THE PANAMA CANAL 
197 
lake, which will cover nearly 1,200 acres, 
wall be finished by the end of the present 
year. After passing through this lake 
we come to the Miraflores locks, and 
such unusual progress has been made on 
them that, although the work could not 
begin on them until the Pedro Miguel 
locks were completed, the division engi- 
neer has announced that he expects to 
have the work on all the Pacific locks 
ready for the installation of the machin- 
ery before Thanksgiving Day. Already 
the contractors are putting in some of 
the gates and operating machinery. 
After passing through the double 
flight of locks at Miraflores we find our- 
selves back at sea-level again. The dam 
connecting the Miraflores locks with the 
adjacent hills is not completed yet, and 
will not be until the early part of 191 3, 
being kept open to let the dirt trains 
from Culebra Cut through on their way 
to the Naos Island dumps. Much of the 
material for this dam will be taken from 
the sea-level ditch from Miraflores to 
the sea. This portion of the canal will 
be completed fully 18 months ahead of 
the official opening day of the big water- 
way, Already it is open to navigation 
for more than five miles inland from 
deep water. Only three miles out of the 
eight still remain uncompleted. 
This rapid passage through the canal 
demonstrates how fast it is nearing com- 
pletion. The entire channel is a little 
more than 50 miles long. About 37 
miles of it, including the lock sites, are 
now down to its requisite depth, and, of 
the remaining 13, there are less than 
eight miles of really heavy work. 
THE p]j:rmane;nt Force 
From all this it will be seen that the 
latest date set for the completion of any 
part of the work is July i, 191 3. The 
problems are now beginning to shift 
from the Canal Commission to Congress. 
That body will have a number of prob- 
lems to solve, and, if the full fruitage of 
the magnificent performances at Panama 
is to be realized, prompt action is obvi- 
ously essential. 
The first thing to be determined is 
how the permanent operating force of 
the canal shall be made up. We now 
have on the Isthmus a body of 5,000 of 
the best Americans who ever trod shoe 
leather. They are the cream of a five- 
year-long process of elimination. It is 
the desire of the chief engineer that 
legislation be enacted at the earliest pos- 
sible date permitting him to select from 
this force the 2,500 men who shall con- 
stitute the permanent force for the oper- 
ation of the great waterway. Many of 
the best men, with the sort of foresight 
one would expect among such people, 
are already accepting offers from other 
sources, to take effect as soon as the 
canal is completed. Beginning next fall, 
hundreds of men will be laid off every 
month. 
Colonel Goethals will recommend a 
new wage scale for the permanent body. 
He thinks that health conditions are now 
such that there will be no longer a neces- 
sity to maintain the present high stand- 
ard of pay. The new scale will be about 
25 per cent higher than in the United 
States, while all of the supplies the 
operatives and their families will use 
will be furnished by the government at 
cost. 
Another question which must be de- 
cided is what form of government there 
shall be in the Canal Zone, and what 
shall be done with the people who live 
there and who will not have employment 
on the canal. It is pointed out that the 
land is practically unfit for agriculture, 
and that to leave the people there will 
necessitate the expenditure of millions of 
dollars for sanitation that might other- 
wise be saved, to say nothing of the dan- 
ger that might arise from having aliens 
on the zone in case of war. If Congress 
follows the recommendations of the 
canal authorities, the zone, except for 
the terminal cities, will be depopulated, 
leaving only those who will be connected 
with the operation of the canal and its 
works. 
FIXING THE TOLLS 
The knottiest problem with which 
Congress will have to deal in placing the 
canal in operation will be that of fixing 
the tolls. Shall it be made free to Amer- 
ican vessels, or only to such American 
vessels as are not engaged in coastwise 
