The Coolidge examiner., 1937-07-08

Prepared by National Geographic Society
Washington. d. C.-WNU Service.
THE Suez canal, thought
Il by many laymen to be
British controlled, is the prop
erty of and is operated by the
Compagnie Universelle du
Canal Maritime de Suez, reg
istered as an Egyptian COM
pany under Egyptian law,
with it's main administrative
Offices in Paris. The presi-
dent is always French, as are
also 21 of its 80 directors and
its entire secretariat and
higher personnel. The gener-
al workers are a cesmopoli-
tan group.
The canal company does nothing
that it can get others TO do equally
we'll When hand labor gave way to
machine operation, various entire
preneurs were given the work OF
excavation and the majority Of the
digging was done by contractors.
Part of the west jetty. made up Of
cement blocks worth SOS apiece. was
built by contract.
The company had to construct a
fresh-water canal and filtering sta
tions in order to carry on its basic
work. But it leaves the delivery Of
the water to others. The personnel
has just three things to do: to keep
the canal open. to keep the ships
passing through. and to keep the
records
The maintenance of the canal and
its improvements is in the hands Of
the works department, whose Of
ficers are first class graduates from
the Ecole Polytechnique and the
Ecole Centrale in Paris.
Dentistry for Dredges.
One never knows how much equip
ment is required in the upkeep of a
canal until he accompanies a mem
Der of the works department
through the shops and around the
small harbor where the broken
toothed dredges come back to have
their dentistry done. 1t looks as
though every disabled or incorrigi-
BILE piece of wood or metal in that
part of the world were dumped
about.
Compared with the works depart
ment, the traffic department has a
nice clean job One sees no clutter
of papers, no bulky correspondence.
The principal officers are recruited
from the French navy.
There is, in addition to the watch
fulness Of captain and pilot, an eye
on every ship that goes through the
canal from the time she is sighted
in one sea until she>is turned loose
to shift for herself in the other.
The British post Office refused to
recognize the canal for two years.
TOO Slow" they said. Yet nothing
but an airplane has equalled the
speed actually attained between
Port Said and Port Tewfk on the
canal itself. The traffic department
has some little Thornycroft boats
which can make the trip in trifle
over two hours and a half.
The speed for steamers on the
canal is 6.21 miles an hour, but pi.
lots exceed the limit when side
winds prevent the ship from obey.
ing her rudder at a lower speed.
The canal is now l041z miles long,
jetties having added considerably tc
its length in recent years.
Guard Against Blasts.
During the transit of the canal
two pilots are used, each making
one-half the journey. They serve
only in an advisory capacity, though
many captain lets the pilot handle
the ship as though it were his own.
officers of the company unhesi.
tatingly sacrifice a single vessel to
the common good. A shipload OF
explosives was sunk near the Port
Said waterworks and cargo of ben
zine in the Commercial Basin. But
ships carrying dangerous cargoes
are being removed farther and far
ther from the main anchorages and
as careful a quarantine is kept
against spontaneous combustion as
against cholera.
OF the towns on the canal, only
one existed before De Lesseps be-
gan his work. Suez, then a mis-
cradle Arab village, is now a mis-
cradle Arab town. A few apartment
houses are rising on squares of salt
encrusted land which are filed in
to bring them up to the level of the
street. The Sweet Water canal
brightens things up and flowers,
fruits, and vegetables line its banks.
Clouds and the softer light that
comes with them give to monde
script Suez a beauty such as manY
greener, lovelier spot would envy.
The upper curve of the Red sea be-
comes purest emerald and beside
It the tawdry town seems carved
from silver and onyx. In the back