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diff --git a/24901-8.txt b/24901-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8cb2d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/24901-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2353 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The American Type of Isthmian Canal, by +John Fairfield Dryden + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The American Type of Isthmian Canal + Speech by Hon. John Fairfield Dryden in the Senate of the + United States, June 14, 1906 + +Author: John Fairfield Dryden + +Release Date: March 23, 2008 [EBook #24901] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN ISTHMIAN CANAL *** + + + + +Produced by K. Nordquist, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + THE + AMERICAN TYPE + OF + ISTHMIAN CANAL + +HON. JOHN FAIRFIELD DRYDEN + +[Illustration: THE JOHN F. DRYDEN STATUE + +The above is a picture of the bronze statue of the late United States +Senator John F. Dryden, Founder of The Prudential and Pioneer of +Industrial insurance in America, erected by the John F. Dryden Memorial +Association, with this inscription: "_A tribute of esteem and affection +from the field and office force._" The statue is located at the Home +Office of The Prudential, Newark, N.J., and is unique, being the gift of +a staff of over 16,000 employees. It cost $15,000. The sculptor was Karl +Bitter.] + + + + + No. 8 + + PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION + MEMORIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE PRUDENTIAL + INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA + + THE AMERICAN TYPE + OF + ISTHMIAN CANAL + + SPEECH BY + HON. JOHN FAIRFIELD DRYDEN + IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES + JUNE 14, 1906 + + 1915 + PRUDENTIAL PRESS, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY + + + + +_The ancient "Dream of Navigators" has at last been realized in the +completion and successful operation of the PANAMA CANAL, fittingly +commemorated by the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Among the +men who contributed in a measurable degree to the attainment of this +national ideal was the late United States Senator_, JOHN F. DRYDEN, +_President of THE PRUDENTIAL. As a member of the Senate Committee on +Interoceanic Canals, Mr. Dryden, after mature and extended +consideration, gave the weight of his influence and vote in favor of the +lock-level principle of canal construction. The lock-level type was +finally decided upon, although the majority of Mr. Dryden's conferees +and the International Board of Consulting Engineers at first strongly +favored the sea-level type. By his determined support of the one and his +well-reasoned opposition to the other, Mr. Dryden was able to secure the +enactment of legislation in accordance with his views and to bring about +the completion of this tremendous undertaking within our time, thus +leaving a permanent imprint upon the country's history._ + + + + +THE AMERICAN TYPE OF ISTHMIAN CANAL + + It was on June 14, 1906, when the Canal subject was up for final + consideration, that Mr. Dryden addressed the Senate. The official + records show that "S. 6191, to provide for the construction of a + sea-level canal connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific + oceans, and the method of construction," was before Congress, and + it was in opposition to this measure that Mr. Dryden patriotically + pledged his devotion to American enterprise and American ability by + declaring for the lock-level type of canal, built by American + engineers and under American supervision, concluding with the + following words, which deserve to be recalled on this memorable + occasion as a tribute to the native genius and enterprise of the + American people: + + "I am entirely convinced that the judgment and experience of + American engineers in favor of a lock canal may be relied upon with + entire confidence and that such an enterprise will be brought to a + successful termination. I believe that in a national undertaking of + this kind, fraught with the gravest possible political and + commercial consequences, only the judgment of our own people should + govern, for the protection of our own interests, which are + primarily at stake. I also prefer to accept the view and + convictions of the members of the Isthmian Commission, and of its + chief engineer, a man of extraordinary ability and large + experience. It is a subject upon which opinions will differ and + upon which honest convictions may be widely at variance, but in a + question of such surpassing importance to the nation, I, for one, + shall side with those who take the American point of view, place + their reliance upon American experience, and show their faith in + American engineers." + + +The Panama Canal problem has reached a stage where a decision should be +made to fix permanently the type of the waterway, whether it shall be a +sea-level or a lock canal. An immense amount of evidence on the subject +has in the past and during recent years been presented to Congress. An +overwhelming amount of expert opinion has been collected, and an +International Board of Consulting Engineers has made a final report to +the President, in which experts of the highest standing divide upon the +question. The Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals has likewise +divided. It is an issue of transcendent importance, involving the +expenditure of an enormous sum of money, and political and commercial +consequences of the greatest magnitude, not only to the American people, +but to the world at large. + +The report of the International Board has been printed and placed before +Congress. A critical discussion of the facts and opinion presented by +this Board, all more or less of a technical and involved nature, would +unduly impose upon the time of the Senate at this late day of the +session. In addition, there is the testimony of witnesses called before +the Senate committee, which has also been printed in three large +volumes, exceeding 3,000 pages of printed matter. To properly separate +the evidence for and against one type of canal or the other, to argue +upon the facts, which present the greatest conflict of engineering +opinion of modern times, would be a mere waste of effort and time, since +the evidence and opinions are as far apart and as irreconcilable as the +final conclusions themselves. It is, therefore, rather a question which +the practical experience and judgment of members of Congress must +decide, and I have entire confidence that the will of the nation, as +expressed in its final mandate, will be carried into successful +execution, whether that mandate be for lock canal or sea-level waterway. + +The Panama Canal presents at once the most interesting and the most +stupendous project of mankind to overcome by human ingenuity "what +Nature herself seems to have attempted, but in vain." From the time when +the first Spanish navigators extended their explorations into every bay +and inlet of the Central American isthmus, to discover, if possible, a +short route to the Indies, or "from Cadiz to Cathay," the human mind has +not been willing to rest content and accept as insurmountable the +natural obstacles on the Isthmus which prevent uninterrupted +communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Excepting, possibly, +Arctic explorations, in all the romantic history of ancient and modern +commerce, in all the annals of the early navigators and explorers, there +is no chapter that equals in interest the never-ceasing efforts to make +the Central American isthmus a natural highway for the world's +commerce--a direct route of trade and transportation from the uttermost +East to the uttermost West. + +As early as 1536 Charles V ordered an exploration of the Chagres River +to learn whether a ship canal could not be substituted for an existing +wagon road, and Philip II, in 1561, had a similar survey made in +Nicaragua for the same purpose. From that day to this the greatest minds +in commerce and engineering have given their attention to the problem of +an interoceanic waterway; every conceivable plan has been considered, +every possible road has been explored, and every mile of land and sea +has been gone over to find the best and most practical solution of the +problem. + +The history of these early attempts is most interesting, but it is no +longer of practical value, for it has no direct bearing upon present-day +problems. Most of the efforts were wasted, and many of them were ill +advised, but the present can profitably consider the more important +lessons of the past. It was written in the book of fate that this +enterprise, the most important in the world of commerce and navigation, +should be American in its ending as it had been in its practical +beginning. From the day when the first train of cars crossed the Isthmus +from Panama to Aspinwall, to facilitate the transportation of passengers +and freight across the narrow belt of land connecting the northern and +southern continents, the imperative necessity of a ship canal was made +apparent. Just as the railway followed the earlier wagon roads of the +Spanish adventurers, so a ship canal will naturally succeed or +supplement the railway. + +Natural conditions on the Isthmus materially enhance the physical +difficulties to be overcome in canal construction. Even the precise +locality or section best adapted to the purpose has for many years been +a question of serious doubt. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Nicaraguan +route, the utilizing of a lake of large extent, and finally the narrow +band of land and mountain chain at Panama, each offers distinct +advantages peculiar to itself, with corresponding disadvantages or local +difficulties not met with in the others. Many other projects have been +advanced; in all, at least some twenty distinct routes have been laid +out by scientific surveys, but the most eminent American engineering +talent, considering impartially the natural advantages and local +obstacles of each, finally, in 1849, decided upon the isthmus between +the Bay of Panama and Limon Bay as the most feasible for the building of +the railroad, and some fifty years later for the building of the +Isthmian Canal. Every further study, survey, and inquiry has confirmed +the wisdom of the earlier choice, which has been adopted as the best and +as the permanent plan of the American government, which is now to build +a canal at the expense of the nation, but for the ultimate benefit of +all mankind. + +The Panama railway marked the beginning of a new era in the history of +interoceanic communication. The great practical usefulness of the road +soon made the construction of a canal a commercial necessity. The eyes +of all the world were upon the Isthmus, but no nation made the subject a +matter of more profound study and inquiry than the United States. One +surveying party followed another, and every promising project received +careful consideration. The conflicting evidence, the great engineering +difficulties, the natural obstacles, and, most of all, the Civil War, +delayed active efforts; but public interest was maintained and the +general public continued to view the project with favor and to demand an +American canal. + +During the seventies a French commission made surveys and investigations +on the Isthmus which terminated in the efforts of De Lesseps, who +undertook to construct a canal, and, in 1879, called an international +scientific congress to consider the project in all its aspects and +determine upon a practical solution. The United States was invited to be +represented by two official delegates, and accordingly President Hayes +appointed Admiral Ammen and A.C. Menocal, of the United States Navy, +both of whom had been connected with surveys and explorations on the +Isthmus. Mr. Menocal presented his plan for a canal by way of Nicaragua, +but it was evident that the Wyse project, of a canal by way of the +Isthmus of Panama, had the majority in its favor, and the only question +to determine was whether the canal to be constructed should be a +sea-level or a lock canal. The American delegates were convinced, in the +light of their knowledge and experience, that a sea-level canal would be +impracticable, if not impossible. In this they were seconded by Sir John +Hawkshaw, a man thoroughly familiar with canal problems, and who exposed +the hopelessness of an attempt to make a sea-level ship canal, pointing +out that there would be a cataract of the Chagres River at Matachin of +42 feet, which in periods of floods would be 78 feet high, and a body of +water that would be 36 feet deep, with a width of 1,500 feet. + +Opposition to the sea-level project proved of no avail. The facts were +ignored or treated with indifference by the French, who were determined +upon a canal at Panama and at sea level, resting their conclusions upon +the success at Suez, with which enterprise many of those present at the +congress, in addition to De Lesseps, had been connected. But the +problems and conditions to be met on the Isthmus of Panama were +decidedly different from those at Suez, and subsequent experience proved +the serious error of the sea-level plan as finally adopted. The congress +included a large assemblage of non-professional men, and of the French +engineers present only one or two had ever been on the Isthmus. The +final vote was seventy-five in favor of and eight opposed to a sea-level +canal. Rear-admiral Ammen said: "I abstained from voting on the ground +that only able engineers can form an opinion _after careful study_ of +what is actually possible and what is relatively economical in the +construction of a ship canal." Of those in favor of a sea-level canal +not one had made a practical and exhaustive study of the facts. The +project at this stage was in a state of hopeless confusion. In spite of +these obstacles, De Lesseps, with undaunted courage, proceeded to +organize a company for the construction of a sea-level canal. + +As soon as possible after the adjournment of the scientific congress of +1879 the Panama Canal Company was organized, with Ferdinand De Lesseps +as president. The company purchased the Wyse concession, and by 1880 +sufficient funds had been secured to proceed with the preliminary work. +The next two years were used for scientific investigations, surveys, +etc., and the actual work commenced in 1883. The plan adopted was for a +sea-level canal having a depth of 29.5 feet and a bottom width of 72 +feet. This plan in outline and intent was adhered to practically to the +cessation of operations in 1888. + +In that year operations on the Isthmus came to an end for want of funds. +The failure of the company proved disastrous to a very large number of +shareholders, mostly French peasants of small means, and for a time the +project of interoceanic communication by way of Panama seemed hopeless. +The experience, however, proved clearly the utter impossibility of +private enterprise carrying forward a project of such magnitude and +which had attained a stage where large additional funds were needed to +make good enormous losses, due to errors in plans, to miscarriage of +effort, and, last but not least, to fraud on stupendous scale. With +admirable courage, however, the affairs of the first Panama Canal +Company were reorganized, after the appointment of a receiver, on +February 4, 1889. A scientific commission of inquiry was appointed to +reinvestigate the entire project and report upon the work actually +accomplished and its value in future operations. The commission, made up +of eminent engineers, sent five of its members to the Isthmus to study +the technical aspects of the problem, and a final report was rendered on +May 5, 1890. The recommendation of the commission was for the +construction of a canal with locks, the abandonment of the sea-level +idea, and for a further and still more thorough inquiry into the facts, +upon the ground that the accumulated data were "far from possessing the +precision essential to a definite project." This took the project of +canal construction out of the domain of preconceived ideas based upon +guesswork into the substantial field of a scientific undertaking for +commercial purposes. The receiver at once commenced to reorganize the +affairs of the company, and accordingly, on October 21, 1894, the new +Panama Canal Company came into existence under the general laws of +France. The charter of the new company provided for the appointment of a +technical committee to formulate a final project for the completion of +the canal. This committee was organized in February, 1896, and reached a +unanimous conclusion on November 16, 1898, embodied in an elaborate +report, which is probably the most authoritative document ever presented +on an engineering subject. The recommendation of the commission was +unanimously in favor of a lock canal.