Panama Canal Should Be
‘"Ready Within Ten years
_ .a . ■ a ■ - - a; a • •
*.«nqxrt xau..Kp
PROFILE PLAN ^WOWING LOCATION OF LOCK£
comaie win oe rnemost seriouson
staele in the work of constructing the
Panama canal,” said Mr. Alfred Noble,
a member of the Panama commission,
to a reporter for the Herald. “The
canal commission in its summary of
the difficulties estimated the climate
as carefully as it did the cost of con
struction.
"Personally, I believe that the meth
ods adopted at Santiago and Havana
applied to Colon and Panama will
transform these pest holes into com
paratively healthy cities.
“You know, the dean of the medical
faculty at Panama divides the seasons
into the wet period from April 15 to
December 15, when persons die of yel
low fever in from four to five days,
and the dry season from December
15 to April 15, when people die of per
i ne present company, nowever, cut
a small strip directly through the
high ridge, and, at intervals, sank
shafts to the depth of the ultimate cut.
They lowered us 120 feet down those
shafts in a bucket, on a Windlass.
“It wasn't a pleasarL experience, but
it gave us an opportunity to report on
the actual quality of soil to be taken
out of this most difficult of cuts. This
was of great value to us, and, had. in
directly, not a little influence upon the
negotiations in Congress.
“The other big engineering problem
Is the River Chagres, which rises to
great heights during freshets, and dis
charges as much water sometimes as
the whole Lake Superior basin. An
artificial lake, some distance from
the canal is to take the overflow.”
When asked whether the French
DIAGRAM SHOWING^
WORK. DOME AT 5UMMTT
EY PRESENT FJREMCH
COMPANY
a *
V PORTION-"
( EXCAVATED AT
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nicious fever in from twenty-six to
thirty-six hours.
“The tropics and filth form a com
bination that only modern science and
Anglo-Saxon energy can hope to con
quer, and they will conquer. You must
remember that the United States will
have what the French never had. ab
solute police authority from ocean to
ocean. The example of Santiago is
before us.’’
“Do you think any engineering dif
ficulty can upset the present plans?”
was asked.
“No, the canal is perfectly feasible,”
answered the distinguished engineer.
‘ It should be open to commerce in ten
years with the aid or modern machin
ery and from 30,000 to 40,000 men.”
“Where are these men to come
from?” was asked.
“Principally from Jamaica. The un
skilled laborers must necessarily be
negroes, and the negroes of Jamaica
and other British West Indian colo
nies are infinitely superior to those of
the other islands.
“The blacks of Santo Domingo, for
instance, are practically worthless.
Loafing is a part of their religion. Ja
maican negroes are almost immune
from yellow fever, and engineers who
built the Jamaica railway extension in
1896 tell me they are good workmen—
that is, comparatively speaking, of
course. ,
“Yes, forty thousand men may be
more than this labor market can fur
nish. but in any case I do not believe
American negroes should be employed.
The number of men needed will de
pend on the amount of machinery.
Owing to the climate. I imagine ma
chine will replace hand work wher
ever possible, even with the cheapest
labor. I should say in any event thirty
thousand would be the minimum."
Mr. Noble thought the American
staff in round numbers would comprise
five hundred men. The machinery
will undoubtedly be American.
“In handling material.” continued
Mr. Noble, “I think Americans are
first. The Chicago drainage canal is
the most perfect example of canal en
gineering that has been done up to the
present time.
•The French have passed us an in
tunnel work near tne surface, as
shown in the new Orleans terminal
anil Metropolitan underground railway
in Paris. The English have develop
ed to Its highest point the art of tun
neling under water.”
Mr. Noble credits the French Pana
ma company, organized in 1894, to
take over the De Lesseps wreck, and,
if possible, to save something out of
it, with good judgment and excellent
work.
"We only had twelve or thirteen mil
lions capital, and instead of spending
this in carrying on the De Lesseps’
plan, dug a triangular strip of the pro j
posed excavation straight through the |
summit at Culebra. Not only will the
actual work done be used in the final j
construction, but the company thereby
could give the most practical answer
possible to Panama critics.
