Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-14
in LATIN AMERICA
By GASTON NERVAL.

SIT UOllS curing november, 1873, ana NO
vember, 1880, Is mentioned, as a result
of a decrease Of nearly 10 ships in the
number Of vessels going through the
canal in the same periods Of time.
This will be newS-and surprising
news-for those who have been spread
ing alarming comments on the inability
Of the Panama Canal to support much
longer q trafflc increase which was said
to be extraordinary. This increase
in traffic was, in fact, the chief con-
tention OF advocates Of a new inter-
oceanic canal through Nicaraguan
territory.
They argued not long ago, in seek
ing the support of Congress, that the
Panama Canal would become made
quate within the next ten years, and
that traf1lc and world commerce needs
made imperative the construction by
the United States of the proposed Mic
araguan Canal. Their insiStence was
such that they secured the approval by
Congress of an appropriation bill for
$4,000 for the exploration work on
the Nicaraguan route. A special COM
mission of American engineers and ex-
perts Is at present working on the pos
sibilities and advantages of the Nicara-
guam canal.
In the meantime, the traffic decrease
recently reported by the Panama Canal
authorities brings up again the question
as to the canals capacity for present
and future world traflc and the adj
visibility of constructing a new canal
across Nicaragua. Is the Nicaraguan
canal really necessary? Is the Panama
Canal already inadequate for traflc, or
will it become useless in time?
OUT FOR A NEW CANAL.
AS all human problems do, this one
has two sides, and it IS interesting
to note how equally emphatic their
opponents are.
tisanS OF new canal, Senator Nc
Kellar OF Tennessee, declared some time
ago that the Panama Canal had not
sufficient capacity to take care Of the
needs Of interoceanic traffic as 1t will
be few years hence. He said; -Four
teen years ago the United States Gov
eminent completed the construction of
the Panama Canal. Already there are
signs that the canal is performing
very nearly all the work of which it
Is capable. II traffic through that canal
should increase during the next ten
years as 1t has during the past IA, BUSH
ness will be clogged and ships must
be turned away. within only a few
years. 1t is absolutely necessary that
there should be another canal dug, and
I believe that it should be dug across
Nicaragua
Senator Mcclellan introduced some
two years ago q bill authorizing the
building of the Nicaraguan> canal and
providing the funds for financing the
work. The bill is still in the hands
OF the committee to which 1t was re-
ferred, but a number Of CongresSmen
and newspaper writer's have since been
thinking that Senator Mcclellan was
right
According to the figures given out by
the advocates OF the Nicaraguan Canal,
the steamer traffic in the Panama
Canal has increased to an alarming de-
gree. In the IA years since 1t was
opened the annual total of transits has
increased from LOTS to 6,456, about 500
per cent. This means, they contend,
that in 10 years more the Panama
Canal viii be unable to keep pace with
the progress Of traflc and world trade.
The day will come, some one has said,
when ships will be packed in long lines
at the gates Of the Panama Canal, as
people are at the doors of moving pic
ture houses, awaiting their turn.
is TT GOOD BUSINESS?
The Panama press views the Situa-
ton differently. Congestion and excess
OF traffic in the Panama Canal do not
exist, according to the Panamanians
They declare that traffic through the
canal Is, in fact, increasing, but so
gradually that the increase will not
have become danger In even so years
from now. The largest daily average
has only reached 20 per cent Of the
total operating capacity Of the canal,
and this with only one set Of locks in
operation. Should traffic become con-
gested, they say, the proper thing to do
would be to add a new set OF locks to
the canal. This would permit a daily
average of 10 or rs ships; that is, an
approximate total of 1880 ships a
year, which they believe is far beyond
the figure the canal will have reached
in 10 years.
Commenting on the unlikelihood of
such tremendous increase in traf1c, one
OF the Latin American papers wonders
whence so many ships would come, and
adds: "The question arises as to
where they would come from and where
they would go and what they would
carry. Certainly not even the most
patriotic Of American shippers will build
ships and send them to Panama for the
mere pleasure OF paying tolls and hav-
ing them pass through the canal"
THE POLITICAL VIEWPOINT.
This problem Of interoceanic canals
Is not only of economic importance to
the United States but it Is also init
mately connected with certain political
aspects relating to the republics of
Latin America. Just as the constitute
ton of the Panama Canal marked the
beginning Of new era in the relations
of the United States with those repub-
lies, the building of another canal
through Nicaraguan territory would
doubtless in the future have great infiu-
eice upon those relations
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