[1] + +The subsequent history of the De Lesseps project and the American effort +for a practical route across the Isthmus are still fresh in our minds +and need not be restated. The Spanish-American war and the voyage of the +_Oregon_ by way of Cape Horn, more than any other causes, combined to +direct the attention of the American people to conditions on the +Isthmus, and led to the public demand that by one route or another an +American waterway be constructed within a reasonable period of time and +at a reasonable cost. It will serve no practical purpose to recite the +subsequent facts and the chain of events which led to the passage of the +act of March 3, 1899, which authorized the President to have a full and +complete investigation made of the entire subject of Isthmian canals. + +A million dollars was appropriated for the expenses of a commission, and +in pursuance of the provisions of the act the President appointed a +commission consisting of Rear-admiral Walker, United States Navy, +president, and nine members eminent in their respective professions as +experts or engineers. A report was rendered under the date of November +30, 1901, in which the cost of constructing a canal by way of Nicaragua +was estimated at $189,864,062 and by way of Panama at $184,233,358, +including in the last estimate $40,000,000 for the estimated value of +the rights and property of the New Panama Canal Company. The company, +however, held its property at a much higher value, or some $109,000,000, +which the Commission considered exorbitant, and thus the only +alternative was to recommend the construction of a canal by way of the +Nicaraguan route. Convinced, however, that the American people were in +earnest, the New Panama Company expressed a willingness to reconsider +the matter, and finally agreed to the purchase price fixed by the +Isthmian Commission. + +By the Spooner act, passed June 28, 1902, Congress authorized the +President to purchase the property of the New Panama Canal Company for a +price not exceeding $40,000,000, the title to the property having been +fully investigated and found valid. The Isthmian Commission, therefore, +recommended to Congress the purchase of the property, but the majority +of the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals disagreed, and it is only +to the courage and rare ability of the late Senator Hanna and his +associates, as minority members of the committee, that the nation owes +the abandonment of the Nicaraguan project, the acquirement of the Panama +Canal rights at a reasonable price and the making of the project a +national enterprise. + +The report of the minority members of the Senate committee was made +under date of May 31, 1902. It is, without question, a most able and +comprehensive dissertation upon the subject, and forms a most valuable +addition to the truly voluminous literature of Isthmian canal +construction. The report was signed by Senators Hanna, Pritchard, +Millard, and Kittredge. "We consider," said the committee, "that the +Panama route is the best route for an isthmian canal to be owned, +constructed, controlled, and protected by the United States." It was a +bold challenge of the conclusions of the majority members of the +committee, but in entire harmony with and in strict conformity to the +views and final conclusions of the Isthmian Commission. The minority +report was accepted by the Congress and a canal at Panama became an +American enterprise for the benefit of the American people and the world +at large. + +Such, in broad outline, is the present status of the Panama Canal. A +grave question presents itself at this time, which demands to be +disposed of by Congress, and to which all others are subservient. Shall +the waterway be a sea-level or a lock canal? It is a question of +tremendous importance--a question of choice equally as important as the +one of the route itself. A choice _must_ be made, and it must be made +soon. All the subsidiary work, all the related enterprises, depend upon +the fundamental difference in type. Opinions differ as widely to-day as +they did at the time when the project was first considered by the +international committee in 1879. Engineers of the highest standing at +home and abroad have expressed themselves for or against one type or the +other, but it is a question upon which no complete agreement is +possible. In theory a sea-level canal has unquestionable advantages, +but, practically, the elements of cost and time necessary for the +construction preclude to-day, as they did in 1894, when the New Canal +Company recommenced active operations, the building of a sea-level +canal. It is _not a question of the ideally most desirable, but of the +practically most expedient_, that confronts the American people and +demands solution. + +The New Panama Canal Company had approved the lock plan, which placed +the minimum elevation of the summit level at 97.5 feet above the sea and +the maximum level at 102.5 feet above the same datum. In the words of +Prof. William H. Burr: + + It provided for a depth of 29.5 feet of water and a bottom width of + canal prism of about 98 feet, except at special places, where this + width was increased. A dam was to be built near Bohio, which would + thus form an artificial lake, with its surface varying from 52.5 to + 65.6 feet above the sea. The location of this line was practically + the same as that of the old company. The available length of each + lock chamber was 738 feet, while the available width was 82 feet, + the depth in the clear being 32 feet 10 inches. The lifts were to + vary from 26 to 33 feet. It was estimated that the cost of + finishing the canal on this plan would be $101,850,000, exclusive + of administration and financing. + +The Isthmian Commission of 1899-1901 considered the project, reëxamined +into the facts, and as stated by Professor Burr-- + + The feasibility of a sea-level canal, but with a tidal lock at the + Panama end, was carefully considered by the Commission, and an + approximate estimate of the cost of completing the work on that + plan was made. In round numbers this estimated cost was about + $250,000,000, and _the time required to complete the work would + probably be nearly or quite twice that needed for the construction + of a canal with locks_. The Commission therefore adopted a project + for the canal locks. Both plans and estimates were carefully + developed in accordance therewith. + +Professor Burr, now in favor of a sea-level canal, _then_ concurred in +the report in favor of a lock canal. + +Since the Panama canal became the property of the nation a vast amount +of necessary and preliminary work has been done preparatory to the +actual construction of the canal. A complete civil government of the +Canal Zone has been established, an army of experts and engineers has +been organized, the work of sanitation and police control is in +excellent hands, and the Isthmus, or, more properly speaking, the Canal +Zone, is to-day in a better, cleaner, and more healthful condition than +at any previous time in its history. A considerable amount of excavation +and necessary improvements in transportation facilities have been +carried to a point where further work must stop until the Isthmian +Commission knows the final plan or type of the canal. The reports which +have been made of the work of the Commission during its two years of +actual control are a complete and affirmative answer to the question +whether what has been done so far has been done wisely and well, and the +facts and evidence prove that the present state of affairs on the +Isthmus is in all respects to the credit of the nation. + +Now, it is evident that the question of plan or type of canal is largely +one for engineers to determine, but even a layman can form an +intelligent opinion, without entering into all the details of so complex +a problem as the relative advantage or disadvantage of a sea-level +versus a lock canal. This much, however, is readily apparent, that a +sea-level canal will cost a vast amount of money and may take twice the +time to build, while it will not necessarily accommodate a larger +traffic or ships of a larger size. A lock canal can be built which will +meet all requirements; it can be built deep enough and wide enough to +accommodate the largest vessels afloat; it can be so built that transit +across the Isthmus can be effected in a reasonably short period of +time--in a word, it is a practical project, which will solve every +pending question involved in the construction of a transisthmian canal +in a practical way, at a reasonable cost, and within a reasonable period +of time. + +To determine the question the President appointed an International Board +of Consulting Engineers. The Board included in its membership the +world's foremost men in engineering science, and the report is without +question a most valuable document. The President, in his address to the +members of the Board on September 11, 1905, outlined his views with +regard to the desirability of a sea-level canal, if such a one could be +constructed at a reasonable cost within a reasonable time. He said-- + + If to build a sea-level canal will but slightly increase the risk + and will take but little longer than a multilock high-level canal, + this, of course, is preferable. But if to adopt the plan of a + sea-level canal means to incur great hazard and to incur indefinite + delay, then it is not preferable. + +The problem as viewed by the American people could not be more concisely +stated. Other things equal, a sea-level canal, no doubt, would be +preferable; but it remains to be shown that such a canal would in all +essentials provide safe, cheap, and earlier navigation across the +Isthmus than a lock canal. + +For, as the President further said on the same occasion, there are two +essential considerations: First, the greatest possible speed of +construction; second, the practical certainty that the proposed plan +will be feasible; that it can be carried out with the minimum risk; and +in conclusion that-- + + There may be good reason why the delay incident to the adoption of + a plan for an ideal canal should be incurred; but if there is not, + then I hope to see the canal constructed on a system which will + bring to the nearest possible date in the future the time when it + is practicable to take the first ship across the Isthmus--that is, + which will in the shortest time possible secure a Panama waterway + between the oceans of such a character as to guarantee permanent + and ample communication for the greatest ships of our Navy and for + the largest steamers on either the Atlantic or the Pacific. The + delay in transit of the vessels owing to additional locks would be + of small consequence when compared with shortening the time for the + construction of the canal or diminishing the risks in the + construction. In short, I desire your best judgment on all the + various questions to be considered in choosing among the various + plans for a comparatively high-level multilock canal, for a + lower-level canal with fewer locks, and for a sea-level canal. + Finally, I urge upon you the necessity of as great expedition in + coming to a decision as is compatible with thoroughness in + considering the conditions. + +The Board organized and met in the city of Washington on September 1, +1905, and on the 10th of January, 1906, or about four months later, made +its final report to the President through the Secretary of War. The +Board divided upon the question of type for the proposed canal, a +majority of eight--five foreign engineers and three American +engineers--being in favor of a canal at sea-level, while a minority of +five--all American engineers--favored a lock canal at a summit level of +eighty-five feet. The two propositions require separate consideration, +each upon its own merits, before a final opinion can be arrived at as to +the best type of a waterway adapted to our needs and requirements under +existing conditions. + +Upon a question so involved and complex, where the most eminent +engineers divide and disagree, a layman can not be expected to view the +problem otherwise than as a business proposition which, demanding +solution, must be disposed of by a strictly impartial examination of the +facts. Weighed and tested by practical experience in other fields of +commercial enterprise, it is probably not going too far to say, as in +fact it has been said, that there is entirely too much mere engineering +opinion upon this subject and not a well-defined concentrated mass of +data and solid convictions. It is equally true, and