The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-20
PANAMA CANAL
 PROVES VALUE ] IN TEN YEARS
Rapid Increase Of Traffic
 Starts Talk Of New
 Waterway .x


 twentieth anniversary of the taking over of the Canal Zone by the American gov ernment. On August 15 they will cele- .brate the tenth anniversary of the off cial opening of the canal to traffic, writes R. l.. Duffus, in the New York Times. The two decades sum up what is uerhaps the most remarkable engi- neering achievement of modern times. They noint the way, in the opinion of | many engineers. to still more stupendous { developments in traffic and traffic ways between the esAtlantic and Pacific oceans. In fact. engineers believe that new or enlarged waterway will become a necessity not many years hence.
 The history of the canal as a factor in international commerce began with ! the passage of the steamship Ancon, r carrying officials and notable person i ages," as newspaper dispatches of the time related, on August 15, 1914. A w0rld at war made the future problem atical. Yet in the decade that has passed the new "water bridge" has be- come arS essential factor in the worlds water-borne commerce and has more than realized the hopes of it's builders. The Ancon was the first of more than 25,O0O ships that will have passed through before the tenth anniversary date. The canal now serves more than one-quarter of the worlds active ship ping. :.
 An outline of the main lines of trade passing through the canal will give some idea of its far-reachipg importance. First comes the trade between the two coasts of the United States. This amounted, during the first quarter pf 1924, to 696, ,766 cargo tons, or about one-third of the total traffic. From the Pacific coast come lumber, canned goods, fuel oil, metals and fresh and dried fruits. Of these cargoes by far the most important is the oil Indeed, one-third of the total tolls now levied z is on tankers carrying oil from the Cal ifornia fields to the eastern coast of the United States, as well as to foreign ports, and much of the immediate fu- ture of the canal depends upon the duration of the flow in the California wells and the possible discovery of other sources of supply.
 Other Important Traffic Lanes
 Traffic from the east to the west coast consists large of cargoes of iron, steel, coal, sulphur and miscellaneous manufactured articles, and IS smaller in quantity. The oil tankers almost without exception go west in ballast.
 Next comes traffic to and from the Far East. WeStbound vessels Tn thls trade generally carry oils, iron, steel, railway materials, machinery, raw cot ton and similar goods. If the vesseis return by the Panama route, as not all of sem do. they carry sugar. rlce. tea rubber. copra and other tropical proas uets. During the first quarter Of lS14 this trade between the United states alone and the Far East amounted 70 436,630 cargo tons. ...
 Another important stream of fraflle is that between the west coast or the United States aud European ports. Here the exports are wheat, barley. flour' Humber, oil and canned goods, while the imports, much less in bulk, are iron, coal. glassware and small manufae- ttired articles.
 From the west coast of South. Amer ica to Europe, go cargoes of nltrates' barley, raw cotton, cottonseed meal, conner. sugar and nuts in exchange for coal. coke, iron, steel, textiles, olive oil md manufactured articles.
 From the eastern coast Of the Unlteu States to the western coast or ooutn America go coal, iron, steel, cement and manufactured goods, which are ex- changed for nitrates, copper, certain kinds of iron and iron ores, cocoa, col fee and nuts.
 Australia buys American coal, iron, steel, machinery, railway materials, tex tiles. etc, and. sends back through the canal wheat, wool, copra, phosphates and cold-storage food products. =.
 Other lines Of trade are between the west coast of Canada and Europe, the west coast of Canada and the eastern coast of the United States, and the eastern coast of Mexico and the west ern coast of South Ameriea-the last consisting entirely of fuel oil. The widespread origin of these different lines of traffic tends to stabilize the canals business, for while commerce de clines in one quarter of the globe 1t may be increasing in another where con ditious are different. Thus Americas ;ntercoastaI trade fell off a little dur ing the early months of the present wear as compared with those of last year, but the trade with the Far East increased somewhat.
 Statistics which give bifdseye view of the development of such an enter prise can hardly be considered dry. Here is the story of the canal, told in A table published in The Canal Record, fine official juornal of the Canal. Zone:
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