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Show I WHEN SHIPS GO THROUGH I BIG WATERWAY AT PANAMA ST nUBOE-IO J. RAKSTJf. The com) eon imlsalon Is already looking look-ing forward to the time when the canal lo finished and ships are roady to go through. The practical Intereat of the shipping world la shown by the fact thai steamship lines or already making inquiries in-quiries aa to what the tolls are going to be. and for other Information which will enable them to adjust their affairs so ao to be ready to use the big waterway at the earliest opportunity. It Is the desire of President Tart to hsvs tbe tolls so axed that It will be mora preSt hie for the ship owner to send his vessel by way of Panama than by Sues. Tbe net ton oharge through Sues is about 1 1 W a ton. and a vessel with 4000 tons of cargo would have to pay ssoeo to pass through Hues. It Is proposed to tl the toil on the Panama canal at II a ton. On this basis vessel with a 4000-ton cargo would pay t:O0o lees to get through Panama than It would have to par to go through Sua Esttmataa of Business. Of course there can be no way of definitely defi-nitely estimating the amount of traffic that will pose through tho canal, but in loo a member of the commission, who was well acquainted with the shipping supply. Oatun lake Is already beginning to All up as the dam rises, and by-tne time the machinery la Installed It will be full. A record of tho flow of the river running Into It. allowing for seepage, during dur-ing IMfe ahnwed that It would have beea 'tiled In nine months that year. With a view to aaving water and to hastening tha process of lockage, each lock chamber Is divided Into two sub-chambers, sub-chambers, one St feet long and the other Si0 feet. As upwards of M per cent of the veesels on the high seas are shorter than 140 feat, there is little possibility thst msny of ths ships passing through writ need more than the larger of the two aub-chamborS. It is expseted thst a ship will be raised the approximate thirty feet of each step la about fifteen minutes. The fastest Inflow of water that will be permitted is three feet per minute. It will require about 4.000,000 cubic foot of water to lift a single big 'vessel up or down. Will Baquira Half a Dty. tt will requlra about ten or twelve hours for a ship to paaa through the canal. ca-nal. Gome from tha Atlantic ft first will paaa tha braakwatar at Toto Point. There It will call at Okm. After that It will steam up the KOO-foet wide saa level channel to Oatun. whera It will be elrhty- ft e feet below tha lake above. Mere It will be towed Into tha first lock and the gates elosed behind It. Then water will be allowed to flow Into the lock from the lake above, through the big eighteen -feet culverts, until tt has the same level aa that In the lock above. Then the gatea to that lock aro passed and closed and the ahlp Is towed tnto the next one. Each time the same operation lo repeated, until the ahlp finds itself In the lake above. Then It steama onward through tha lake and Culebra out and than aake tha lock, at Pedro Miguel to drop It down approximately approxi-mately thirty feet. Another mile at this level nrtnrs tt to Mirsflorss. whera It gets two lifts down and Is back at aea level, and may ao on Its way uninterrupted, uninter-rupted, or It may stop at Balboa, the Pacific Pa-cific end of the canal. W1U B Beady la Tim. Tho dato when tho renal will be opened Is sot officially for January 1. 11, but tho work of excavation possibly will be completed much earlier. Of course. If slides In Culebra cut continue, tt may take the full time to finish the excavation there. But If they are not greater than now anticipated tho work will be well advanced ad-vanced toward the flnlahlng touches In three more years. The contracts for the Installation of the operating machinery call for Its completion In time that the canal can he tried out by the end of De comber. 1111. and unless unforeseen delays de-lays occur In the manufacture of tho equipment, the canal will be ready for emergencies before tho fixed opening date. .oo.000 tons not register would pass through the first year the canal la open, and that this would Increase SI per cent a year thereafter. He said It would take years for shipping to readjust itself to the now conditions and that It was hie opinion that , to make the tolls greater than 1 a ton would drive business away. Such cargoes as lumber would be earned around Caps Horn, aa at present, ratbsr than pay exceeshre tolls. The total cost of the Panama canal writ amount to J""T6.WO,ooa. and at I per cent ths rata at which Uncle 8am can borrow money this will Involve an Interest Inter-est charge of t7.lo0.0OS a year. The ooet of maintenance and operation Is expected to exceed