should be kept in +mind, that the time given by the Board to the consideration of the +subject in all its practical bearings, including an examination of +actual conditions on the Isthmus, was limited to so short a period that +it would be contrary to all human experience that this report should +represent an infallible or final verdict for or against either of the +two propositions. + +It is necessary to keep in mind certain facts which may be concisely +stated, and which I do not think have been previously brought to the +attention of Congress. While the Board had been appointed by the +President on June 24, 1905, the first business meeting did not take +place until September 1st, and the final meeting of the full Board +occurred on November 24th of the same year. This was the twenty-seventh +meeting during a period of eighty-five days, after which there were +three more meetings of the American members, the last having been held +on January 31, 1906. Thus the actual proceedings of the full Board were +condensed into twenty-seven meetings during less than three months, a +part of which time--or, to be specific, six days--was spent on the +Isthmus. + +The minutes of the proceedings have been printed and form a part of the +final report made to the President under date of January 10, 1906. They +do not afford as complete an insight into the business transactions of +the Board as would be desirable, and the evidence is wanting that the +subject was as thoroughly discussed in all its details, with particular +reference to the two propositions of a sea-level or a lock canal, as +would seem necessary. Very important features necessary to the sea-level +plan were treated in the most superficial way, guessed at, or wholly +ignored. I do not hesitate to say that no banking house in the world +called upon to provide funds necessary for an enterprise of this +magnitude as a private undertaking would advance a single dollar upon a +project as it is here presented by the majority of the Board to the +American Congress as the final conclusion of engineers of the highest +standing. The Board, as I have said, divided upon the question, and by a +majority of eight pronounced in favor of a sea-level against a minority +of five in favor of a lock canal. Let us inquire how this conclusion, of +momentous importance to the nation, was arrived at and whether the +minutes of the Board furnish a conclusive answer. + +As early as the sixth meeting, or on September 16th--that is, after the +Board had been only fifteen days in existence--a resolution was +introduced by Mr. Hunter, chief engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal, +requesting that a special committee be appointed to prepare at once a +project for a sea-level canal. + +_Mr. Spooner._--What was the date of the resolution with respect to the +lock canal? + +_Mr. Dryden._--October 3d, seventeen days afterwards. + +In marked contrast, it was not until after the Board had visited the +Isthmus and while the members were on their way home--that is, at +sea--on October 3d, that, on motion of Mr. Stearns, a corresponding +committee was appointed to prepare plans for a lock canal. The recital +of dates is of very considerable importance, for it is evident that +there was a decided and early preference on the part of certain members +of the Board for a sea-level canal, and that to this particular project +more attention was given and a more determined attempt was made to +secure data in its defense than to the corresponding project for a lock +canal. That is to say, while the special committee for the consideration +of a sea-level canal had been appointed on September 16th, the +corresponding committee to consider the lock project was not appointed +until October 3d, or seventeen days later, with the additional +disadvantage of the Board being on the ocean, with no opportunity to +send for persons and papers during the short period of time remaining to +take into due consideration all the facts pertaining to a lock canal, +for, as I have said before, the last business meeting was held on +November 24th. + +_Mr. Foraker._--Mr. President---- + +_The Vice President._--Does the Senator from New Jersey yield to the +Senator from Ohio? + +_Mr. Dryden._--Certainly. + +_Mr. Foraker._--I would like to ask the Senator whether on the 16th of +September, when this motion was made by Mr. Hunter, if I remember +correctly, the Board of Engineers had completed their investigations and +explorations on the Isthmus? I did not observe. + +_Mr. Dryden._--No. + +_Mr. Kittredge._--Mr. President---- + +_The Vice President._--Does the Senator from New Jersey yield to the +Senator from South Dakota? + +_Mr. Dryden._--I yield. + +_Mr. Kittredge._--If the Senator from New Jersey will permit me, I will +be glad to answer the question of the Senator from Ohio. The Board of +Consulting Engineers sailed from New York on the 28th of September for +the Isthmus and returned about the middle or 20th of October. + +_Mr. Foraker._--Sailed from the Isthmus? + +_Mr. Kittredge._--Sailed from New York for the Isthmus. + +_Mr. Foraker._--Then the motion was made by Mr. Hunter before the Board +of Engineers left the United States. + +_Mr. Kittredge._--Certainly; to appoint a committee of investigation. + +_Mr. Dryden._--I should like to say at this point that while I have +gladly yielded to Senators, I think it is quite probable that before I +get through I shall cover any questions that may be asked. I would +prefer to complete my remarks, and then I shall be very glad to answer +any questions that Senators may choose to ask. + +_Mr. Foraker._--I beg pardon. + +_Mr. Dryden._--I was glad to yield to the Senator. + +_Mr. Foraker._--The speech is a very interesting one. + + * * * * * + +_Mr. Dryden._--There is nothing in the minutes of the Board which +disclosed that either proposition received the necessary deliberate +consideration of the extremely complex and important details entering +into the two respective projects, but it is evident that, regarding the +sea-level proposition at least, there was a decided bias practically +from the outset, which matured in the majority report favoring that +proposition. What was in the minds of the members, what was done outside +of the Board meetings, by what means or methods conclusions were +reached, has not been made a matter of record and is not, therefore, +within the knowledge of Congress. + +It is true that the respective reports of the two committees were +brought before the Board as a whole on November 14th and that the +subject was discussed at some length on November 18th, when each member +of the Board expressed his views for or against one of the two projects. +But there remained only ten days before the last business meeting of the +Board was held, when the foreign members sailed for home. The final +reports, as they are now before Congress, apparently never received the +proper and extended consideration of the Board as a whole, and the +minority report favoring a lock canal seems never to have been discussed +upon its merits at all. When I recall the very different procedure of +the technical commission appointed by the New Panama Canal Company, +which extended its consideration of the subject from February 3, 1896, +to September 8, 1898, during which time ninety-seven stated meetings and +a large number of informal meetings were held, I say, it seems to me, +from a practical business point of view, casting no reflection upon +either the ability or the fairness of judgment of the members of the +International Board, that the mere element of time should weigh +decidedly in favor of the verdict of the technical commission of 1898, +which was unanimous for a lock canal. + +Of the technical commission of 1896-1898, Mr. Hunter, chief engineer of +the Manchester Ship Canal, was a member, and he at that time, without a +word of dissent, joined the other members in giving the unanimous and +emphatic expression of the committee in favor of a lock canal. + +_Mr. Teller._--Mr. President---- + +_The Vice President._--Does the Senator from New Jersey yield to the +Senator from Colorado? + +_Mr. Dryden._--Certainly. + +_Mr. Teller._--Will the Senator kindly repeat the date of that? + +_Mr. Dryden._--Of the technical commission of 1896-1898, Mr. Hunter, the +chief engineer of the Manchester Canal, was a member. The technical +commission was of the new French company. + +_Mr. Teller._--You refer to the commission of the new French company? + +_Mr. Dryden._--Yes, sir; the commission of the new French company. + +Why he should now change his views and convictions and why he should now +be so emphatic and pronounced in favor of a sea-level project is not set +forth in anything that has been printed or been communicated to the +Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals. This hurried action, this +scanty consideration, as I have stated, is the foundation upon which the +advocates of the sea-level plan rest their appeal for support. This is +the report and the evidence upon which Congress is requested to +pronounce in favor of a sea-level project and give its indorsement to a +plan which will involve the country in at least $100,000,000 of +additional expenditure and which will delay the opening of the canal for +practical purposes of navigation possibly for ten years or more after +the lock canal can be finished and opened for use. + +The Isthmian Commission restates certain points in a clear and precise +way, which leaves no escape from the conclusion that both as to time and +cost the majority members of the Board materially underestimated +important factors, and that they have every reason to believe that the +total estimate of cost of a sea-level canal should be raised to +$272,000,000, and that the estimate of time for construction should be +increased to at least fifteen and a half years. But under certain +readily conceivable conditions it is practically certain that the +construction of a sea-level canal will consume not less than twenty +years. + +The Isthmian Commission reëxamined carefully the question of relative +efficiency of the proposed sea-level canal compared with a lock canal, +and they pronounce emphatically and unequivocally in favor of the lock +project. They consider that the assumed danger from accidents to locks +by passing vessels or otherwise is greatly exaggerated, and hold that +while no doubt accidents may occur, and possibly will occur, such +dangers can and will be sufficiently guarded against by an effective +method of supervision and control. They hold that a lock canal properly +constructed and managed is in no sense a menace to the safety of +vessels, and that much practical experience and particularly the +half-century of successful operation of the "Soo" Canal have +demonstrated the contrary beyond dispute. They point out that the canal +with locks at a level of eighty-five feet will be a waterway three times +the size, in navigable area, of the projected sea-level canal, and, +omitting the locks from consideration, will therefore afford three times +the shipping facilities. + +They show that in the sea-level canal there will be many and serious +curves, while in the lock canal the courses are straight and changes of +direction will be made at intersecting tangents, the same as in our +river navigation, in which serious accidents are practically unknown. +They show that the courses in a lock canal can be marked with ranges +which will greatly facilitate navigation, particularly at night. The +Commission points out that the argument of the majority of the Board, +that locks will limit the traffic capacity of the canal, carries very +little if any weight, and they refer to the experience of the "Soo" +Canal, through which there passes annually a larger traffic than through +all the other ship canals of the world combined. + +Finally, the Isthmian Commission discusses the cost of operation and +maintenance. The majority of the Board submit no details upon this most +important item in canal construction and subsequent operation. What +banking house in the world would advance a single dollar upon a canal or +railway project upon a mere statement of the probable ultimate cost, but +with no corresponding information as to cost of maintenance and +operation! Having been appointed to reëxamine into all the facts, and, +so to speak, to reconsider the entire project, the majority seriously +erred in omitting from their report the necessary data and calculations +for an accurate and trustworthy estimate of the cost of operation and +maintenance of a sea-level canal. + +From this point of view and in the light of the facts as presented by +the Board for or against either project, the Isthmian Commission could +not consistently act otherwise than to give their final approval to the +more specific and practical recommendations of the minority members of +the Board, and they properly say that "_it appears that the canal +proposed by the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers can be +built in half the time and for a little more than half of the cost of +the canal proposed by the majority of the Board_." They advance a number +of specific reasons why a lock canal when completed will for all +practical purposes--commercial, military, and naval--be a better canal +than a sea-level waterway with a tidal lock, as proposed by the majority +members of the Board. + +The report of the Board was carefully and critically examined by Chief +Engineer Stevens, of the Isthmian Commission and in actual charge of +engineering matters on the Isthmus. Mr. Stevens is a man of very large +practical American engineering experience, and he adds to the finding of +the Commission the weight of his authority, decidedly and unequivocally +in favor of a lock canal. He states as the sum of his conclusions that, +all things considered, the lock or high-level canal is preferable to the +sea-level type, so-called, for the reason that it will provide a safer +and quicker passage for ships; that it will provide beyond question the +best solution of the vital problem of how safely to care for the flood +waters of the Chagres and other streams; that provision is offered in +the lock project for enlarging its capacity to almost any extent at very +much less expense of time and money than can be provided for by any +sea-level plan; that its cost of operation, maintenance, and fixed +charges, including interest, will be very much less than any sea-level +canal, and that the time and cost of its construction will not be more +than one-half that of a canal of the sea-level type; that the lock +project will permit of navigation by night; and that, finally, even at +the same cost in time and money, Mr. Stevens would favor the adoption of +the high-level lock canal plan