Show a THE PANAMA PANAl-fA CANAL Secretary Tafts Taft's estimate of the ultimate cost of the Panama canal is not received with very much surprise anywhere in the country The great wonder wonder wonder won won- der is that the canal could be built at all within an any an- reasonable figures Except for fot the discovery discover of the mosquito the sting of which produces Panama fever the canal never would have been completed Except for that di discovery ery co the record of deaths death along theline theline the line of the canal would have been so terrible that time the work would have had to be bo given up It was an impossibility when the French undertook the time work In the building of the Panama railroad in the first few miles six thousand laborers died diec If that was the penalty paid for fora a little surface work what would ha have e been the exaction in digging a trench sufficiently large largo for a battleship 1 r We e do not expect expect expect ex ex- that the cost will be limited to We think it will Avill exceed that by quite 33 per pel cent but when finished will be bc cheap for it will be such a monument to American skill and pluck and persistence persistence per per- persistence that it will be cheap at those figures Wedo Wedo We Ve Vedo do not believe that it it il is a good place for time the canal We believe a better channel might have hae been found but it is under way Vast sums have already been spent much more will have to be spent but when completed it will be a great outlet for the commerce that centers around the gulf of Mexico i it will make American warships available on both oceans it will make n new w routes for commerce around the world world- an altogether splendid achievement ement |