"It had long been said. In fact en
gineers insisted upon it at the first De
Lesseps congress, in 1879. that the cut
through the mountain was an insur
mountable obstacle. The ground was
thought to be extremely hard to exca
vate in some places, in others of soft
clay, sand and water that cou!d no',
be held.
company's machinery was still service
able, Mr. Noble replied that excellent
care had been taken of it; at least, he
always founu fresh paint on It. ' At
best, however, it would be of little
value. American machinery twenty
years old is almost worthless to-da.v,
so radical have been the improve
ments.
“Does any one still cling to the idea
of a canal without locks?” was asked.
“There must be locks to provide for
the twenty-foot range of tide at Pa
nama." said the commissioner, “but it
is possible to construct a canal with
out any other locks. Such a canal
would unquestionably be a great bene
fit to shipping, but its cost would be
enormous and it would take twice as
long to build.”
Mr. Noble is a firm believer in the
commercial future of canals. Refer
ring to the report of the “Soo” canal
for the year, which he had just receiv
ed. ho remarked that the United
States is paid back every year in the
increase of trade the amount origi
nally invested in this canal.
“1 do not agree,” he said, “with the
Australian postmaster-general in say
commissioners to revive tlie ancient
custom of ringing the curfew nightly.
At Antrim, as at a great many other
towns in Ulster, the curfew was in
former generations rung regularly;
but the practice, like that associated
with the tnaypole, has gradually died
out until now the places waere It still
lingers are few and far between. The
action of the commissioners is baaed
on purely sentimental grounds. They
have simply revived an old custom be
cause the people like to hear the bell
and are willing to pay for the privil
ege, as is indicated by the fact that a
sum of money to pay all expenses has
bfien handed over to the vestry of the
parish church.
Thinks All Are Too Well Paid.
Among officeholders In Washington
Comptroller Tracewell of the treasury
Is regarded as a most extraordinary
person. Mr. Traeewell’s salary is $5.
500, and he thinks he is overpaid.
Worse than entertaining such a heter
odox opinion, however, is the fact that
he has not hesitated to give expres
sion thereto. During the recent ses
sion of congress he was giving a sub
committee some information regard
ing his office. The chairman compli
mented him by saying: "You are the
first man government officer who has
appeared before us who did not ask
for an increase of salary.” Tracewell
replied bluntly: ‘ I'm getting a blank
sight too much now.” In private con
versation later he said: ‘Considering
the hours of their labor and their re
sponsibilities government employes
arc paid more than any other class of
men in the world.” All of which is
regarded in bureaucratic circles as
little short of revolutionary.
She's Pretty, but He's Strong.
Jenkins owns a house in a Brooklyn
suburb. It is now for sale, and his
tenant, or, rather, his tenant's pretty
wife, has had a number of callers who
wanted to look over the property, says
the Now' York Press. The other day
Jenkins received a letter of complaint
from his tenant, of which this is a
copy:
“Dear Sir—I have a complaint to
make about the man who come out
here to look at your house. Most of
them think it necessary to tell my
wife how pretty she is while t’.iey are
looking over the property. I want to
warn you that some of these days I
am going to take a day off from my
work and then if any of those men
want to tell my wife that she is pret
ty I will be around to show them her
husband is pretty strong.''
Count Cassini Will Return.
As soon as it was announced that
Count Cassini, the Russian ambassa
dor. intended to sail for Europe about
the middle of May, a rumor became
current that he would not return. This
is now said to lie without foundation.
The count is conceded to be the clev
erest diplomat in Washington and the
star member of the Russian corps.
MAP SHOWING ROUTE OP PARANA CAIRAL
ing that the Panama canal will reduce
the Australian trade through the Suez.
“Most of the Anglo-Australian ship
ping will continue by the old route, tie
cause there is little difference in the
length, and there Is always the short
cut for passengers and mail via Brin
disi. But this does not mean that the
Panama canal will not have a great
share of the world’s shipping."—New
York Herald.
Reviving the Curfew.
The people of Antrim have hailed
with delight the decision of the town
I As he is now dean of the diplomatic
! s§t in Washington—a position of much
importance in European eyes—it is
not regarded as likely that the shrewd
Russians will care to relinquish tho
advantage which this gives them.