in preference to that of the proposed +sea-level canal. + +To these observations and comments the Secretary of War, under whose +supervision this great work is going on, adds his opinion, which is +decidedly and unequivocally in favor of a lock canal. In his letter to +the President, Mr. Taft goes into all the important details of the +subject and reveals a masterly grasp of the situation as it confronts +the American people at the present time. He calls attention to the fact +that lock navigation is not an experiment; that all the locks in the +proposed canal are duplicated, thereby minimizing such dangers as are +inherent in any canal project, and he adds that experience shows that +with proper plans and regulations the dangers are much more imaginary +than real. He goes into the facts of the proposed great dam to be +constructed at Gatun and points out that such construction is not +experimental, but sustained by large American experience, which is +larger, perhaps, than that of any other country in the world. He gives +his indorsement to the views of the Isthmian Commission and its chief +engineer that the estimated cost of time and money for completing a +sea-level canal is not correctly stated by the majority members of the +Board, and that the cost, in all probability, will be at least +$25,000,000 more, while, in his opinion, eighteen to twenty years will +be necessary to complete the sea-level project. He also holds that the +military advantages will be decidedly in favor of a lock canal. + +This is practically the present status of facts and opinions regarding +the canal problem as it is now before Congress, except that since +January the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals has collected a +large mass of additional and valuable testimony. Restating the facts in +a somewhat different way, Congress is asked to give its final approval +to the sea-level proposition, chiefly favored by foreigners, and to give +its disapproval to the project of a lock canal, favored by American +engineers. Congress is asked to rely in the main upon the experience +gained in the management of the Suez Canal, where the conditions are +essentially and fundamentally different from what they are or ever will +be on the Isthmus of Panama, and to disregard the more than fifty years' +experience in the successful management of the lock canals connecting +the Great Lakes. Congress is asked to pronounce against the lock canal +because in the management of the ship canal at Manchester several +accidents have occurred, due to carelessness or ignorance in navigation, +and we are asked to disregard the successful record of the "Soo" Canal, +in the management of which only three accidents, of no very serious +importance, have occurred during more than fifty years. + +In no other country in the world has there been more experience with +lock canals than in this. For nearly a hundred years the Erie Canal has +been one of our most successful of inland waterways, connecting the +ocean with the Great Lakes. The Erie Canal is 387 miles in length, has +72 locks, and is now being enlarged, to accommodate barges of a thousand +tons, at a cost of $101,000,000. We have the Ohio Canal, with 150 locks; +the Miami and Erie Canal, with 93 locks; the Pennsylvania Canal, with 71 +locks; the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, with 73 locks; and numerous other +inland waterways of lesser importance. It is a question of degree and +not of kind, for the problem is the same in all essentials, and +confronts Congress as much in the proposed deep waterway connecting +tide-water with the Great Lakes, in which locks are proposed with a lift +of 40 feet or more, or very considerably in excess of the proposed lift +of the locks on the Isthmian Canal. + +The proposed ship canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio River provides for 34 +locks. The suggested canal from Lake Michigan to the Illinois and +Mississippi rivers provides for 37 locks, and, finally, the projected +ship canal from the St. Lawrence River to Lake Huron contemplates 22 +locks. So that lock canals of exceptional magnitude are not only in +existence, but new canals of this type are contemplated in the United +States and Canada. + +In other words, Congress is asked to regard with preference the judgment +and opinions of foreign engineers and to disregard the judgment and +opinions of American engineers. We are seriously asked to completely +disregard American opinion, as voiced by the Isthmian Commission, +responsible for the enterprise as a whole; as voiced by the Secretary of +War, responsible for the time being for the proper execution of the +work; as voiced by Chief Engineer Stevens, who stands foremost among +Americans in his profession; and finally, as voiced by all the engineers +now on the Isthmus, who have a practical knowledge of the actual +conditions, and who are as thoroughly familiar as any class of men with +the problems which confront us and with the conditions which will have +to be met. I for one, leaving out of consideration for the present +details which are subject to modification and change, believe that it +will be a fatal error for the nation to commit itself to the practically +hopeless and visionary sea-level project and to delay for many years the +opening of this much needed waterway connecting the Atlantic with the +Pacific. I for one am opposed to a waste of untold millions and to +additional burdens of needless taxation, while the project of a lock +canal offers every practical advantage, offers a canal within a +reasonable period of time and at a reasonable cost, offers a waterway of +enormous advantage to American shipping, of the greatest possible value +to the nation in the event of war, and the opportunity for the American +people to carry into execution at the earliest possible moment what has +been called the "dream of navigators," and what has thus far defied the +engineering skill of European nations. + +But in addition to the evidence presented for or against a sea-level or +lock canal project by the two conflicting reports of the Board of +Consulting Engineers, there is now available a very considerable mass of +testimony of American engineers who were called as witnesses before the +Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals. The testimony has been printed +as a separate document and makes a volume of nearly a thousand pages. +Much of this evidence is conflicting, much of it is mere engineering +opinion, much of it comes perilously near to being engineering +guesswork, but a large part of it is of practical value and may safely +be relied upon to guide the Congress in an effort to arrive at a final +and correct conclusion respecting the type of canal best adapted to our +needs and requirements. + +A critical examination and review of this testimony, as presented to the +Senate Committee from day to day for nearly five months, including the +testimony of administrative officers and others, relating to Panama +Canal affairs generally, is not practicable at this stage of the +session. Among others, the committee examined Mr. John F. Stevens, chief +engineer, upon all the essential points in controversy, regarding which, +in the light of additional experience and a very considerable amount of +new and more exact information, Mr. Stevens reaffirms his convictions in +favor of the practicability and superior advantages of a lock canal. + +In opposition to the views and conclusions of Mr. Stevens, Prof. William +H. Burr pronounced himself emphatically in favor of the sea-level +project. As a member of the former Isthmian Commission, reporting upon +the type of canal, Mr. Burr had signed the report in favor of the lock +project, but as a member of the Board of Consulting Engineers he had +sided with the majority favoring the sea-level canal. Thus engineering +opinion is as apt as any other human opinion to undergo a change, and +the convictions of one year in favor of a proposition may change into +opposite convictions, favoring an opposite proposition, only a few years +later. Mr. William Barclay Parsons, also a member of the Board of +Consulting Engineers, who had signed the report in favor of the +sea-level project, gave further evidence before the committee, restating +his views and convictions in favor of the sea-level type. Mr. William +Noble, an engineer of large experience, for some years in charge of the +"Soo" Canal, and who, as a member of the Board of Consulting Engineers, +had signed the report in favor of a lock project, restates his views and +convictions in favor of a lock canal. Mr. Noble had also been a member +of the Isthmian Commission of 1902, reporting at that time in favor of a +lock canal. + +Mr. Frederick P. Stearns, the foremost American authority on earth-dam +construction, gave evidence regarding the safety of the proposed dams at +Gatun and other points. His views and conclusions are based upon large +practical experience and a profound theoretical knowledge of the +subject. Mr. Stearns had also been a member of the Consulting Board of +Engineers and as such had signed the report of the minority in favor of +the lock project. He reaffirmed his views favoring a lock canal with a +dam at Gatun. Mr. John F. Wallace, former chief engineer, gave testimony +in favor of the sea-level type and strongly opposed the lock project. +Col. Oswald H. Ernst, United States Army, than whom probably few are +more thoroughly familiar with conditions on the Isthmus and the entire +project of canal construction, declared himself to be strongly in favor +of the lock-canal project. + +Gen. Peter C. Hains, United States Army, equally well qualified to +express an opinion on the subject in all its important points, +pronounced himself strongly and unequivocally in favor of a lock canal. + +[Illustration: PANAMA CANAL ZONE] + +[Illustration: PROFILE OF CANAL] + +Gen. Henry L. Abbot, United States Army, one of the highest authorities +on river hydraulics, thoroughly familiar with Mississippi River flood +problems, a former member of the International Technical Commission, of +the New Panama Canal Company, and for a time its consulting engineer, a +member of different Isthmian commissions, and also a member of the +consulting board, reëmphasized his conviction, sustained by much +valuable evidence, in favor of the lock-canal project. General Abbot, as +a member of the consulting board, had signed the report of the minority +in favor of a lock canal. Gen. George W. Davis, United States Army, for +a time governor of the Canal Zone and president of the International +Board of Consulting Engineers, restated his views and convictions as +opposed to the lock-canal type and in favor of the sea-level project. +The last witness, Mr. B.M. Harrod, an engineer of large experience, for +many years connected with levee construction and familiar with the flood +problems of the Mississippi River, submitted a statement in which he +restated his views in favor of a lock canal. + +So that, summing up the evidence of twelve engineers examined before the +committee (including Mr. Lindon W. Bates), there were eight American +engineers strongly and unequivocally in favor of a lock canal, while +four expressed their views to the contrary. Subjecting the mass of +testimony to a critical examination, I cannot draw any other conclusion +or arrive at any other conviction than _that the lock project, in the +light of the facts and large experience, has decidedly the advantage +over the sea-level proposition_. And this view is strengthened by the +fact that the opinion of the engineers most competent to judge--that is, +men like Mr. Noble, who has thoroughly studied lock-canal construction, +management, and navigation, who as a member of the United States Deep +Waterway Commission reëxamined probably as thoroughly as any living +authority into the entire subject of the mechanics and practice of lock +canals--is emphatically opposed to the sea-level proposition. + +When a man like Mr. Stearns, of national and international reputation as +a waterworks engineer, who for many years has been in charge of the +extensive construction work of the Massachusetts Metropolitan Water and +Sewerage Board, and who probably has as large a practical and +theoretical knowledge of earth-dam construction as any living authority, +declares himself to be strongly in favor of the lock project and +believes in the entire safety of the dams required in connection +therewith, I hold that such a judgment may be relied upon and that it +should govern in national affairs as it would govern in private affairs +if the canal construction were a business enterprise and involved the +risk of private capital. When we find a man like Mr. Harrod, who for +many years has been in charge of levee construction in Louisiana, +thoroughly familiar with the theory and practice of river and flood +control, express himself in favor of the lock project and in opposition +to the sea-level canal, I hold that we may with entire confidence accept +his judgment as a governing principle in arriving at a final decision +respecting the type of the canal to be finally fixed by the Congress. + +And, going back to the minority report of the Board of Consulting +Engineers, we find that Mr. Joseph Ripley, the general superintendent at +present in charge of the "Soo" Canal, and Mr. Isham Randolph, chief +engineer of the sanitary district of Chicago, and thoroughly familiar +with canal construction and management, both American engineers of much +experience and high standing, pronounce themselves in favor of a lock +canal. When confronted by these facts, I for one would rely upon +American engineers, American conviction and American experience, and +accept the lock-canal proposition. + +In this matter, as in all other practical problems, we may safely take +the business point of view, and calculate without bias or prejudice the +respective advantages and disadvantages; and the more thorough the +method of reasoning and logic applied to the canal problem the more +emphatic and incontrovertible the conclusion that the Congress should +decide in favor of a plan which will give us a navigable waterway across +the Isthmus within a measurable distance of time and with a reasonable +expenditure of money, as opposed to a visionary theory of an ideal canal +which may ultimately be constructed, possibly for the exclusive benefit +of future generations, but at an enormous waste of money, time, and +opportunity. I do not think we want to repeat at this late stage of the +canal problem the fatal error of De Lesseps, who, when he had the +opportunity in 1879 to make a choice of a practical waterway, being +influenced by his great success at Suez, upon the most fragmentary +evidence and in the absence