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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1913)
2 THE SUNDAY OREGONTAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 21, 1913. T 1 NIG TO PANAMA CANA ffcEmRATIOm BEING KU&IEJ) fX)& WEDDMG OF MONTH. A Simple but Picturesque Incident Will Usher Into Prac tical Use the Greatest Engineering Feat of Modern Times Commission Busy With Details of Celebration That Is to Mark Consummation of Greatest of Undertakings. The trending of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceacs at Panama Is scheduled for next montil. This consummation of the grandest engi neering enterprise of all time will be as Im pressive as It Is simple. There will bs an explosion. A mass of earth, will ba hurled Into the air, obscurln everything for the moment. Then will come tha thunder of rushing waters the first sweep of the mtghtv torrent through tha full length of the canal. HE ceremonies at the official opening of the Panama Canal In the early part of 1914 will be the subject of a Nation's care. A special commissioner already Is In Washington and is taking up the vari ous plans of the grand celebration and festival to take place when the first heavy draught ships are sent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But when the oceans meet next month the exercises will bo much more modest. Indeed, there will be almost nothing to inform the great American nublic that at last those two ocean have been brought together for the betterment of commerce. Colonel Goethals. clad in the white soldier's uniform which has made him a fisrure during the canal enterprise, will stRnd Just beyond the mud of (iatun dam. With him will be a llttl staff of officers, men whose faces are wrinkled by care and browned by con stant exposure to the tropic sun. Behind them a knot of civilians will be huddled, a splotch of color against the green of vegetation, when the ex plosion comes there will be a mighty rush of water as a valley, trees and shrubbery and all, is Inundated by th tremendous inlet. That will be all. The mighty dredges will go into the huge valleys so recent ly created, towing out huge trees which have been left in the lakes bottom. And over the green spillway there will sweep for days and days a mass of vegetation torn from earth by the waters. When the big celebration begins next year It will represent the combined genlua of the War and Navy Depart ments. Secretary of War Garrison and Secretary of the Navy Daniels are even now holding conferences which are slowly bringing the plans Into shape. Later they will hold conferences with Colonel Goethals. and with him will finally decide upon the complete cele bration to take place when the canal la capable of floating the giant battle ship Oregon, on whose bridge the bee retary the Navy will stand as she plows through the still waters. There will be dances and receptions and ban queta and apeecbmaklng and fireworks when the work of the canal Is finally finished. Mr. Dodge, In charge of the division of publications of the Isthmian Canal Commission, reoently stated that the plans for the opening of the canal were really merely an extension of the work which haa been done In the past. "When the canal is opened next month, said he, "it, will simply mean that the last great feature of the work is to be begun. The men who are In charge of this work will have as ardu ous and steady a task for months as the men who handled the shovels at Culebra cut. "For under the waters of the canal there are dying forests, swamped by the entrance of the waters. And the sliding earth of the canal's bottom must be removed and the channel made safe before the big vessels of the world may enter. "The dredges which are to be em ployed from now on will find a steady and difficult task in removing the waste vegetation and earth from the canal. "Thus when the dike at Gatun dam is blown up it will be the signal call ing the men to ' work for the final stretch in the completion of the canal. How long it will take I do not know. There are many who, visiting the canal when this work is in progress, will hardly realize that the canal is at last open to navigation." It Is almost impossible to realize what this enterprise meaK "wrmn you are far away troy, '.he scene of activ ities. You have heard that we main tain In Panama a beneficent despotism yclept "military government" which keeps thousands of workmen busy six days out of seven, and which, notwith standing Its mighty throne of husky laborers of many nations, preserves a discipline that would be a credit to a model city. Few can appreciate what this tremendous government means. I have talked to men in Washington who are the most instrumental in the completion of the canal. This most fiAAAS - t ' ' K A 1 r x til SfoAV JffW VA r'iM ' -w- I 111 " , ,l.s'' - 'ifJor'frf as. y$Jt " S-W 1" 'S Mi t ' U .