Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1907 — DIGGING THROUGH MILLIONS, [ARTICLE]

DIGGING THROUGH MILLIONS,

Money Fliea aa Faat aa the Dirt-la the Panama Ditch. Light on the progfess of the work on the Panama canal is shed by the rlifpatcbes betwoeii CoToneT Goethals and the President, says the Hartford Times. It is reported by the officer in charge of the caual work that during the month of August the aggregate excavation by steam shovels and dredges was 1,274,404 cubic yards, which is the highest record made in any month since the United States undertook the completion of the canal, although not equal to the highest record under DeLesseps. But it is possible that if August had not been, as the President says, the height of the rainy season on the isthmus, the total might have exceeded all previous records In June, 1904, when the United States began operations on the isthmus the total amount of the excavation to be done under the plans now being followed was 111,280,000 cubic yards -and the total excavaHon to Aug. 31 of this was 10,863,684 yards, leaving something over 100,000,000 cubic yards yet to be movetl. At the August rate the completion of this part of the Work would require eighty months, or six years and eight 'months. But the, number of steam shovels at work now (sixty-three) is to be increased by the addition of thirty-four, and it may be possible to increase the excavation to a maximum of 2,000.000 cubic yards per month, in -which case this branch of the work can* be finished in less than five years. How much did it cost to excavate 1,274,404 cubic yards in August? The appropriations for the current fiscal about $80,000,000, of which a considerable part must be expended for cars and machinery. The amount now available is over $6,000,000 per month. There are now about 40,000 persons on the pay roll at Panama, and when the additional shovels are set to work this number will probably be inereased to 50,000. The amount of $6,500,000-a month now available has already been found insufficient, and will -probably have to be increased to" $8,000,000“a month, or about $100,000,000 annually, if the dirt is to continue to “fly.” If the work of excavation proceeds during the next five years at this accelerated rate, therefore, the amount to be needed for excavatiou will exceed $500,000.000 in addition to the SIOO,000,000 or more already invested. But there is the huge dam at Gatnn and the system of locks to be built, which, the engineers say, will reqniromore time than the work of excavation. We believe there is, as yet, no definite and trustworthy estimate of the coSt of this part of the canal construction. It may be guessed that this

item will not be less than $250,000,000. There is probably no good reason t® expect the canal to be finished according to the present plans tor a sum which will bring the total expenditure by the United States within $1,000,000,000. Then tve shall be able to float our warships across the Isthmus of Panama, but the bulk of the freight traffic over the Centra) American divide will probably continue to go over the Tehuantepec railway, unless the canal tolls shall be made so low as to be merely nominal. The Panama canal seems to be a sentimental rather than a business enterprise.