of definite knowledge of actual conditions, +decided beforehand in favor of a sea-level canal. It was largely his +bias and prejudice which proved fatal to the enterprise and to himself. + +I may recall that the so-called "international congress of 1879" was a +mere subterfuge; that the opinions of eminent engineers, including all +the Americans, were opposed to a sea-level project and in favor of a +lock canal, but De Lesseps had made his plans, he had arrived at his +decision, and in his own words, at a meeting of the American Society of +Civil Engineers held in January, 1880, said, "I would have put my hat on +and walked out if any other plan than a sea-level canal project had been +adopted." + +The situation to-day is very similar to the critical state of the canal +question in 1902. What was then a question of choice of route is to-day +a question of choice of plan. What was then a geographical conflict is +to-day a conflict of engineering opinions. It has been made clear by the +reference to the report of the Board of Consulting Engineers and by the +testimony of the engineers before the Senate committee that the opinion +of eminent experts is so widely at variance that there is little, if +any, hope of an ultimate reconciliation. It is a choice of one plan or +the other--of a sea-level or a lock canal. In respect to either plan a +mass of testimony and data exists, which has been brought forward to +sustain one view or the other. In respect to either plan there are +advantages and disadvantages. The majority of the Senate Committee on +Interoceanic Canals have reported favorably a bill providing for the +construction of a canal at sea level. From this majority opinion the +minority of the committee emphatically and unequivocally dissent, and in +their report they express themselves in favor of the lock canal. + +The minority report calls attention to the changed conditions and +requirements, which now demand a canal of much larger dimensions than +originally proposed. Even as late as 1901 the depth of the canal prism +was to be only 35 feet, against 40 to 45 feet in the project of only +five years later. The bottom width has been increased from 150 to 200 +feet and over. The length of the locks has been changed from 740 to 900 +feet, and the width from 84 to 90 feet. These facts must be kept in +mind, for they bear upon the questions of time and cost, and a sea-level +or lock canal, as proposed to-day, is in all respects a very much larger +affair, demanding very superior facilities for traffic, than any +previous canal project ever suggested or proposed. This change in plans +was made necessary by the Spooner act, which provides for a canal of +such dimensions that the largest ship now building, or likely to be +built within a reasonable period of time, can be accommodated. + +Now, the estimated saving in money alone by adopting the lock plan--that +is, on the original investment, to say nothing of accumulating interest +charges--would be at least $100,000,000. Granting all that is said in +favor of a sea-level canal, it is not apparent by any evidence produced +that such a canal would prove a material advantage over a lock canal. +All its assumed advantages are entirely offset by the vastly greater +cost and longer period of time necessary for construction, and I am +confident that they would not be considered for a moment if the canal +were built as a commercial enterprise. I do not think that they should +hold good where the canal is the work of the nation, because a vast sum +of money otherwise needed will be eventually sunk if the sea-level +project is adopted, and entirely upon the theory that if certain +conditions should arise _then_ it would be better to have a sea-level +than a lock canal. We have never before proceeded in national +undertakings upon such an assumption; we have never before, as far as I +know, deliberately disregarded every principle of economy in money and +time; we have never before in national projects attempted to conform to +merely theoretical ideas, but we have always adhered to practical, hard +common-sense notions of _what is best_ under the circumstances. + +The majority of the committee attack the proposition that the proposed +lock canal will have "locks with dimensions far exceeding any that have +ever been made." If this principle were adopted in every other line of +human effort all advancement would come to an end--even the canal +enterprise itself--for, as it stands to-day, it far exceeds in magnitude +any corresponding effort ever made by this or any other nation. They say +that the proposed flight of three locks at Gatun would be objectionable +and unsafe, but we have the evidence of American engineers of the +highest standing, whose reputations are at stake, who are absolutely +confident that these locks can be constructed and operated with entire +safety. The committee say that "the entry through and exit from these +contiguous locks is attended with very great danger to the lock gates +and to the ships as well"; but if mere inherent danger of possible +accidents were an objection there would be no great steamships, no great +battleships, no great bridges and tunnels, no great undertakings of any +kind. + +The committee point out that accidents have occurred in the "Soo" Canal +and in the Manchester Ship Canal; but the conditions, in the first +place, were decidedly different, and, in the second place, they proved +of no serious consequence as a hindrance to traffic and did no material +injury to the canal. The "Soo" Canal has been in operation as a lock +canal for some fifty years; it has been enlarged from time to time, and +to-day accommodates a larger traffic than passes through all other ship +canals of the world combined. It is a sufficient answer to the +objections to say that this experience should have a determining +influence in arriving at a conclusion, for the inherent problems of +lock-canal construction are as well understood by American engineers as +any other problems or questions in engineering science. The proposed +deep waterway with a 30-foot channel from Chicago to tide-water, which +has been surveyed by direction of Congress, proposes an expenditure of +$303,000,000, and several locks with a lift of 40 feet or more. The +enlargement of the Erie Canal by the State of New York, at an +expenditure of $101,000,000, involves engineering problems, including +lock construction, not essentially different from those inherent in the +lock-canal project at Panama; and if these problems can be solved by our +engineers at home, it stands to reason that we may rely upon their +judgment that they can be solved at Panama. + +The majority of the Senate committee object to the proposed dam at +Gatun, and say that-- + + Earth dams founded on the drift and silt of ages, through which + water habitually percolates, to be increased by the pressure of the + 85-foot lock when made, have been referred to by many of our + technical advisers as another element of danger. The vast masses of + earth piled on this alluvial base to the height of 135 feet will + certainly settle, and as the drift material of this base or + foundation has varying depth, to 250 feet or more, the settlement + of the new mass, as well as its base, will be unequal, and it is + predicted that cracks and fissures in the dam will be formed, which + will be reached and used by the water under the pressure above + mentioned, and will cause the destruction of the dam and the + draining off of the great lake upon which the integrity of the + entire canal rests. + +But all of this is mere conjecture. The evidence of Engineer Stearns, a +man of large experience, and of Engineer Harrod, familiar with river +hydraulics and levee construction, and of many others, is emphatically +to the contrary. There is not an American engineer of ability, nor an +American contractor of experience, who would not undertake to build the +proposed dam at Gatun and guarantee its safety and permanency without +any hesitation whatever. The alternative proposal of a dam at Gamboa +would be as objectionable upon much the same ground, and the dam there, +which is indispensable to the sea-level project, has also been +considered unsafe by some of the engineers. In all questions of this +kind the aggregate experience of mankind ought to have greater weight +than the abstract theories of individuals, and I am confident that our +engineers, who have so successfully solved problems of the greatest +magnitude in the reclamation projects of the far West and in the control +and regulation of the floods of the Mississippi River, will solve with +equal success similar problems at Panama. + +The committee further says that the sea-level project contemplates the +removal of some 110,000,000 cubic yards of material, while the lock +canal would require the removal of only about half that quantity, or, in +other words, that there is a difference of some 57,000,000 cubic yards, +which, "to omit to take out ... is to confess our impotence, which is +not characteristic of the American people or their engineers or +contractors." By this method of reasoning a nation which can build a +battleship of 16,000 tons displacement is impotent if it can not build +one of twice that tonnage, and if this reason applies to quantity of +material, why not say that a nation which can dig a canal 150 feet wide +through a mountain some seven miles in length admits its impotence if it +can not dig one 300 feet wide, or 600 feet, if it should please to do +so? But why should it be less difficult or a declaration of impotency on +the part of our engineers to build a safe lock canal including a +satisfactory and safe controlling dam at Gatun? As I conceive the +problem, it is one of reasonable compromise, and while I do not question +the ability of American engineers and contractors to build a sea-level +canal, I am convinced by the facts in evidence that they can not do it +within the time and for the money assumed by the advocates of the +sea-level project. + +This question of _time_ is of supreme importance. Ten years in a +nation's life is often a long space in national history. Many times the +map of the world has been changed in less than a decade. No man in 1890 +anticipated the war with Spain in 1898, and no man in 1906 can say what +important event may not happen before the next decade has passed. The +progress during peace is far greater in its permanent effect than the +changes brought about by war. The world's commerce, the social, +commercial, and political development of the South American republics +and of Asiatic nations, all depend, more or less, upon the completion of +an Isthmian waterway. It is the duty of this nation, since we have +assumed this task, to construct a waterway across the Isthmus within the +shortest reasonable period of time. Valuable years have passed, valuable +opportunities have gone by. In 1884 De Lesseps, with supreme confidence +and upon the judgment of his engineers, anticipated the opening of the +Panama Canal in 1888. That was nearly twenty years ago. Shall it be +twenty years more before that greatest event in the world's commercial +history takes place? Had De Lesseps in 1879 gone before the +International Congress with a proposition for a feasible canal at +reasonable cost, free from prejudice or bias, had he then adopted the +American suggestion for a lock canal, he would probably have lived to +see its completion, and the world for fifteen years would have had the +use of a practical waterway across the Isthmus. + +As to safety in operation, which the committee discuss in their report, +there is one very important point to be kept in mind, and that is that +nine-tenths, or possibly a larger proportion, of shipping will be of +vessels of relatively small size. If this should be the case, then the +sea-level project contemplates a canal chiefly designed to meet the +possible needs of a very small number of vessels of largest size, while +the lock canal provides primarily for the accommodation of the class of +steamships which of necessity would make the largest practical use of +the Isthmian waterway. Now, it stands to reason that special precautions +would be employed during the passage of a very large vessel, either +merchantman or man-of-war, and even if necessity should demand the rapid +passage of a fleet of vessels, say twenty or thirty, it is not +conceivable that a condition would arise which could not be efficiently +safeguarded against by those in actual charge and responsible for safety +in the management of the canal. Considering the immense tonnage passing +through the "Soo" Canal, which would not be equaled in the Panama Canal +for a century to come, the very few and relatively unimportant accidents +which have occurred during the fifty years of operation of that waterway +are in every respect the most suggestive indorsement of the lock-canal +project which could be advanced. + +The time of transit, in the opinion of the majority committee of the +Senate, would be somewhat longer in the case of a lock canal. This may +be so, though much depends upon the class of ships passing through and +their number. To the practical navigator the loss of a few hours would +be a negligible quantity compared with the higher tolls that will +necessarily be charged if an additional $100,000,000 is expended in +construction and an additional interest burden of at least $2,000,000 +per annum has to be provided for. I understand that the actual value of +an hour or two in the case of commercial ships of average size would be +a matter of comparatively no importance in contrast with the +all-suggestive fact that the alternative project of a sea-level canal +would provide no navigation whatever across the Isthmus for probably ten +years more. If it is an advantage to gain an hour or two in transit ten +years hence by having no transisthmian shipping facilities for the ten +years in the meantime, then it might as well be argued that it would be +better to project a sea-level canal 300 feet wide at every point, so +that the commerce of the year 2000 may be properly provided for. But to +the practical navigator of the year 1916, who leaves the port of New +York for San Francisco by way of Cape Horn, a possible loss of two or +three hours or more would be many times preferable, if the Isthmus were +open for traffic, to a certain loss of from forty to fifty days to make +the voyage all around South America. + +Upon the question of cost of maintenance the majority committee in their +report point out that the Board of Consulting Engineers did not submit +the details of any estimate of cost of maintenance, repairs, etc., but +they say that this factor was properly taken into account by the +minority favoring a lock canal. Now, there