constructive force completely disorganized so far as sanitation and the rules of health were concerned. The governor's first move was against the death-bearing, yellow fever mosquito. The Panamans succumbed to the governor's tact and ability and coöperated heartily with his measures. Screens were ordered and a penalty provided for their non-use, fumigating and other supplies were rushed to the isthmus and every house and building in the zone thoroughly cleansed. Panama and Colon were cleaned up; bottles, tin cans, water barrels and every article that could possibly furnish breeding ground for the pest destroyed; a water supply was planned and while building building the people were furnished clean water from carts to make up for the removal of the filthy barrel-cisterns kept at each house, and hospital attention was thorough and prompt. The best epitome of the campaign is furnished by the statistics. In May, when Governor Magoon arrived, there were 38 cases of yellow fever in Panama; in June, 62; in July, 42; in August, 27; and in September, 6. The last case in Colon was on August 27 and in Panama September 14. The death rate on the isthmus from every cause is now so low that so far as health goes it is the equal of New York City and many other locations about which no question is ever raised.

The year 1905 also saw the appointment of the board of con

The board does

sulting or advisory engineers, created mainly for the purpose of deciding upon the type of canal from among the four previously noted. of this board five were Europeans appointed at the the request of the President by the various governments and all were engineers of accepted reputation and ability. After a study of the situation on the ground the board reported by a vote of eight to five in favor of a sea-level canal, their conclusion being "that such a canal can be constructed in 12 or 13 years' time; that the cost will be less than $250,000,000; that it will endure for all time. not believe that a provisional treatment of this great question would yield results which would be satisfactory to the American nation or advantageous to American commerce, or that such treatment would be in consonance with the increase of population, of trade, and of wealth which will surely take place during the next half century in the Western Hemisphere." The report of the minority of five was in favor of a lock canal on the ground of its costing $100,000,000 less than one of the sea-level type, could be constructed in less time and be enlarged, if necessary, more easily, at less cost and less interruption to traffic. Engineer Stevens also made a report in which he advocated the lock type so strongly as to prefer it to the sealevel even if that type could be constructed as quickly and as cheaply.

The canal commission itself delivered a divided report upon these three reports submitted for its consideration.

The majority agreed with the minority report in favor of the lock type, while the minority supported the majority report favoring the sea-level. The whole question was submitted to Congress by the President in his message of February 19, 1906, and in June Congress decided in favor of the high-level lock canal.

In 1906 Chairman Shonts resigned and a month after him Engineer Stevens withdrew; these and later vacancies were filled by appointments from the United States army engineers, officers from the medical corps and from the navy and the work was placed in charge of Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Goethals, U. S. A. The year 1908 saw a complete reorganization of the force and mapping out of the work. The zone was divided into districts and a rearrangement made of the sanitary, food and other responsibilities, a uniform wage scale was adopted and a system of advance audit inaugurated in place of the usual examination after payment. In this year came the slip of a portion of the Gatun dam and a consequent wild outburst from the press of the country. The accident was but one of the usual things from which no engineering work is free where great masses of material are moved. A special investigation board of of engineers,

sent down by the President, made light of the matter. In their opinion the Gatun dam is more than usually well built, and the margin of safety in areas, loads, etc., is even larger than the most liberal estimate would demand.* At the close of the fiscal year 1912 a force of about 40,000 unskilled laborers were at work upon the canal under the day labor system and the men are well housed, well fed and well taken care of. Several miles of channel on the Caribbean side are completed and the work is moving steadily forward. Barring the unexpected, the canal will be finished and opened on January 1, 1915. In brief, it is a cut through an isthmus less than 35 miles in width in a straight line, the highest point of which is but 300 feet above mean tide. This high portion is about six miles long and is near the Pacific coast. The canal's direction is from northwest to southeast, Panama being 20 miles farther east than Colon. The great problem of the work is the Gatun dam, which has a base 1-3 of a mile wide, is 90 feet high tapering to a width of 100 feet at this height and is nearly 14 miles long. It forms what is known as Gatun Lake by damming the Chagres River into a sheet of water nearly 30 miles long and from 45 to 75 feet deep, and the first 16 miles has a navigable channel 1⁄2 mile wide. The next 9 miles it gradually diminishes.

*Senate Doc. No. 1458, 60th Congress, 2d ses

sion.

in width to 300 feet until, through the Culebra Cut, the bottom width will be 200 feet. Roughly speaking the canal is formed by two artificial lakes, one at Gatun and one at Miraflores, connected by a cut through the Culebra divide; a channel 5,000 feet wide and 40 feet deep from the Caribbean to Gatun, three miles inland, where a flight of three locks rise to the 80-foot level of the lake formed by the Gatun dam across the Chagres River; then 25 miles of lake to the Culebra Cut 7 miles long, thence into the second lake and a descent to the Pacific level through the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks. Fiveeighths of the entire distance is the lake formed by the Gatun dam.

The estimated cost of the completed work as given in the latest report of the canal commission is $375,000,000 and to date Congress has expended $300,000,000 in round numbers; subtract from this the millions expended of necessity in sanitation and the construction work accomplished bears the same relative proportion to the entire amount required. In other words, for every dollar expended in canal construction the United States has one hundred cents worth of work to show for it. It is a record in which we should take pride. The canal is being built rapidly, honestly and well, and its completion in the near future will mark the beginning of a new era of development in the United States and in this wise directly influence the his

tory of the world. The opening of Suez forced a readjustment of traffic lines, and the resultant development of European trade showed plainly the effects. The long record of vicissitude through which the Panama canal has struggled is evidence of the world-wide effect its completion will demonstrate. Europe, with its older civilizations and greater experience, sees further ahead ahead than America, and Great Britain, France and Germany have at one time or another, in open or secret manner, sought control of the isthmus and the canal which was bound to come; but a full view of the advantages to the possessor is only half understood even by these astute nations. Could the future of the canal be clearly and accurately forecast today it is conceivable that despite the strength of the United States the peace of the world might be rudely shattered. That Panama will directly influence the entire commerce of the world in a wider and broader way than Suez cannot be doubted. Midway, north and south, of two mighty continents and midway practically of the east and west transportation of civilization, its geographical position makes its importance universal. It is the gateway of the world and the United States is beside the gate and will control the opening and shutting thereof. What this means is stimulating even to the dullest imagination. The advantage to America is incalculable. Our South American