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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1910)
jsr"jm! The Commoner. WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR VOL. 10, NO. 8 Lincoln, Nebraska, March 4, 1910 Whole Number 476 . The Marriage .of the Oceans The wedding day lias not yet been set, but ' in about five years it may be a few months earlier or a few months later the Canal Zone will be the scene of an impressive 'ceremony; the civilized world will look on with intense interest while a representative of the greatest republic of history speaks the words which will solemnize the union of the world's greatest oceans through the most stupendous engineering enterprise in the annals of time. It is a pity that the work can not bo complet ed by September 25, 1913 the four hundredth anniversary of the day when Balboa scaled Culebra hill and looked down upon the placid waters of the Pacific; but that is too much to expect, although under very favorable condi tions, ships may cross the Isthmus by the four hundred and first anniversary. After one has been here a few days and has felt the growing enthusiasm which the project arouses, he can understand how the idea of a canal at this point has for nearly four centuries haunted the minds of men. As early as 1520 the king of Spain caused a survey of the Isthmus to be made with a view to the construction of a canal, but a successor to the throne became alarmed lest it might inure to the benefit of other nations and the enter prise was discouraged until the eighteenth century. "While Balboa', Pizarro and Gonzales were speculating about a canal at Panama or Darien, Cortez was looking for an international route farthjpjjdxrgpprted favorably on the ad vantages of Tehauntepec. Two and a half centuries -later the Nicaraugua route "was investigated and from that time until De Lesseps began digging1 in 1882, th.e plan of joining the oceans was urged with increasing force and frequency by the representatives of different nations. Survey followed survey, plan followed plan, and report followed report, Amer icans and French leading in the work of in vestigation. The discovery of gold in California quickened interest in a route through or across the Isthmus and in 1855 an American company completed a railway from Colon to Panama, following the general line of the present canal. It is not sur prising that this line was profitable, notwith standing the difficulties attending its construc tion. It may moderate our indignation at the extortion sometimes practiced by railroads in the United States, to know that at one time" the Panama road charged twenty-five dollars for carrying a passenger across the Isthmus, or about fifty cents per mile, and even went to the extreme of making a track-walker pay ten dol lars for the privilege of going on foot! The railroad now belongs to our government and is operated under the canal commission, first class passage being reduced to five cents per mile, and freight to about one dollar and CONTENTS THE MARRIAGE OP THE OCEANS MR. BRYAN'S DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK ON THE PANAMA CANAL A CONGRESSIONAL PLATFORM BY LOUIS F. POST WHERE THE OLD SHIP IS LEAKING MAKING CANNON A SCAPEGOAT EDUCATIONAL SERIES THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM IN SWITZERLAND PRACTICAL TARIFF TALKS "PLEASE, MR. ROOSEVELT, SAVE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY" ' HOME DEPARTMENT . WHETHER COMMON OR NOT NEWS OF THE WEEK WASHINGTON NEWS fifty cents to three dollars and fifty conts per Ion. In considering the canal, the subject naturally divides itself into two parts 'the physical canal that is, the actual work of construction, and the commercial canal, including the influence, direct or indirect, which it is likely to exert on trado and civilization. I shall observe this division and consider the construction of the canal in this article, leaving to the next the discussion of the project as a part of our nation's contribution to the world's welfare. I find myself substituting the word "large" for the word "great" in describing the canal it is really a simple enterprise, multiplied until it amazes one by its bigness. It involves the dredging of a channel through swamps and out into the oceans; the building of locks and dams and the cutting down of hills, but these things are not new. We are deepening harbors all the time; hero we extend the harbors somo distance inland but the principle is the same. We have built hundreds of locks and dams; these are the largest in the world, but a lock is a lock and a dam is a dam. Wo are excavating constantly; the Culebra cut is gigantic in dimensions but it differs from others only in the time necessary .and the money required. Tho dredging will take out eighty-five million cubic yards of earth, the twelve locks will con tain four and a half million cubic yards of con crete and the steam shovels will remove seventy eight million cubic yards from the cut, but it is pusglya, problem in mathematics. That it can be done and will be doneynooltetcn,doubt .who will inspect the work. Of the sixteen miles of canal between the locks and deep water more than half the distance has been dredged; of the dirt to bo removed from the cut mor,e than half is gone, the locks are well under way and the Gatun dam is rising. The sea level canal is generally called the ideal canal and yet to be ideal a canal must fit into its surroundings and a sea level canal would not fit into the conditions here. A visit which I made to tho Saulte St. Marie in 1891 convinced me that a lock canal is en tirely practicable and in congress I favored tho Nicaraugua route, which contemplated the 11ft " ing of ships to a lake