is probably no more important +question connected with the whole canal problem than this, for if the +annual expense of maintenance, to be provided for by Congressional +appropriations, should attain such an exorbitant figure as to make any +fair return upon the investment impossible, it is conceivable that the +most serious political and financial consequences might arise and the +success of the enterprise itself might be placed in jeopardy. Upon a +maximum cost, in round figures, of $200,000,000 for a lock canal, and of +$300,000,000 as a minimum for a sea-level canal, the additional annual +interest charge would be at least $2,000,000. + +But Mr. Stearns estimates that under certain conditions a sea-level +canal might cost as much as $410,000,000, which would add millions of +dollars more per annum to the fixed charges which must be included in +the cost of maintenance, to say nothing of a possibly much higher cost +of operation. Nor can I agree to the statement that the cost of +operation of a sea-level canal would be $800,000 per annum less than in +the case of a lock canal; but, on the contrary, I am fully satisfied +that the expense would be very much greater in the sea-level project, if +proper allowance is made for interest charges upon the additional +outlay, which cannot be rightfully ignored. Upon this important point +the evidence of the engineers and of the minority members of the Board +is strongly in favor of the lock-canal project. + +As regards ultimate cost, the estimates of the majority are very much +more indefinite and conjectural than the more carefully prepared +estimates of the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers. Upon +this point the majority of the Senate committee say: + + There are two estimates now before the Senate, both originating + with the Board of Consulting Engineers. The basis of computation of + cost at certain unit prices was adopted unanimously by the Board, + and we are told that the cost, with the 20 per cent. allowance for + contingencies, will be, for the sea-level canal, the sum of + $247,021,200. Your committee has adopted the figures stated by the + majority on page 64 of its report of a total of $250,000,000 for + the ultimate final cost of the sea-level canal. + +The estimate of the minority for a lock canal at a level of eighty-five +feet is, in round figures, $140,000,000, or about $110,000,000 less than +for a sea-level canal, which would represent a difference of $2,200,000 +per annum in interest charges at the lowest possible rate of two per +cent. The majority of the Senate committee attempt to meet this +difference by capitalizing the estimated higher maintenance charge, +which they fix at $800,000 per annum, and they thus increase the total +cost of a lock canal by $40,000,000; but this, I hold, involves a +serious financial error, unless a corresponding allowance is made for +the ultimate cost of the sea-level project. There is, however, no +serious disagreement upon the point that a sea-level canal in any event +would cost a very much larger sum as an original outlay, certainly not +less than $120,000,000 more, and, in all probability, in the opinion of +qualified engineers, including Mr. Stevens, the chief engineer, twice +that sum. + +Reference is made in the report to the probable value of the land which +will be inundated under the lock-canal project with a dam at Gatun, the +value of which has been placed at approximately $300,000. The majority +of the Senate committee estimate that this amount might reach +$10,000,000, or as much as was paid for the entire Canal Zone. The +estimate is based upon the price of certain lands required by the +government near the city of Panama, but one might as well estimate the +worth of land in the Adirondacks by the prices paid for real estate in +lower New York. The item, no doubt, requires to be properly taken into +account, but two independent estimates fix the probable sum at $300,000 +for lands which are otherwise practically valueless and which would only +acquire value the moment the United States should need them. In my +opinion, the value of these lands will not form a serious item in the +total cost of the canal, and I have every reason to believe that +independent estimates of the minority engineers of the Consulting Board, +and of Mr. Stevens, may be relied upon as conservative. + +The majority of the Senate committee further say that-- + + It is not necessary to dwell upon the fact that all naval + commanders and commercial masters of the great national and private + vessels of the world are almost to a man opposed unalterably to the + introduction of any lock to lift vessels over the low summit that + nature has left for us to remove. + +I am not aware that any material evidence of this character has come +before the Senate Committee on Isthmian Affairs, investigating +conditions at Panama. I do know this, however, that until very recently +it has been the American project to construct a lock canal. All the +former advocates of an American canal by way of Panama or Nicaragua, or +by any other route, contemplated a lock canal of a much more complex +character than the present Panama project. All the advocates of a canal +across the Isthmus, including many distinguished engineers in the army +and navy, have been in favor of a lock canal, and almost without +exception have reported upon the feasibility of a lock canal across the +Isthmus and upon its advantages to commerce and navigation, and in +military and naval operations in case of war. The Nicaragua Canal, as +recommended to Congress and as favored by the first Walker Commission, +provided for a lock project far more complex than the proposition now +under consideration. + +Colonel Totten, who built the Panama railroad, recommended as early as +1857 the construction of a lock canal; Naval Commissioner Lull, who made +a careful survey of the Isthmus in 1874, recommended a lock canal with a +summit level of 124 feet and with 24 locks. Admiral Ammen, who, by +authority of the Secretary of War, attended the Isthmian Congress of +1879, favored a lock project, in strong opposition to the visionary plan +of De Lesseps. Admiral Selfridge and many other naval officers who have +been connected with Isthmian surveying and exploration have never, to my +knowledge, by as much as a word expressed their apprehensions regarding +the feasibility or practicability of a lock canal. + +As a matter of fact and canal history, the lock project has very +properly been considered "an American conception of the proper treatment +of the Panama canal problem." Mr. C.D. Ward, an American engineer of +great ability, as early as 1879 suggested a plan almost identical with +the one now recommended by the minority of the Consulting Board, +including a dam at Gatun, instead of Bohio or Gamboa; and, in the words +of a former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Mr. +Welsh, "The first thought of an American engineer on looking at M. De +Lesseps' raised map is to convert the valley of the lower Chagres into +an artificial lake some twenty miles long by a dam across the valley at +or near a point where the proposed canal strikes it, a few miles from +Colon, such as was advocated by C.D. Ward in 1879." The site referred +to was Gatun, and this was written in 1880, when the sea-level project +had full sway. + +So that it is going entirely too far to say that all naval commanders +and commercial masters are in favor of the sea-level project. Admiral +Walker himself, as president of the former Isthmian Commission, and as +president of the Nicaraguan Board, favored a lock canal. Eminent army +engineers, like Abbot, Hains, Ernst, and others, favor the lock project. +It requires no very extensive knowledge of navigation to make it clear +that passing through a waterway which for 35 miles, or 71 per cent. of +its distance, will have a width of 500 feet or more, compared with one +which, for the larger part, or for some forty-one miles, will have a +width of only 200 feet or less, must appeal to the sense of security of +the skipper while taking his vessel through the canal. + +But it is a question of general principles, and not of personal +preference. Our concern is with a matter of fact, and not with a theory. +No ship-owner on the Great Lakes considers it a serious hindrance to +navigation for vessels to pass through the lock of the "Soo" Canal; no +shipper running 1,000-ton barges through the future Erie Canal will have +the least apprehension of danger or destruction; no captain navigating a +vessel or boat through the proposed deep waterway from the ocean to the +Lakes will hesitate to pass through locks with a proposed lift of over +forty feet. These apprehensions are imaginary and not real. They are not +derived from experience or from a summary statement of shipmasters and +naval officers, but from the individual expressions and prejudice of a +few who are opposed to the lock project. I am confident that if the +matter is left to the practical navigator, to the ship-owner, and to the +self-reliant naval officer, there will be no serious disagreement with +the opinion that a lock canal, which can be built within a reasonable +period of time, is preferable to any sea-level canal which may be built +and opened to navigation twenty years hence or later. + +There are two objections made by the majority of the Senate committee +against a lock canal which require more extended consideration. These +are, the protection of the canal in case of war and the danger of +serious injury or total destruction by possible earth movements or +so-called "earthquakes." Regarding the military aspects of the canal +problem, the majority of the Senate committee say: + + The Spooner act and the Hay-Varilla treaty contemplated the + fortification and military protection of the canal route. No + proposition affecting this policy is now before the Senate. In so + far as the type of canal to be adopted has a bearing upon the + jeopardy to or immunity of the canal from risk of malicious injury, + the subject of safety and protection is pertinent and most + important. If a canal of one type would be more liable to injury + than another, this liability should under no circumstances be + neglected in determining the type or plan. It does not require + argument that the use of the canal by the United States will cease + if the control passes to a hostile power between which and the + United States a state of war exists, but this is true whatever the + type may be. + +As the majority of the committee point out, "no proposition affecting +this project is now before the Senate." In my opinion, none is +necessary. The neutrality of the canal is, by implication at least, +assured, and we have pledged our national good faith that the waterway +will be open to all the nations of the world. Some time in the future, +when the canal is completed and an accepted fact, it may be advisable to +adopt the course pursued in the case of the Suez Canal. The original +concession for that canal provided, by section 3, for its subsequent +fortification, but this was never carried into effect. By a convention +dated December 22, 1888, among Great Britain, Germany, and other +nations, the free navigation of the Suez Canal was made a matter of +international agreement, and the same has been reprinted as Senate +Document No. 151, Fifty-sixth Congress, first session, under date of +February 6, 1900. + +This, in any event, is a problem of the future. The canal is the +property of the United States, and we shall always retain control. In +the event of war we shall rely with confidence upon our navy to protect +our interests on the Pacific and in the Caribbean Sea, but even more may +we rely upon the all-important fact that it could never be to the +interest of any other nation sufficient in size to be at war with us to +destroy this international waterway, which will become an important +necessity to the commerce of each and all. No neutral nation engaged in +extensive commerce or trade would for an instant allow another nation at +war with the United States to injure or destroy the canal or to +seriously interfere with the traffic passing through it. To destroy as +much as a single lock, to injure as much as a single gate, would be +considered equal to an act of war by every commercial nation of the +earth. In this simple fact lies a greater assurance of safety than in +all the treaties which might be made or in all the fortifications which +might be established to protect the canal. + +The majority of the committee well say in their report, that the power +of mischief "is within easy reach of all." The possibility of an assumed +occurrence is very remote from its reasonable probability. We have to +rely upon our own good faith and the watchful eyes of our officers. +Against possible contingencies, such as are implied in the assumed +destruction of the locks by dynamite or other high explosives, we can do +no more than take the same precautions which we take in all other +matters of national importance. We have to take our chances the same as +any other nation would; the same as commercial enterprise would. +Certainly the remote possibility of such an event, the still more remote +contingency that the injury would be serious or fatal to the operation +of the canal, should not govern in a decision to construct a canal for +the use of the present generation rather than for the generations to +come. No canal can be built free from vulnerable points; no forts, no +battleships, can be built free from such a risk. It would be folly to +delay the construction of a canal; it would be folly to sink a hundred +million dollars or more upon so remote a contingency as this, which +belongs to the realm of fanciful or morbid imagination rather than to +the domain of substantial fact and actual experience. + +As a last resort, the opposition to a lock canal brings forward the +earthquake argument. It is a curious reminder of the early and bitter +opposition to the building of the Suez Canal; its enemies had to fall +back upon the absurd theory that the canal would prove a failure because +the blowing sands of the desert would soon fill the channel. It was +seriously proposed to erect a stone wall four feet high on each side of +the embankment to provide against this imaginary danger to the canal. +Another early objection to the Suez Canal was that the Red Sea level was +30 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, only set at rest in 1847 +by a special commission, which included Mr. Robert Stephenson, the great +son of a great father, bitter to the last in his opposition to the +canal, which he considered an impracticable engineering scheme. There +was much talk about the assumed prevalence of strong westerly