Sentiment from Plato.
Wisdom is the true and unalloyed
coin, for which we ought to exchange
all things: for this, and with this,
everything is in reality bought and
sold—fortitude, temperance and jus
tice: and. in a word, true virtue sub
slsts with wisdom.—Plato.
GERMANY LEADS OFF
PREPARING TO RESIST AMERI
CAN TRADE DISCRIMINATION.
When the United States Shall Have
Granted Special Trade Privileges
to Competing Nations Germany
Will be Ready to Enforce Measures
of Retaliation.
Direct and unmistakable confirma
tion of the prediction of trouble with
European countries as the outcome of
the consummation of the proposed
preferential trade arrangement be
tween the United States and Cuba is
at hand in the shape of a Berlin
cablegram to the New York Herald
dated March 14, 1903. The danger,
indeed, the certainty of arousing
Jealousy, resentment and retaliatory
action as a consequence of entering
upon the policy of reciprocity in com
petitive products has been [stinted
out by Andrew Carnegie in his terse
statement that for every friend made
by such a policy we shall make sev
eral enemies. The American Econo
mist lias persistently urged a simi
lar view as to the disadvantages of
such reciprocity wholly outside of the
question of its sacrifice of the princi
ple of fair and equal protection to
American labor and industry. This
I>aper has expressly indicated Ger
many as one of the countries certain
to take umbrage at the monopoliza
tion alike of the Cuban market for
American products and of the Ameri
can market for Cuban sugar. It is
well known that among high officials
committed to the Cuban treaty this
aspect of the case has been regarded
with some misgivings, but that it had
been decided to jam the treaty
through and let ultimate develop
ments take care of themselves. How
well founded these apprehensions
have been may be discovered from
the Berlin cablegram.
"Berlin, March 14, 1903.—Germany,
as soon as the reciprocity treaty be
tween Cuba anil the Uniteil States is
ratified, will ask both the Cuban anil
United States governments for iden
tical privileges. It is perceived that
German trailers will be placed at a
disadvantage and the specialists in the
foreign office who manage Germany's
cases in the negotiations for
new commercial treaties, have
talked over the Cuban treaty with
already the stare department has
tieen advised by our foreign represen
tatives of the displeasure with which
the reciprocity program as laid out up
to date has been received in European
cabinets. Would it not be well for the
Senators to ask for information and
call for correspondence along this
line? It would seem that the Senate
ought to be in possession of such vital
information before taking final action
on any reciprocity treaty whatever.—*
American Economist.
First Fruits.
The alleged course of the beet
sugar manufacturers makes the con
test a straight issue between the con
solidated sugar trust on the one hand
and the cane sugar producers of the
South and the sugar beet producers
of the North on the other hand. It
may be quite as well that it should
come in chat way. What the deal
means is, as we showed recently, a
straight reduction to begin with of
50 cents a ton on *ugar beets. This
reduction the sugar makers are pro
posing in all the states in their con
tracts for next year. It is the first
fruits of fake reciprocity. As in all
similar cases the farmer is the vic
tim. His is the one interest which
does not maintain a lobby at Wash
ington. His is the one interest wnlch
politicians extol and glorify when
running for office, and which they
sacrifice without mercy or delay when
elected. The question is now square
ly up to the President and Senate.
Will they or will they not repudiate
and violate the pledges the Repub
lican party to the American farmer?
If they do. the American farmer is a
fool if he ever trusts then again. But
the Senators from the s"f>r produc
ing states will be expected to stand
together and Insist that this Cuban
conspiracy shall not succeed.—San
Francisco Chronicle.
What Causes Prosperity.
Republican policy has not caused
the rain or sunshine, hut it has sup
plied and protected the market open
to the things the rain and the sun
shine have brought forth. Nature has
given the land, and with all its latent
possibilities, but the land would he
going to waste if there were no marts
for that it yields. Industry has been
stimulated from the certainty that its
efforts would not lie for naught. A
glance hack at the awful times of the
early nineties will recall to mind that,
then the acres were as fruitful, and
Chaaing the Phantom of Foreign Trade
*\ywj
representatives of the embassies of
the Continental powers, with the re
sult that intimations have been made
that other governments intend also
to request the same treatment.
