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Show pROr-TS OF PANAMA CANAJ , , It Is a-pleasant, thing for American! to know that already the Panama , , canal, as a commercial venture, Is oo a payifjg basts. ' The net Income aftet deducting the monthly cost of opera- -.,. tlon, .amounting to $000,000, was mora than $1,500,000, says Brooklyn Eagte. -The July tolls figured $2,124,31)9. a rec- . ord. In the nine years of operation 20,474 vessels have passed tnrough and the tolls paid have totaled $76,- " 549,S4G, on 34,234,474 tons of cargo. The average return on the Initial Investment In-vestment has been more than Interest on bonds. Neither President Roosevelt nor the American people who ap- proved of his action in pushing through the building of the canal thought of It as a money-making venture. ven-ture. The outcome up to date encourages encour-ages the Idea that It may become very profitable. The commerce of the world Is using the highway freely, despite high charges. The number of transits Is not so large; even in July It waa not an average of more than 16 a day. . The tolls paid were $68,529.36, an aver-age aver-age of $4,481.88 for each commercial vessel. But the saving in not going around the Horn Is far greater than the charge. In other words, the bargain bar-gain ts a good one for both aides, A which Is the basic principle of legitimate legiti-mate business. |