winds on +the southern Mediterranean coast, and the danger of constantly +increasing deposits of the Nile, it was said, would render the +establishment of a port impossible. It was necessary to place a war-ship +for a whole winter at anchor three miles from the shore to prove the +error of this assumption and set at rest a foolish rumor which came near +proving fatal to the enterprise. + +Earthquakes have occurred on the Isthmus, and there is record of one +shock of some consequence in 1882. The matter has been inquired into in +a general way by the various Isthmian commissions, and assumed some +prominence during the discussions and debates regarding a choice of +routes. It was plain to even the least informed that the volcanic belt +of Nicaragua constituted a real menace to a canal in that region; and +one of the strongest arguments advanced in the minority report of the +Senate committee of 1902, submitted by Senator Kittredge, now a leading +advocate of the sea-level project, in opposition to the Nicaragua Canal, +was the assertion of the practical freedom of the Panama Isthmus from +the danger of earth movements. + +The minority of the Senate committee of 1902 in their report, summing up +the final reasons in favor of the Panama route (section 12), said: + + At Panama earthquakes are few and unimportant, while the Nicaraguan + route passes over a well-known coastal weakness. Only five + disturbances of any sort were recorded at Panama, all very slight, + while similar official records at San Jose de Costa Rica, near the + route of the Nicaragua Canal, show for the same period fifty + shocks, a number of which were severe. (P. 11, S. Rep. 783, part 2, + 57th Cong., 1st session, May 31, 1902.) + +In another part of their report the committee said: + + With the dreadful lessons of Martinique and St. Vincent fresh in + our minds, we should be utterly inexcusable if we deliberately + selected a route for an Isthmian canal in a region so volcanic and + dangerous, when a route is open to us which is exposed to none of + these dangers and is in every other respect more advantageous. + +And they quote Professor Heilprin, an authority on the subject, in part, +as follows: + + It has, however, been known for a full quarter of a century that + the main Andes do not traverse the Isthmus of Panama, and that + there are no active or recently decayed volcanoes in any part of + the Isthmus. So far, however, as danger from direct volcanic + contacts is concerned, the Panama route is exempt. (Pp. 22-23.) + +And further: + + This district represents the most stable portion of Central + America. No volcanic eruptions have occurred there since the end of + the Miocene epoch, and there are no active volcanoes between + Chiriqui and Tolima, a distance of about four hundred miles. Such + earthquakes as have occurred are chiefly those proceeding from the + disturbed districts on either hand, with intensity much diminished + by the distance traversed. The canal lies in a sort of dead angle + of comparative safety. + +The report continues: + + The situation being, then, that the danger from volcanoes at Panama + is nothing, and that from earthquakes practically nothing, while at + Nicaragua the canal would be situated in one of the most dangerous + regions of the world from both these causes, the question should be + considered settled. + +This was the opinion of the committee of 1902; it was emphatic and plain +in its language; it had considered expert views and the available data. +It had before it the full report of the Nicaragua Canal Commission, +printed under date of May 15th of the same year, Chapter VII of which +considers the subject at much greater length than has been done since +that time and with a full knowledge of the facts and free from bias or +prejudice. With the then recent occurrence at Mount Pelée in mind, and +with a full understanding of the liability of the Isthmus to seismic +shocks of minor importance, the committee emphatically indorsed the +lock-canal project at Panama. + +Much can be said with regard to this matter, and it is one which should, +and no doubt will, receive the most careful consideration of the +engineers in charge of the work. Seismic disturbances have occurred in +all parts of the world, and they have occurred at Panama. Where they are +not directly of volcanic origin they appear to be the result of +subsidence or contraction of the earth's crust, and they have occurred +and caused serious destruction far from centers of volcanic activity, +among other places, at Lisbon, Portugal, and at Charleston, S.C. Some +sections of the earth, as for illustration Japan and the Philippines, +are no doubt more subject to these movements than others, and sections +subject to such movements at one period of time may be exempt for many +years if not forever thereafter. + +The fearful earthquake which affected Charleston, S.C., in 1886 had no +corresponding precedent in that section, nor has it been followed by a +similar disturbance. Regardless of the terrible experience of 1886, the +government has now in course of construction at Charleston a navy-yard, +and a great dry-dock, costing many millions of dollars, which will be +operated by locks or gates, and, I presume, the question of earthquakes +or earth movements has not been raised in any of the reports which have +been made regarding this undertaking. Earthquakes formerly were quite +frequent in New England, and they extended to New York during the early +years of our history, and for a time Boston and Newbury, Mass., +Deerfield, N.H., and particularly East Haddam, Conn., were the centers +of seismic activity, which by inference might be used as an argument +against our navy-yards at Portsmouth, N.H., and Charlestown, Mass., our +torpedo station at Newport, or the fortifications at Willets Point. The +earthquake which destroyed Lisbon in 1755 might with equal propriety be +used as an argument against the building of the extensive docks and +fortifications at Gibraltar, but no one, I think, has ever questioned +the solidity of the Rock. + +Seismology is a very complex branch of geologic inquiry and it is a +subject regarding which very little of determining value is known. +Theories have been advanced that under certain geological conditions +earth movements would be comparatively infrequent, if not impossible. +Whether such conditions exist at Panama would have to be determined by +the investigations of qualified experts. It would seem, however, from +such data as are available, that the local conditions are decidedly +favorable to a comparative immunity of this region from serious seismic +shocks, at least such as would do great and general damage. Nor can it +be argued that the locks and dams would be exposed to special risk. The +earthquake of 1882 did more or less damage, but the reports are of a +very fragmentary character. Newspaper reports in matters of this kind +have very small value. Injury was done to the railway, but not of very +serious consequence. + +If the risk exists, it would affect equally a sea-level canal, in that +it would threaten the tidal lock, the dam at Gamboa, and the excavation +through Culebra cut. Very little is known regarding earthquake motions, +and there are very few seismic elements which are really calculable in +conformity to a mathematical theory of probability. It is a subject +which has not received the attention in this country of which it is +deserving, but enough of seismic motion is known to warrant the +conclusion that the Senate committee of 1902 was, in all human +probability, entirely correct when it made light of the danger of the +probability of seismic shocks at Panama. + +In fine, the earthquake argument has little or no force against a +lock-canal project, and it has never received serious consideration as +such or been used in arguments against a lock canal until the recent San +Francisco disaster brought the subject prominently before the public. It +is a danger as remote as a possible destruction of the proposed terminal +plants at Colon and Panama by flood waves equal in magnitude to the one +which destroyed Galveston in 1900, but such dangers are inherent in all +human undertakings. They must be taken as a matter of chance and remote +possibility, which for all present purposes may be left out of account, +except that the subject should receive the due consideration of the +engineers and perhaps be made a matter of special and comprehensive +inquiry by the Geological Survey. In any serious consideration of the +facts for or against a lock canal, I am confident that the earthquake +risk may safely be ignored. The comprehensive report of the minority +members of the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Affairs is a sufficient +and conclusive answer to all the important points which are in +controversy, and it remains for Congress to cut the "Gordian knot" and +put an end to an interminable discussion of much solid and substantial +conviction on the one hand and of a vast amount of opinion and guesswork +on the other hand. All of the evidence, all of the supplementary expert +testimony which may be obtained upon the merits of the two propositions, +will not change the position of those who rest their conclusions upon +American experience and upon the judgment of American engineers, and who +favor a lock canal. While there is no doubt that such a canal can be +constructed and can be made a practicable waterway, there is a very +serious question whether a sea-level canal can be constructed and made a +safe and practicable waterway, at least within the limits of the +estimated amount of cost and within the estimated time. + +The view which I have tried to impress upon the Senate is nothing more +nor less than a business view of what is, for all practical purposes, +only a business proposition. If a lock canal can be built, useful for +all purposes, at half the cost and within half the time of a sea-level +canal, then I can come to no other conclusion than that a lock canal +would be decidedly to our political and commercial advantage. A +decision, however, should be arrived at. The canal project has reached a +stage where the final plan or type must be determined, and it is the +duty of Congress to act and to fix, for once and for all time, the type +of canal, with the same courage and freedom from prejudice or bias as +was the case in the decision which finally fixed the route by way of +Panama. + +Any amount of additional testimony and expert opinion will only add to +the confusion and tend to produce a more hopeless state of affairs. Let +Congress fix the type in broad outlines and leave it to responsible +engineers in actual charge to solve problems in detail, and to adapt +themselves to local conditions and to new problems which in the course +of construction are certain to arise. Let us take counsel of the past, +most of all from the experience gained in the construction of the Suez +Canal, an engineering and commercial success which challenges the +admiration of the world. We know how near it came to utter defeat by the +conflict of opinion, by the intrigue of conniving and jealous powers, +and last, but not least, by the ill-founded apprehensions and fears of +those who were searching the vast domain of conjecture and remote +possibilities for arguments to cause a temporary delay or ultimate +abandonment. + +It is not difficult to secure the opinion of eminent authority for or +against any project when the facts themselves are in dispute, and when +the objects and aims are not well defined. The great Lord Palmerston, +the most bitter opponent of the Suez Canal scheme, in want of a more +convincing argument, seriously claimed that France would send soldiers +disguised as workmen to the Isthmus of Suez, later to take possession of +Egypt and make it a French colony. By one method or another Palmerston +tried to defeat the scheme in its beginning and to bring it to disaster +during the period of construction. It is a far from creditable story. +History always more or less repeats itself, whether it be in politics or +engineering enterprise, but in few affairs are there more convincing +parallels than in the canal projects of Panama and Suez. Lord Palmerston +and Sir Henry Bulwer, then the ambassador at Constantinople, did all in +their power to destroy public confidence in the enterprise, and they +were completely successful in preventing English investments in the +stock of the canal.[2] + +It was the same Sir Henry Bulwer who, in 1850, succeeded by questionable +diplomatic methods in foisting upon the American people a treaty which +was contrary to their best interests and which for half a century was a +hindrance and barrier to an American Isthmian canal. We owe it chiefly +to the masterly and straightforward statesmanship of the late John Hay +that this obstacle to our progress was disposed of to the entire +satisfaction of both nations. I refer to these matters, which are facts +of history, only to point out how an interminable discussion of matters +of detail is certain to delay and do great injury to projects which +should only receive Congressional consideration in broad outlines and +upon fundamental principles. If we are to enter into a discussion of +engineering conflicts, if we are to deliberate upon mere matters of +structural detail, then an entire session of Congress will not suffice +to solve all the problems which will arise in connection with that +enterprise in the course of time. I draw attention to the Suez +experience solely to point out the error of taking into serious account +minor and far-fetched objections which assume an undue magnitude in the +public mind when they are presented in lurid colors of impending +disasters to a national enterprise of vast extent and importance. + +So eminent an engineer as Mr. Robert Stephenson by his expert opinion +deluded the British people into the belief that the Suez Canal would not +be practicable; that, even if completed, it would be nothing but a +stagnant ditch. Said Palmerston to De Lesseps: + + All the engineers of Europe might say what they pleased, he knew + more than they did, and his opinion would never change one iota, + and he would oppose the work to the end. + +Stephenson confirmed this view and held that the canal would never be +completed except at an enormous expense, too great to warrant any +expectation of return--a judgment both ill advised and erroneous as was +clearly proved by subsequent events. I need only say that the Suez Canal +is to-day an extremely profitable waterway, and that although the work +was commenced and brought to completion without a single English +shilling, through French enterprise and upon the judgment of French +engineers, it was only a comparatively few years later when, as