Show TRACTION AUTOS TO BE USED IN WORK ON CANAL e ri T UACT1ON automobiles are the TRACTION 1 latest thing for tho Panama canal and their use according to officials of tho canal In Washington presages tho doom of the ancient and time honored railroad velocipede now used by track walkers and employes In charge of switch lights In sparsely populated communities U Is not beyond be-yond the realm of probability In the opinion of sonto of them that tho running run-ning of automobiles on railroad tracks will become a fad If the rntlionds will stand for It Tho purchasing agent of the commission com-mission has advertised for two such machines for use on tho railroad across the Isthmus of Panama capable cap-able of carrying ten persons each and able to make a speed of 40 miles an hour on a level truck with the engine running lit normal speed The en Kino must bo stout enough to climb a grade of eight per cent and to Increase In-crease their speed to 25 per cent above normal or In other words to make SO miles nn hour The car must burn ordinary stove gasoline and have u capacity to go 125 miles nt full speed and load It Is tho purpose of the commission to place these cars In the Inspection department for the ISO of tho chief engineer and his assistants as-sistants who poly have to rely on passing passenger freight dirt or special trains In Inspecting the work along the canal |