“While annoyed at the prospect of
the United States' trade having a
lower taii IT in Cuba than that of Ger
many. no one supposes that even a
collective piotest on the part of the
Continental countries would cause
either the United States or Cuba to
recede. Germany's position, however,
is to be defined clearly, so that the
United States may not complain when
Germany gives other nations preferen
tial treatment.
“The principle which the German
Foreign Office lays down in entering
upon the new commercial treaties cor
respondence is 'give and take.’ The
‘most favored nation’ theory is really
abandoned. Special conventions are
to be drawn up to fit different situa
tions. This principle seems to be ac
cepted by Russia, Austria and Italy,
and the trade policies are to rest upon
the reciprocity idea.
“What is the subject of some con
cern here is that, should the Cuban
treaty be* accepted and found to work
well, similar treaties may be arranged
by the United States with Mexico,
Brazil and Argentina, ultimately re
sulting in the United States obtaining
a monopoly of all the South and Cen
tral American markets.”
It need not be urged that Germany
will not act alone in taking the course
indicated in the above report. It is
a matter of course that she will read
ily find sympathetic and substantial
co-operation in measures calculated
to resist the trade monopolizing pro
gram of the United States. We shall
find on our part, and very likely to
our discomfort, that preferential tariff
tinkering is a game that more than
two can play at, and that unless we
are prepared to extend to practically
the wholeearth favors and preferences
which we are proposicg to extend to
Cuba alone, we are kindling a blaze
that in time may make things very
hot for us. It looks as though reci
procity In competitive products might
In the long run prove a destroyer
rather than a builder up of foreign
trade.
It la more than suspected that
i
the hand of toil as calloused by hon
est endeavor. There was the rain
and the sunshine. Harvest followed
seed time. Yet the looms were silent
because none had the means to pur
chase. To gather the crops was fu
tile, for none would buy. The coun
try was poor because of the artificial
and unwholesome financial atmos
phere, and this ntmosphere was the
expression of Democratic faith put
into works.—Tacoma Ledger.
Duty on Coal.
The coal duty is the very oldest of
| the protective measures on the stat
ute books of this country. The origi
nal tariff act of 1789 imposed a duty
upon coal of every kind and quality,
and there has never been a time until
now when bituminous coal entered the
country free of duty.. The need for
protection In the East and Middle
West has long gone by, so there was
not a coal operator in any of the sec
tions now suffering from the coal
shortage who interposed the slightest
objection to the repeal of a duty which
was meaningless to him. The tariff
did protect an Industry in the state
of Washington. Its removal is a
heavy blow to this state, and the worst
of it—the really irritating point—Is
that the action of Congress will be
absolutely without any benefit to the
coal consumers in whose Interests it
was ostensibly taken.—Seattle Post
Intelligencer.
More and Less.
From the Montreal correspondence
of the New York Journal of Commerce
it appears that a movement for tariff
revision Is on foot in Canada. In
this case, however, it is proposed
that as a means of enhancing pros
perity the tariff shall be revised up
ward. South of the border St is pro
posed to revise the tariff downward,
because we are too prosperous! Can
ada suffers from too much potential
competition, while, according to Gov.
Cummins and others of his way of
thinking, the United States suffers
from too little of the same. So there
yon are. Canada wants to grow rich
er by doing more of her own work,
while some people seem to \vant the
United States to grow poorer by do
ing les3 of It.
SECURE A FREE HOME
In the Fertile Wheat Fields of
Western Canada.