a matter +of necessity and logical sequence, the controlling interest in the canal +was purchased by the English government, which has since made of that +waterway the most extensive use for purposes of peace and of war. + +These are the facts of history, and they are not disputed. Shall history +repeat itself? Shall we delay or miscarry in our efforts to complete a +canal across the Isthmus of Panama upon similar pretensions of assumed +dangers and possibilities of disaster, all more or less the result of +engineering guesswork? Shall we take fright at the talk about the +mischief-maker with his stick of dynamite, bent upon the destruction of +the locks and the vital parts of the machinery, when history has its +parallel during the Suez Canal agitation in "the Arab shepherd, who, +flushed with the opportunity for mischief and with a few strokes of a +pickax, could empty the canal in a few minutes"? Shall we be swayed by +foolish fears and apprehensions of earthquakes or tidal waves, and waste +millions of money and years of time upon a pure conjecture, a pure +theory deduced from fragmentary facts? Again the facts of canal history +furnish the parallel of Stephenson and other engineers, who successfully +frightened English investors out of the Suez enterprise by the statement +that the canal would soon fill up with the moving sands of the desert, +that one of the lakes through which the canal would pass would soon fill +up with salt, that navigation of the Red Sea would be too dangerous and +difficult, that ships would fear to approach Port Said because of +dangerous seas, and, finally, that in any event it would be impossible +to keep the passage open to the Mediterranean. + +It was this kind of guesswork and conjecture which was advanced as an +argument by engineers of eminence and sustained by one of the foremost +statesmen of the century. How absurd it all seems now in the sunlight of +history! The Panama Canal is a business enterprise, even if carried on +by the nation, and with a thorough knowledge of the general facts and +principles we require no more expert evidence, so called, nor additional +volumes of engineering testimony. The nation is committed to the +construction of a canal. The enterprise is one of imperative necessity +to commerce, navigation, and national defense, and any further +discussion, any needless waste of time and money, is little short of +indifference to the national interests and objects which are at stake. + +Of objections to either plan there is no end, and there will be no end +as long as the subject remains open for discussion. To answer such +objections in detail, to search the records for proof in support of one +theory or another, is a mere waste of time which can lead to no possible +useful result. Among others, for illustration, there has been placed +before us a letter from the chief engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal, +who is emphatically in favor of a sea-level waterway. It would have been +much more interesting and much more valuable to the members of Congress +to have received from Mr. Hunter a statement as to why he should have +changed his opinions; or why, in 1898, he should have signed the +unanimous report of the technical commission in favor of a lock canal, +while now he so emphatically sustains those who favor the sea-level +project. It is not going too far to say, appealing to the facts of +history, that Mr. Hunter may be seriously in error in this matter and +may have drawn upon his imagination rather than upon his engineering +experience, the same as Mr. Robert Stephenson was in serious error in +his bitter opposition to the canal enterprise at Suez. + +Mr. Hunter, in his letter, argues, among other points, that the lifts of +the proposed locks would be without precedent. Without precedent? Why, +of course, they would be without precedent. Is not practically every +large American engineering enterprise without precedent? Was not the +Erie Canal, completed in 1825, without precedent? Were not the first +steamboat and the first locomotive without precedent? Were not the +Hoosac Tunnel and the Brooklyn Bridge feats of American engineering +enterprise without precedent? + +Without precedent is the great barge canal which the State of New York +is about to build, which will mean a complete reconstruction of the +existing waterway which connects the ocean with the Great Lakes.[3] + +All this is without precedent. But it is American. It is progress, and +takes the necessary risk to leave the world better, at least in a +material way, than we found it. In the proposed deep waterway, which is +certain some day to be built to connect the uttermost ends of the Great +Lakes with tide-water on the Atlantic, able and competent engineers of +the largest experience have designed locks with a lift of 52 feet.[4] +That will be without precedent. On the Oswego Canal, proposed as a part +of the new barge canal of the State of New York, there will be six +locks, two of which will each have a lift of 28 feet,[5] and that will +be without precedent, but neither dangerous nor detrimental to +navigation interests. + +Need I further appeal to the facts of past canal history? Is it +necessary to recite one of the best known and most honorable chapters in +the history of inland waterways--I mean the problems and difficulties +inherent in the great project of constructing the canal of Languedoc, or +"Canal du Midi," which forms a water communication between the +Mediterranean and the Garonne and between the Garonne and the Atlantic +Ocean, one of the best known canals in France and in the world? Need I +refer to that pathetic story of its chief engineer, Riquet, one of the +greatest of French patriots, who, in his abiding faith in this great +engineering feat, stood practically alone? Need I recall that he met +with scant assistance from the government, with the most strenuous +opposition from his countrymen; that he was treated even as a madman and +that he died of a broken heart before the great work was finished? + +That canal stands to-day as an engineering masterwork and as a most +suggestive illustration of man's ingenuity and power to overcome +apparently insuperable natural obstacles. It has been in existence and +successful operation, I think, since 1681. For a sixth part of its +distance it is carried over mountains deeply excavated. It has, I think, +ninety-nine locks and viaducts, and as one of its most wonderful +features it has an octuple lock, or eight locks in flight, like a ladder +from the top of a cliff to the valley below. If in 1681 a French +engineer had the ability and the daring to conceive and construct an +octuple lock, will any one maintain that more than two hundred years +later, with all the enormous advance in engineering, with a better +knowledge of hydraulics and a more perfect method of transportation and +handling of materials--will any one maintain that we are not to-day +competent to construct successfully a lock canal such as is proposed to +be built at Panama upon the judgment of American engineers? + +Mr. President, the overshadowing importance of the subject has led me to +extend my remarks far beyond my original intention. I express my strong +convictions in favor of a lock canal and of the necessity for an early +and specific declaration of Congress regarding the final plan or type of +canal which the nation wants to have built at Panama. I am confident +that it lies entirely within our power and means to build either type of +waterway; that our engineering skill can successfully solve the +technical problems involved in either the lock or the sea-level plan; +but there is one all-important factor which controls, and which, in my +opinion, should have more weight than any other, and that is the element +of time. If I could advance no other reasons, if I knew of no better +argument in favor of a lock canal, my convictions would sustain the +project which can be completed within a measurable distance of years and +for the benefit and to the advantage of the present generation. Time +flies, and the years pass rapidly. Shall this project languish and +linger and become the spoil of political controversy and a subject of +political attack? Can we conceive of anything more likely to prove +disastrous to the canal project than political strife, which proved the +undoing of the French canal enterprise at Panama? + +Shall the success of this great project be imperiled by the possible +changes in the fortunes of parties? Shall we incur the risk that changes +in economic conditions, hard times, or panic and industrial depressions +may bring about? Time flies, and in the progress of industry and +commerce, in international competition and the growth of modern nations, +no factor is of more supreme importance than the years, with new +opportunities for political and commercial development. Shall we, then, +neglect our chances? Shall we fail to make the most of this the greatest +opportunity for the extension of our commerce and navigation into the +most distant seas which will ever come to us in our history, because of +the demands of idealists, who, with theoretical notions of the +ultimately desirable, would deprive the nation and the world of what is +necessary and indispensable to those who are living now? + +Vast commercial and political consequences will follow the opening of +the transisthmian waterway. In the annals of commerce and navigation it +is not conceivable that there will ever be a greater event or one +fraught with more momentous consequences than uninterrupted navigation +between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Little enough can we comprehend or +anticipate what the far-distant future will bring forth, but this much +we know--that it is our duty to solve the problems of _to-day_ and not +to indulge in dreams and fancies in a vain effort to solve the problems +of a far-distant future. + +But _money_ also counts. Can we defend an expenditure of an additional +$100,000,000 or more for objects so remote, and upon a basis of theory +and fact so slender and so open to question, when a plan and a project +feasible and practicable is before us which will meet all of our needs +and the needs of generations to come? Shall we disregard in the building +of this canal every principle of a sound national economy and commit +ourselves to an enormous waste of funds and to the imposition of +needless burdens upon the taxpayers of this nation and upon the commerce +of the world? At least $2,000,000 more per annum will be required in +additional interest charges, at least $100,000,000 more will be +necessary as an original investment. Do we fully realize what that +amount of money would do if applied to other national purposes and +projects? + +I want to place on record my convictions and the reasons governing my +vote in favor of the minority report for a lock canal across the Isthmus +at Panama. I entered upon an investigation of the subject without +prejudice or bias and have examined the facts as they have been +presented and as they are a matter of record and of history. I have +heard or read with care the evidence as it has been presented by the +Board of Consulting Engineers and the vast amount of oral testimony +before the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Affairs. I am confident that +the minority judgment is the better and that it can be more relied upon, +because it is strictly in conformity with the entire history of the +Isthmian canal project. I am confident that the objections which have +been raised against the lock plan are an undue exaggeration of +difficulties such as are inherent in every great engineering project, +and which, I have not the slightest doubt, will be successfully solved +by American engineers, in the light of American experience, exactly as +similar difficulties have been solved in many other enterprises of great +magnitude. + +I am not impressed with the reasons and arguments advanced by those who +favor the sea-level project, for they do not appeal to me as being +sound, and in some instances they come perilously near to being +engineering guesswork characteristic of the earlier enterprises of De +Lesseps. I cannot but think that bias and prejudice are largely +responsible for the judgment of foreign engineers so pronounced in favor +of a sea-level project. Furthermore, I am entirely convinced that the +judgment and experience of American engineers in favor of a lock canal +may be relied upon with entire confidence, and that such an enterprise +will be brought to a successful termination. I believe that in a +national undertaking of this kind, fraught with the gravest possible +political and commercial consequences, only the judgment of our own +people should govern, for the protection of our own interests, which are +primarily at stake. I also prefer to accept the view and convictions of +the members of the Isthmian Commission, and of its chief engineer, a man +of extraordinary ability and large experience. + +It is a subject upon which opinions will differ and upon which honest +convictions may be widely at variance, but in a question of such +surpassing importance to the nation, I, for one, shall side with those +who take the American point of view, place their reliance upon American +experience, and show their faith in American engineers. + +[Illustration: Founded by JOHN F. DRYDEN + +Pioneer of Industrial Insurance in America] + +THE PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA + +Incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey + +FORREST F. DRYDEN, _President_ + +HOME OFFICE, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Report of the New Panama Canal Company of France; Senate Document +188, 56th Congress, 1st session, February 20, 1900. + +[2] The Maritime Canal of Suez, from its inauguration, November 17, +1869, to the year 1884, by Prof. J.E. Nourse, U.S.N., Washington, 1884 +(Senate Document 198, 48th Congress, 1st session). + +[3] For a history of American canal building enterprises see History of +New York Canals, ch. 5. + +[4] Report of the Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways, H. of R., Doc. +No. 149, 56th Congress. 2d session, Atlas. + +[5] History of New York Canals, Appendix L. Annual Report of the State +Engineer and Surveyor. Vol. II, Albany, N.Y., 1905. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The American Type of Isthmian Canal, by +John Fairfield Dryden + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN ISTHMIAN CANAL *** + +***** This file should be named 24901-8.txt or 24901-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/0/24901/ + +Produced by K. Nordquist, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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