level of 110 feet. I was a little surprised, however, when I read that the minority of the International Board of Con sulting Engineers (which reported in 190(T) claimed for a .lock canal at Panama greater capacity for traffic, greater safety to ships and more speedy transit, as well as economy in time and cost of construction. Inspection convinces me that all these claims are well founded. In a given time more Iraffic can pass through the lock canal (and with greater safety) than could pass through a sea level canal of twice the cost. The Chagres river, which would be an almost insuperable obstacle to a' sea level canal, lends itself to the lock canal in fact it is indispen sable to it, and the lake which it forms, saves many miles of excavation. The canal has been described so often that its dimensions are probably known. to the reader, but I will give them here at the risk of repe tition. The total length of the canal is fifty miles. From the 'Atlantic ocean to the Gatun locks, a distance of seven miles, a channel five hundred feet wide is being dredged. This channel is forty-one feet deep at mean tide, or forty and one-fourth feet at low tide the tide varying but eighteen inches on the Atlantic side. At Gatun a dam is being thrown across the Chagres river which will raise the water to a. height of eightyrfive feet above sea level. This dam is the only feature of the canal which rivals the Culebra cut in interest. Advantage is taken of two hills, one at the east side through which, the locks are built and one in the-center through, which the spill-way passes. Tha dam Itself wilL be seven thousand five hundred feet long, and will havo a width of twonty-threo hundred and fifty feet at the' base. It rises to a height of dno hundred and fifteen feet above the sea or to a height of thirty feet abovo tho lovel of tho lake. Tho crest of tho dam is one hundred feet wide and the maximum pressure is olghty-flvo feet, that pressure being confined to six hundred feet of the dam. Work on the dam is progressing rapidly. Two stone dams, each several hundred feet wide were extended across the east half of the valley to the spill-way hill, and the space between theso dams is being filled with what is called a "puddle coro" that is, sand and clay are being pumped in. This coro is hold in place by tho stono dams and will, It is believed, furnish an Imper vious wall. Tho Gatun locks will require two and a quar ter million. cubic yards of concrete, one-ninth of which is in place. Twenty-two hundred yards were added on January 7 the record day thus far. The locks are filled and emptied from tho bottom and, as they are made in pairs, one set can bo used If tho other is. out of order, and when both aro in order, ships can pass through both ways at the same time. Tho gates, which are of steel and hollow, ate seven feet thick, sixty-five feet wide and from forty-fivo to seventy-nine feet in height. Besides the end gates each lock Is equipped with intermediate gates which economize tho use of water in the case of smaller vessels. There is also an emergency dam of steel for use in case of accident to tho locks. A central wall, sixty feet thick, separates, the two sets of locks and this, extending about six teen hundred feet beyond tho locks at each end, serves as a guide wall for ships entering the locks. The locks will bo operated by electricity and the same power will be used to tow die vessels through the locks. The spill-way is a concrete canal three hun dred feet wide and varying from thirty-five to twenty-feet deep. This spill-way runs through a cut made in solid rock. The hill, both in size and location, is admirably adapted to tho pur pose. The surplus waters of the Chagres will reach tho ocean through this spill-way and will, on their way, generate all the electricity needed on tho Canal Zone. The concrete dam at the spill-way will be sur mounted by steel gates which will control the lake level and give protection against all pos sible floods. The Gatun dam will, when com pleted, create a lake with a surface area of one hundred and sixty-four square miles. The canal runs for about twenty-three miles through this lake and has a bottom width of one thousand feet for sixteen miles, a width of eight hundred feet for four miles and a width of five hundred feet for three miles. The canal varies from eighty to forty feet in depth along this section and requires but eleven million yards of excavation, of which only four million yards remain to be taken out. This lake also furnishes an anchorage basin of fourteen hundred acres and the fresh water will rid the ships of barnacles and other sea growth. This lake, formed by the Chagres river, an swers several purposes; it supplies all the water needed for the locks and for tho generation of electric power; it saves an enormous amount of digging and, most Important of all, converts the Chagres from a menace into an invaluable ally. At present its floods are tho terror of the Canal Zone, but when it pours its raging tor rents into a great lake, it will be harmless. At its maximum it can not raise the level of the lake more than two feet and the lake level can be lowered to receive the floods when the rainy season begins. The Culebra cut presents tho most difficult problem at least the problem which has been most discussed. For moro than nine miles the canal runs through a range of hills where the excavating exceeds one hundred feet in depth and is, at the highest point, five hundred and thirty-four feet deep. The bottom width of the canal throughout this section is three hundred feet, extended to five hundred feet at curves. The French began their work on the canal at -WjrftjJlj it ahxixb!&, ifc. At&vs i - jti J- a. jaAi4ai ..