To the Editor: The emigration of
well-to-do farmers from the United
States to the Canadian Northwest has
assumed such proportions that organ
ized efforts are now being made by
interested persons and corporations to
stem the tide. The efforts are being
initiated chiefly by railway and real
estate interests in the states from
which the bulk of the emigration takes
place. The movement of population
has taken from numerous states thou
sands of persons whose presence
along railways in these states made
business for the transportation com
panies. The movement has also be
j come so widely known that it has pre
vented the settlement of vacant lands
along these lines, parties who might
have located there being attracted to
the free and more fertile lands of Can
ada. The result of the movement has
been that the railway companies not
only see the vacant lands along their
lines remain vacant, but they also see
hundreds of substantial farmers who
have helped provide business for these
railways move away and so cease their
contributions. The farmers have
moved to Canada because they were
convinced that it would be to their
financial interest to do so. In moving
they have been Inconsiderate enough
to place their own financial interests
before those of the financial interests
of the railway corporations.
In addition to the railway corpora
tions, real estate dealers are working
to stem the flow of emigrants. Of
course every emigrant who goes to
Cauada means tho loss of commissions
on land deals by real estate dealers.
Now a person has but to know what
the interests are that are trying to
stop the flow to know what motive is
Influencing their course. The emigra
tion means financial loss to railway
corporations and to real estate men.
These interests therefore are not di
recting their opposition efforts out of
any love for the departing emigrants
or out of any high patriotic motives
either. They are doing so purely from
selfish interests. It is a matter of dol
lars and cents with them. They are so
patriotic, they are so consumed by
love for their fellow-citizens, that they
want to prevent these fellow-citizens
going to Canada and getting free
farms of the best wheat land in the
world, and instead they want to make
them stay on high-priced farms in the
United States, where they will con
tinue to pour money into the pockets
of these railways and real estate men.
One of the methods employed by
these interests to stem the tide is the
distribution of matter to newspapers,
painting Canada in the darkest colors.
These articles emanate chiefly from a
bureau in St. Louis. They are sent
out at frequent Intervals for simul
taneous publication. A writer is em
j ployed at a high salary to prepare the
matter.
Moreover, statements absolutely at
variance with the truth have lately
been published broadcast. These ap
pear chiefly In what purport to be let
ters from persons who are alleged to
have gone to Canada and become dis
gusted with It. Only a few of such
have been published, and they contain
statements that are absurd In their
falsity. Whether the parties whose
names appear In connection with those
letters have ever been In Canada, and.
If so, their history while there. Is to
be thoroughly looked Into. The dis
covery of their motive, like the dis
covery of the motive of the interests
who are engineering the opposition,
may prove illumining. In the mean
time, however. It may bo pointed out
that only a few of such letters have
appeared, but since 1897 over 87,000
American settlers have gone to the
Canadian West. Can any reasonablo
person suppose for a moment that if
Canada was one-quarter as bad as rep
resented in these letters the 87,000
Americns now there would remain in
the country; or. If the Canadian West
had not proved the truth of all that
was claimed for It, the papers of every
state In the American Northwest
would not be filled with letters saying
so? Imagine 87,000 aggressive Amer
icans deceived and not making short
shift of their deceivers. The fact Is
the 87,000 are well satisfied and are
encouraging their friends to follow
them.
Anyone who sees any of these dis
paraging letters should remember that
it Is railway and real estate interests
who have from purely selfish reasons
organized a campaign to stem the
flow to Canada. If Canada were half
as bad as represented there would be
no need of such an organization. The
fact that such exists Is of itself a mag
nificent tribute to Canada. Finally It
should not be forgotten that the letters
published are brimful of falsehoods,
and that 87,000 satisfied Americans In
the Canadian West constitute a living
proof that such Is the case.
The Canadian Government agenl
whose name appears In advertisement
elsewhere In this paper Is authorized
to give ail information as to rates and
available lands in Western Canada.
An ounce of dialect is worth a
pound of royalties.
The practice of fencing has been re
vived among Japanese noblemen.
JPIVQ permanently cnreu. No flta or narvonsnciw aftdf
I I I v first day’» use of Dr. Kltne’* Orrut Nerre Itertor
er. Bond for FKKK 93.00 trial bottle and troatiea.
Da. K. U Klims, Ltd.. 931 Arch street. PaHadeU/hla-t*"
Where there s so much puff, there
must be some buyer.
Storekeepers report that the extra
quantity, together with the superior
quality of Defiance Starch makes it
next to Impossible to sell any other
brand.
Let your first efforts be. not for
wealth, but for independence.—Lyttoiv