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Show PROGRESS AT PANAMA. The United States has been working five years on tlje excavation for the great waterway that is to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific ocean at the Isthmus of Panama. The great amount of work that has been accomplished in these five years is told by the reports of those in charge of the work. These figures 'are such as to cause pride in the masterful mas-terful handling of the undertaking. They show a total excavation for the five years of 73,124 849 cubic yards, of which more than half, or 38,542.050 cubic yards, were excavated in the year extending from May, 1908, to April, 1909. Taken in connection connec-tion with the work accomplished by the French in tneir attempt to build the great waterway, these figures are remarkable. For twenty-four years the French engineers and workers were engaged on the gigantic task, and as a result of their labors they dug out a total of 81,548,000 cubic yards, a record for twenty-four years that it is confidently believed will be equaled by the engineers of the United States in the next year, ' The first year of the work there was little actual work of excavation accomplished, the record showing show-ing less than 650,000 cubic yards for the year be ginning May, 1904, and ending April, 1905. The second year showed a total of only 2,155,123 cubic yards, but during these years the force was being organized, and sanitary measures were being taken for the years that were to come after. The government gov-ernment of the zone having been settled and all necessary sanitary measures taken, it is believed that the work will now go on uninterruptedly, and that the estimate of Engineer Goethals of January 1, 1915, for the completion of the work, will be met withVase. Besides the great excavation to be done yet, of which it.is estimated there are yet 101,541,-74G 101,541,-74G cubic yards, the. great Gatun dam and the locks yet remain to be built, but as work on these will be carried on simultaneously with the work of excavation, exca-vation, it is believed no delay will be caused by these. Indeed, work on the dam and locks' has already al-ready progressed to such an extent that it is confidently con-fidently asserted that tiie time limit of Engineer Goethals will be beat. Notwithstanding the dismal forebodings of muckrakers and opponents of the canal, the work has gone forward in a way to encourage the average aver-age American in the belief that the canal will be carried through to a successful conclusion. Of course, there is always the possibility of an 'earthquake 'earth-quake destroying the work, and it may be the style of canal may yet have to be changed to a sea-level one, owing to reported lack of foundation for th-great th-great Gatun dam. though those reports concerning the impracticability of the present plans have been oflicially denied. Then, too, the question as to what the United States will do with the canal when it is finished evidently is not worrying the builders. It is a dream of a century to have such a waterway at Panama, and it looks now as if that dream were to be worked out to a reality. The American people peo-ple have lost none of their reputation for doing things by their connection with Panama, and it only remains to be seen if the caual is to be a useful use-ful institution, or "the most colossal commercial blunder of the age," as one writer expresses it. At least we may not be worried as was the small boy, who. being told of the work of digging the canal, expressed the fear that the South American continent conti-nent would float off and be lost in the ocean surrounding sur-rounding it. |