Show FOR A LOCK CANAL I Tho The Engineering En ln News Is out with Ith an elaborate defense of the lock plan for tor the tho Panama canal tho the plan under I which the ditch is ls being pushed at atthe the tho present time lime The Engineering I News says saya the Denver teaver News Nes is la an authority on such matters maUers and we aro assuredly not Wherefore wo con condense condense condense dense as much as may ma be the th arguments arguments ments meats by b our technical contemporary I and present thorn them for what they are worth To us they seem scorn fairly con The first point made is that a sea sealevel sealevel level leol canal Is 15 almost if not quite an engineering Impossibility The trouble Is 10 not nol with tho thu spectacular cut That Th t can be dug wide enough and deep enough for tor any nn sort ot of o a canal ClIna it is ls merely merol a question of or time and money mono The Tho difficulty with tho the sea level scheme Is In the lowlands where tho the line lino of or the canal would have to cross tho the famous Black Swamp Piles have been driven feet Ceel Into the ooze It Is the tho same place several hundred feet of o the tho Panama I railroad simply dropped out of o sight a n year or so back The Tho mud is nil all but fathomless and tho the task of or digging a canal to feet below sea sealevel sealevel level In that sort of or thing Is one that may properly turn an engineers hair gray Moreover the Chagres river Is Isa I Ia isa a problem of or the largest dimensions tho the moment ono one tries for a sea level levoi canal Tho The Engineering News believes that it could only on be controlled by digging three canals one ono in the conter center for tor navigation and ono one at each side for drainage The Tho increased ed cost of or a sea level canal over a lock canal Is given bI n at not less than Consider Considering ConsiderIng ing how fast expenses pile up lip In a case of or government work we vo may mayIa Ia fe 1 guess that twice that sum would not more than cover the tho dif difference forence ference But tho the engineers rs go on to say that even If a sea level 1001 canal could be built and kept In operation it would not bo ho as good a thing for navigation as tho the lock canal A sea level lovel canal would of or necessity be narrow through throughout throughout out its length The present plan will give ghe a canal anal with miles of open water In the lake back of or Gatun dam Culebra cut will be wider under the lock plan than under tho the I sea level plan and tho the whole canal will be bo more moro roomy room with lower chances of or interruption to navigation I I The engineers point out that tho the Sault St Marie canal which carries carriem the greatest tonnage of or any river In the world is a n lock canal and nd that navigation is never nover bothered by tho the necessity of or climbing up and down these watery stairs Such is Js a brief brIo summary of or the arguments in favor of the tho present plan of the tho Panama ditch In the tho ab absence absence j sence of rebutting testimony there thore seems little to do hut but accept the ver vcr verdict diet dict which only an expert could hope to question with wIlh success Tho The En len Engineering n News pledges its professional professional authority that tho the Gatun dam damis is thus far in excellent condition and that there thero is no reason why It should not be completed without more trouble than attaches to every eer big work |