t3.000.too a year, so that the total expenses of operation will amount approximately to ilf.ooo.ooo a year. It la not Intended to charge the American Ameri-can navy anything for the privilege of using ths big waterway. At present It Is the hope of the administration that con-grees con-grees will provisionally fix ths toll at tl a ton, leaving It optional with ths president presi-dent to change the toll as commercial exigencies may seem to demand. Plan Coaling Btatioa. It Is ths hope of the chief snglnser that the United States will make early provision pro-vision for the maintenance of the canal. He would have matters so srranged that the government could furnish everything required by the traffic through tbe canal on a eommerelal basis. For Instance, he would have coal furnlahed the naeelng ships as a part of ths business of maintaining main-taining ths canal. A coaling station for the navy will have to be maintained, and thia may aa well be used to supply the demands of commercial commer-cial shipping. Colonel Ooethals would not deny to private enterprise the light to handle coal or any other essentlala to the conduct of the shipping business. He seeke only to have a government plant operated at a aafe margin of profit, so as to guarantee that the uee of the canal would not be rendered unprofitable by exoeealve prices ships might have to pay if competition were stifled. Han Other OonTenieoce. It I also proposed to maintain a eommerelal eom-merelal dry dock, where ships of all classes and condition can be repaired. This la practically one of the essentlsls In the operation of tbe canal. It Is also plsnned to continue the lc factory at Colon, supplying Ice to th passing vss-sels vss-sels at commercial ratee; also that- a laundry be maintained for the purpose of meeting the demands of ahlpplng. It would then be possible for a ship to put out of Liverpool, have It laundry ready when It reached Colon, aend It to the laundry there, and have It finished and sent to rename by rail In time to overtake over-take the ship at the Pacific entrance. All of theee things would make the Panama canal route attractive and would prevent the greed of local enterprise from charging extortionate prices and thus Interring In-terring with the usefulness of th canal. When the canal Is completed some time will be spent trying out the machinery and breaking In the picked men who are to constitute its operating force. Th problem of sanitation for those who remain re-main to give fore and effect to what American enternriae hmm itan am the th- mue will be on of tha greatest of the future. It will require unrelenting vigilance vigi-lance to keep the canal none settlements, which will remain, from relapsing Into typical tropical regkma. Most of the towns will probably pass Into the hands of natives or West Indian negroes. An equipment of dredges and all sorts of repair machinery will be maintained throughout th years, sine there will always al-ways be large deposit of slit and sand brought down th twsnty-two streams Ballroad Furnish TToblsta Provision win be made to prevent the transcontinental railroads from gobbling for themeelve th benefit of th canal, which ought, of course, to eeerue to ths whole people. If they were permitted to control the domestic steamship lines which use the canal they could easily make the ratee so high that it would not materially Interfere with thetr present traneootitlnental ratee. A law probaMv will be advocated whiott will prohibit any transcontinental railroad from being directly di-rectly or Indirectly interested tn any vessel ves-sel seeking paasage through the canal. It Is calculated by a well known shipper that the cost of tranaportlng lumbar from the Pacific coast to ths Atlantic can be reduced more than three-fourtha, once the canal la In operation. Last month a Pacific Mall steamer carried car-ried In Ita cargo aome California fruit for eastern markets. Th success of this experiment Is being wstched with Inter-eet. Inter-eet. It Is probable that the lee perishable perish-able California frulta may be brought round by Panama In large quantities during the coming year. Water Question olved. Ther seem m to be no need of fearing thst when ships begin to go through there win be eny ehortage of water. It la estimated that the locks ran paas a total of forty-eight vessels through ths canal each day. Thia will take car of a possible M.OOd.Ono tone a veer. If the canal etarte out with onlv one-eighth of that amount the people will have reason to congratulate themeelvee. Sue now haa ll.ooo.OM tone to handle a year, and even the busy Sno 'canal haa only ,-eoe.On ,-eoe.On a veer. But ahould the demanda go beyond anything anticipated, there la room for estra loche and an evtra water |