$." -KA.. "..i l iif vX. Ss 1 Li.-lkyk- . -:-7 AM VMi'M m l 4u i MMM As 1 'c - t&MjMLj& awS v mm I. s. ;r v:t--;-(." ' . I YSTOrA . s .v. t. . m I . BBC . . V.S? . K . i tTHl i x . mm I -vv- . . . a.sa -r a(:A;iA V' . ' vJ "dm& . y-" :-a: I Bfc a "-.A I" ' K," r--.' ftivv.V.-i. t .v- . A-:. - . r:-...-. ?' . -V- -V. 4 tifcar I KS'-, v u-w.. .TV. , .t '.r.'.W. : I I cannot be gauged bv mere fitrurp When one talks lightly of millions he but compresses the numerals within the bounds of his own Imagination. study for a moment the accompany ing picture showing the concrete "ap proach" to the Gatun dam lock the picture that looks like a glgantlo por tico larger than the mighty entrance to the union station In Washington. This Is only Incidental to the work of the canal. It is merely a type of buffer" extending out from each of the locks. Yet, when viewed at close range. It stands by itself as a monu mental achievement Justly comparable with any of our mighty public build ings. when French genius and French wealth attempted the canal, 78,000,000 cubic yards of material were excavated. Of this amount 29.000,000 cubic yards were available for the present canal in other words, only about one-third of the abandoned French work could be utilized by Uncle Sam in the con duction of his big ditch. Already more than 220.000.000 cubic yards have been taken out by our laborers. And something over a dollar haa been spent out of the Treasury of the United States for each of these ublc yards of eartn excavated. In a statement concluding with the 1st of May, 1913, the isthmian canal commls- ion states that 292.000,000 had been spent upon this work. The canal when completed will at Its highest point raise water to an eleva tion of 85 feet above the sea, and this height will be reached by a flight of three locks located at Gatun on the Atlantic side, by one lock at Fedro Miguel and by a flight of two other locks at Miraflores on the Pacific side. Each of these locks will be large enough to lift ships 1000 feet long and will be 110 feet in width. From deep water In the Caribbean Sea to deep wa ter In the Pacific the canal will be a stretch of 50 miles. And the locks, mind you are the nar rowest points in the canal. Imagine a um-bell sawed lengthwise and you ave. rough);-, a notion of the relative width of ine locks and the canal chan nel -at either end. The channel from mile 0 in the Carib bean Sea to mile 6.70 at the north of Gatun locks will be 500 feet wide. From the south end of the Qatun locks to mile 23.50 the channel will not be ss than 1000 feet wide. From mile to 2o.u0 the canal will be 800 feet wide. So It will go to the Pacific Coast, varying from 500 to 1000 feet In width, so that a fleet of vessels ight tie up while awaiting their turn go through the locks. While we are still dealing in figures might be worth while to mention the 9. r f II w H h it ,,-"if,- , ' I lsilSSiiS, JSs&t& v..rr: 7u - ? 1 1 slon has decided that $35,000,000 will be the total cost of the cannal, and these figures Include the 350,000.000 paid the new French Canal Company and the Republic of Panama for franchises and property. Do you realize what this means? Well for one thing It represents the cost of 10 battleships of a type which would make the United States the master of all nations on the sea. Ten ships larger and more dangerous than the Pennsyl vania could be constructed out of this sum. Nations could be saved or de stroyed with the money which is quiet ly going Into the "big ditch," so quietly that the average American doesn't realize what it is costing him. It Isn't to be supposed for an instant because a great fuss isn't made about it that this expenditure has been made haphazard. The Canal Commission has itemized each cent spent. Sanitation, total cost of the canal to the United administration, fortifications, buildings stupendous engineering feat of the ages State. The Isthmian Cannal Commis-' machinery, everything is carefully listed in a most comprehensive state ment available to any taxpayer who cares to look at it. A Middle-Western city would point with pride to the population which the Canal zone possesses. According to the last census there were on the isthmus 4.3.000 people assisting in the process of canal construction. Of this army of workers about 5000 were Americans, they holding most of the administrative positions. Eliminating those who were but In directly interested in the actual con struction of the canal, such as those administering justice, attending to the sanitation of the zone and doing other things, there were actually 37,000 men who were active in the canal con struction. It isn't to be supposed that because the others were not working on dredges or blue prints or the like the remainder of the 45.000 were not materially assisting in the work. It Is possible from these figures to gain a vague notion of this great work. But a better method Is to