Show Anxious About Panama Canal i I r. r ts ts Fate in War Time Causing Some C Concern to Those in High Places Places- tullE LITTLE DANGER FROM BOA U-BOA BOATS U-BOATS IS ISReal Real Peril Is I. That One or Two Men Put Ashore Ashor From Submarine Might Make Mako Way Overland and Dynamite Lock Gate By By EDWARD B. B CLARK Washington Correspondent of or the Western West West- ern era ern Newspaper Union Washington Anxiety Anxiety Is Is' evident In places where anxiety means concern over the tIle fate of ot the Panama canal in war time It is believed Imp implicitly that if It hostilities hos hoe open pen the German set sea power wl will strike at the Panama canal Now it might be said that the nan Oer-nan navy havy Is In no c condition to do damage to the great grent waterway The danger perhaps is not great grent but there is a n danger nevertheless and it will put put the United States forces on the isthmus Isthmus lath lath- mus to their keenest endeavor to hold the locks locka safe sote Under the present conditions German Germany Germany Ger Ger- man many can cnn send nothing more form formidable ble bIg than big submarines to the waters vaters about Panama There probably is no danger at all that these s submarines can ean enter the canal and amI torpedo th the first lock at t t Gatun The peril therefore is not so much from a a direct attack b by a submarine as it is t that nt one ma man or two men put ashore from irom a U-boat U might make their way vay ay overland unseen tad ind dynamite dynamite dynamite dyna dyna- mite a The thing for tor Germany to do of course from a strategic point of Yi view w. w Is isto to close the Panama canal Through It dally daily pass vessels from the west coast of America laden Inden with supplies mainly food for the allied nations of Europe If It the canal could be closed Germany would be greatly the gainer Now it is possible that an under- under th the sea sen b boat at might submerge somewhere somewhere some some- where here outside of Toro Point breakwater breakwater breakwater break break- water and make its way into the canal passing below the surface and of ot course unseen by the forts torts It Is not known definitely to laymen however however how how- ever whether the water is deep enough for tor Ii a a submarine to make this trip with devastation on as ns' its end Can Easily Be Protected If th the way yay l Is s. s d deep ep enough off oft entrance nce to tg the canal to permit a n submarine to live dive and to make its channel the canal way way- ay into th the chances are that the precautions taken by the canal guards would prevent prevent prevent pre pre- vent the boat bont from traversing the waterway waterway waterway wa wa- wa- wa which Is not wide and ana which easily can be protected by nets cannot do damage with A submarine u its under the er torpedoes unless umess it is fairly close to o the object ct to be attacked This of course prevents any U boat from sending a torpedo against a n l lock ck gate As a matter of fact th the first 1st lock gate at nt Panama on the Atla Atlantic lH tic side is eight miles from th the coast When a submarine comes to the s surface stir sur r- r face it can use its small guns for assailing as ns- assailing sailing pos pui purposes but ff if it should come cometo to the sur surface ace at t the entra entrance e to the canal proper It would be too far away from froll t the e locks to do any damage with its small guns and mor moreover over the minute minute min mm- ute It appeared It would voul be sunk by bythe bythe bythe the guns which guard the approaches to the canal For Fot the present at least the only danger i of f attack on the Panama canal canalIs Is from the Atlantic side The lock at near the Pacific end of the canal is only about a mile distant from the coast The Pacific end of things however r Is today a m matter of ot small concern to the waterways defenders de de- fenders although of co course no means of possible attack Is being overlooked Recently roads road have been built out the jungle from the waterway through to different points ne near r the me coast const ItIs n U nis UIs is the intention eventually and In part the work already has been done to mount to defend these ave aye avenues avenues of approach There was as a n long iong dis discussion at nt the beginning of things as to whether or not the jungle jungli should s-hould not be allowed to grow up und and thus form an impediment to a n foe who had landed a force somewhere on the coast with a n view to an au an- an overland attack on the canal Real Danger to Canal The Tile Jungle has been cut ut away In large part for tor the first thought concerning concerning concerning con con- It as a means of of- defense was given over I In fa fact t array army rs say suy It would afford the best kind of ot a cover for tor an approaching enemy The danger dan ger to the canal as us dangers look at present does not come from the po pcs pos possibility of or n an by a n large armed force of ot land troops nor from a n di direct dl- dl attack by n a submarine The danger danger dnn dan dan- ger Is that some somo under-the-sea under boat bont m might land one o or two men or possibly half halt a dozen men at some point not fur far from the waterway an and trust to them to make their way to the locks there thereto to plant their dynamite to detonate it and to render reader the the- cam canal l useless for tor months as a commerce way The fortifications defending cn lp t the e canal approaches on both sides of the Isthmus are twentieth-century twentieth de de- de- de t The gray and green forts torts of Toro Point and Island on the Atlantic side and on the islands of ot Naos nos Flamenco Perico and Culebra on the Pacific side it Is believed will niU serve erve as 08 all sufficient bulwarks against st direct a sea attack if It the United States navy should be overcome and enemy ships should move In to the assault Th There re is a brigade brigade 0 of troops under unde the command of ot Brig Gen Clarence R. R Edwards Edwardson on the Isthmus today There are enough men there to man the ar- ar artillery ar nr- tillery both heavy and light and the force torce seemingly is sufficient to guard against raiding parties bent on d de destroying the loc locks locke s. s Of Of- of course in Incase case case of an nn attempt by a n few v men to crawl Into the a attack k the thing resolves itself It Itself it- it self Into one of extreme watchfulness It is kno known that a heavy cordon of guards has been thrown around vulnerable places along the Isthmus it of way I |