Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-04-16
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

|
| of the Panama Canal that the need of
| increasing facilities for crossing the
| Isthmus from ocean to ocean becomes
| live problem? How time sets rec
ords for flyers.
! How brief span it is since a young
| newspaper man. then living in Paris
| as cable correspondent of a syndicate
! of American dailies. headed by the
! New York Tribune and Boston Globe.
| experienced the thrill of his life when
| he was ushered into the palatial home
| of-was it Alexa nder the Great or Ju-
| lius Caesar. or what nabOb of his
| school history could it have been? 1t
was surely part Of his 'jografy les
SON.
| Yes--Count Ferdinand de Lesseps,
| the genius who. in 1870, had cut a
| canal across the Suez Peninsula
| himself present now in flesh and
| blood-tangible. human, like any or
binary man of today. Almost uncannE!
"Jografy". incarnate. Yet how gra-
cious and dignified was the octogena-
| rian as he talked and expressed his
absolute faith in the completion OF
his great project of cutting apart TWO
| other "Siamese-twin continents with
| his Panama Canal, just as ne had
separated Africa and Asia!
! It was a familiar and pretty sight
then. in Paris. when the aged count
rode horseback at the head of his
children and grandchildren, all upon
! their ponies of graded sizes. Perhaps
| they We're as many as two squads
| or at least a bakers dozen-and how
gayly they galloped down the Champs
| Elysees and out to the Bots de
| Boulogne. But now the great engi-
neer sat in his home and talked of
! his recent inspection of the Panama
| Canal, "even as you and T. might
| tell Of building Summer cottage.
| And yesterday, spurred by the re-
port that Panama's chief American
engineer. John F.. Stevens, had re-
! turned from Nicaragua and had had
| long interview with President Cool
| idge about the Nicaragua Canal prof.
ect, back came the incidents OF that
De ,Lesseps interview. and impelled
the interviewer to turn to the files or
| the New York Tribune to refresh his
memory. There indeed is the cabled
column-in it's place of supreme honor
first column Oh the first page,
March so, 1886.
The Panama Canal project had been
subjected to criticism, but it's back
ers had discounted all charges as the
calumnies of stock spectators. TO
support such defense Count de Les
years of age, had crossed the ocean
to inspect the work. and had return
ed, radiant with optimism.
~ * X Il
"Dfd you find that the work had
made as much progress, as You had
expected?" asked the interviewer.
tSvnc fhara nra YnNy from K non N
10000 workmen regularly employed.
The canal will be finished
in three years"
Have any unexpected difficulties
presented themselves"
''Nonefat all. Without modern ma
chinery, the work would be impossi-
BILE. = twenty years ago, the heaviest
dredge could move only 1000 cubic
meters of earth daily. We now have
dredges that regularly displace 1900
meters. and can reach 1000 If the
| ground is favorable Allowing for
possible stoppage of machinery
each dredge removing 5000 meters a
day. which is equal to the work of
5000 men with pick and spade. In
deed it is far better. In that climate,
workmen cannot displaee more than
ftwoa and one.haif. meters daily, bat All
excavation to 1.-The depth of three
meters daily must be, made to- float
dredges. and this excavation is done
by land eXcavators, .twhich"9both dig
and carry the earthS5O or so meters
,aWay.">, 81, q - 81 -. =
Blasting, were yaus Count de les.
seps, of your .."nloderh machinery"
with its average of 5000 meters a
day in making the dirt fly? Our
Theodore Roosevelt then was astride
OF Wild steers out in Dakota, but he
was Goming-coming some
Yesterday an official of the Panama
Canal Commisslon pointed to the
record of modern dredge Of 1926.
II was reported in the Weekly Canal
The new 15-yard dipper dredge.
CASCADES, excavated and loaded into
scoWs on that day, a total of 23.3O5
cubic yards of rock and earth. This
is believed to be the worlds record
for days work by any kind of
excavating machine in hard material.
Taking it's weight at 5000 pounds
to the cubic yard approximately 10
pounds to the cubic FOOT, the weight
of the material dug by the Cascades
was approximately $4,000 tons.
What is considered to be the
heaviest train ever hauled by one
locomotive, from Baltimore to Phila-
delphia, consisted of 55 cars and car
ried 4,102 tons. The output of the
Cascades or February Is weighed
more than the contents of eight such
trains
And ii was eight times what the
heaviest dredge known to Ferdinand
de Lesseps could accomplish.
II
Were the early. surveys well donec"
asked the interviewer
s'Yes.; OF course. there are slight
changes, but nothing important. The
principal change is not building locks
and levees, which were thought neces-
sary at first, owing to the difference
in the level of the Atlantic and Pacific,
which is so little that locks are not
needed. There will be a slight cur
rent through the canal, but not
enough to interfere with it's efficiency.
We shall save 30,000,000 francs on
locks and 5,000,000 on levees."
e }ssAVill the expense exceed your first
estimator"
. 1T will not. The entire cost will
not be over 81 million pounds sterling.
The Suez Canal cost 20 million
pounds and the Panama is 10 times
as difficult. It will be three times
as. much benefit to, the worlds COM
imerce as the SlIez." y -
i And so the Questions and answers
ran a long, long time, for the great
man was eager, to- tell of his world
remaking enterprise, while the news
gatherer was fascinated with the tell
ing. There was another auditor,
however, who did not appreciate
what 1t was all about. She looked
reproachfuLy at the caller and al
most frowned becau use he did not say
"adieu." Finally, the little one clam
bered up on the. arm of the chair