con sider a stretch of country 60 miles In length and 10 miles wide, populated with a horde of workmen drawn from all parts of the earth and directed by a great central genius. You must Imagine little communities of homes, each a neat, individual cottago with beautiful tropical flowers In the front yard. You must imagine a continual procession 01 trains, carrying earth, a snorting and clunking of giant steam shovels, the crash of the forge where machinery Is mended. And, above all, you must remember a swift and Im partial Justice which is administered personally. Then you must think of Colonel Goethals, the guiding force, the genius of the canaL They told me at the Isthmian Canal Commission that this mighty, solitary figure, working apparently at a pres sure that would destroy the brain of a lesser man, la really the father of the canal. And no man is too small to get Justice from Goethals. On Sunday mornings he conducts his impromptu court. One man believes that another man has stolen a pig belonging to him. He goes to see Goethals. In the musty warmness of the Government house the complainant enters a darkened room where, sitting behind a severely plain desk, is a man, square-headed, rather stern-faced, clad in Immaculate white. Only the eyes of the man show his latent humor. With one powerful hand he strokes the short, closely cropped gray mus tache. In a few words he persuades the workman to tell his story. If the pig has been stolen the offender Is punished. If the workman has been trying to get something from Uncle Sam under the Impression that so great an organization cannot give time to de tails, he finds himself bitterly disap pointed, . For Goethals has succeeded In doing what could hardly be done in the best modeled American city. He has established a direct system of Jus tlce, which has convinced every man of his sincerity and fairness. He knows law as he knows engineering. He Is the alpha and omega of the canal and many of his workmen will shake their heads dubiously when his rule gives way to the civil government provided by the last administration. The Canal Zone Is now being equipped with an electrical supply sufficient to handle all of the locks and the light houses as well. These high concrete lighthouses have a strange appearance I the obligatory vote has been first tried now. standing as they do in the midst Switzerland. Some years ago several of dry wide jungle. But in a little I cantons Introduced and practiced It building the canal Is being conductai. he was enthusiastic over what had been accomplished. "I regard the Panama Canal," said he "as the highest tribute which can be paid to the United States Army. For absolute efficiency, workmanlike prog ress and thorough order there has been nothing within the memory of man which has equaled the work of Goe thals at the Panama Canal." Then. I spoke to Secretary Daniels, of the Navy Department, whose fleet must bear the brunt of the defense of the canal. The Secretary will be on the bridge of the first heavy-draft vessel to pass from the Atlantic to the Paclfio through the waterway. That ship will be the battleship Oregon, if present plans carry. "When the American fleet, the first heavy draft vessels to pass through the canal, shall make its Initial trip." said he, "I desire to be on board tho flag ship, because I want to watch the progress of those mighty vessels be hind me warships which are to be tre mendously benefited by this new waterway. "It is worth the while of the think ing man to consider what this canal will mean to the Navy Department. Of course there are so many benefts that it lg possible for a man, considering the entire giant project, to forget for a moment the single. Individual group which is aided. "When the Spanish-American war broke out a vessel, in order to reach the scene of battle, rounded Cape Horn and thero were days and days of anx iety on the part of the American peo ple while this fateful voyage was being made. "When this canal is opened the davs of the Isolated ship will be over. Ws can detail our ships from coast to coast. Should an attack be made on either side of the United States we could soon throw the entire force of our entire fighting strength to meet the Invader, without delays, without dangers and without mishaps. When the canal has been completed the American Navy's work, as I see it, will begin. "I may not pause to elaborate on the possibilities to all Industries of the ex portation of raw products as a result of the building of the canal. Some of the larger cities of the United States have great facilities in the way ot long-established steamship lines, but 1 am confident that the opr-niiiK of this new water route to the Pacific, while not diverting, perhaps to any apnrecla bie extent tho vast trade of New York City and other great cities of the At lantic, will create an enormous new trade as our country