 45 feet deep and 124 feet wide-deeD and wide enough to ac- eommodate the biggest ship that floats. and connecting the nations metropolis with the coHntry's capital-and you will have a picture of the amount of material 1 that had to be removed to make the great { isthlnian highway a completed project "NoF does this remarkable comparisca 1 include either the excavations by the French in the canal nor those of the Americans for the auxiliary port works, enough to widen the imaginary Washing | ton-New York shipway to 154 feet On the bottom of this ditch could be laid Il standard American railway tracks.
 One can get another picture of the 1 immensity of the task by refecting on the ] fact that the total spoils which had to be i removed to unite the seas, divide the con- 1 tinents. and shorten the sea lanes of the l world at Panama were equal in volume to 100 pyramids of the dinensions of lCheeps, two such pyramids for every mile of the big waterway from deep water in l the At1antic to deep wafer in the Pacific. \ '7The saving effected by ships using 1 the canal has mere than Justified the 1 hopes of the government in undertaking ] it's construction In pre-waF days the cost of maintaining freighter in com mission was approximately 10 cents per net registered ton per day. Thus, a 1e.- 00D ton steamship cost for maintenance l about s1 900 a day It's average speed i WAS dIUALu G9p A1totc a udys OH tHe trip from New York to San Francisco there is a saving of sa days. With such Ia ship, this extra distance would cost, on fhe basis of pre-war prices. sSs ,eoo. On the basis of present prices it would cost about $50. .eoe. The vessel. by using the canal in Dre-war days, paying s1.2o Der net registered ton, or s12,Oeo, saved it's owners or ehaFteFers s21,0o0. On the basis of present day prices the saving amounts to nearly S40, ,ees. If. as is now planned, the eoastwise shipping using the canal is exempted from the payment of tolls, 10000 ton steamer win save $I2,- 900 every time it passes through the canal in tolls and at least s3S. 900 in dis- tance eliminated.
 While it looks rati | high te think of 15,z5s ton ship lizae the Orga paying $ls-s9o fer an eisEE heur trtp shrongh the