progresses and will eventually make the cities of the South Atlantic, the Gulf and the Pacific Seaboards second to none In shipping; facilities. It is a wonderful project. Industry will advance by leaps and bounds. Every business will profit by Its con struction. And the Navy will not be the least among the varied interests which will benefit when the Panama Canal Is opened." John Alfred Wat- kins. Yon Must Vote in Argentina. New York Times. Like almost every feature of de mocracy as at present conceived for Instance, referendum. Initiative, pro portional party representation, etc. while they will be the guide posts of the long stretch of water. The monstrous locks, though heavy enough to crush a house, will be moved as easily and smoothly as a door by the electrical power supplied. The lighthouses will operate auto matically, flashing and going out. Hashing and going out, from dark un til sunrise. When the canal Is opened the big boats will be carried through the locks upon little cars run by electrlcltv. These trams will be operated much like witch engines and will haul ships big enough to carry a thousand of them on board without inconvenience. It is now stated positively that no hip will be allowed to go through the canal under her own steam. The little trolley cars," as they are called bv tne workmen, will be panting and pull '1th Indifferent success. The first country to Imitate Switzerland on a national scale was Argentina, where municipal, district, stats or Federal elections take place once every few weeks, but usually not more than 15 per cent of the voters go to the polls. An old-style Latin-American revolu tion In Argentina Is now quite aa unlikely as in the United States, but If ever that country was near having one It was when an attempt was mada to bring into court thousands of citi zens liable to a ten-peso fine for not having appeared at the polls and at least having cast a blank vote. If they did not want to take sides. The Argentina trial with the obllga tory vote haa thus far not been a suc cess, for the simple reason that practi cally all of those who have an opinion of their own go to vote anyhow, while lnv iv on nto-ht tha hto- .v,i. i the balance, if tney vote at all, are all parts of the world are brought up merely (what the ward heeler knows aa to ba loaded or unloaded. I have talked recently to the men In Washington who are directly Interested In the Panama Canal project. Repre sentative Adamson, of Georgia, in whose committee originated the law under which the Panama Canal was operated, was the lirst man I saw. As chairman of the House committee on Interstate and foreign commerce, he has had most to do with the adoption of the code of civil law for Panama In the House. It may surprise you," said he. cattle." However, It might be well to watch further the experiment now made in Argentina, and maybe we may not only teach but learn something from one of our sister republics. Warm Plants in Alpine Snows. Pathfinder. The Alpine flower, called, the solda- nella, produces heat sufficient so that It grows even under a considerable cov ering of snow. If the snow is not too deeo the plant sends its stem up to through the snow, which is melted by find that the Panama Canal ls going to the heat. If the snow is deeper the have a government of its own, which, I heat melts a little hollow chamber out believe, will be superior to the govern-1 about the plant, thus giving It room ment of many an American city. Did to expand and blossom. It lias been you ever stop to think that the Panama found that some of the plantH of the Canal had the benefit of the wisdom of arum family, which are common In the the entire United States Government Mediterranean region, develop a tern- when the law governing the conduct of perature of as high as 100 degrees its affairs came into being? when their buds are opening. To a ices In other words. Congress has devot-1 degree probably all plants rurnisn tnetr ed Its time to preparing a law for Pan. ama which shall have none of the weaknesses which are found In other governments.' own heat under certain conditions, but ordinarily vegetation, being by nature adapted to its surrounding, gets the heat It needs from the soil, air and sun. Tin vnn hitllnvs " T nalrari "ih.t .. Animals are of a nigner oraer than Panama government in all of Its feat-1 plants partly because they are more ures will surpass any other municipal independent oi meir em runnings. or statl government?'' I I believe It will," he replied. "I be- Wlmras Fees After S3 Years. ( lleve that the Government will be as I good and aa free from corruption as it rittsourg u.icuir-timtj. hag been In the past and that Is high! Reuben Winters, A man who was a praise." , I witness in court in Norrlstown, Pa., B3 When I spoke to Secretary of War years ago, came to collect his wltnea Garrison, under whom tha work of I fee a. few daya ago.
