66 



The National Geographic Magazine 



storm is almost a cloudburst, and is 

 therefore a grave danger to the dam 

 which is expected to contain it, is not 

 desirable. To operate great ships 

 through tortuous channels, to lift them 

 up and down by gigantic locks, would, 

 if inevitable, be a most pitiful solution 

 for 20th century science to give to a 

 problem so long discussed and so vitally 

 important. But, if avoidable, such a 

 choice is not a solution of the problem 

 and leaves it open for a better answer. 



' ' The report of the Isthmian Canal 

 Commission, just submitted, indeed ■ 

 recommends the adoption of the Nica- 

 ragua route, but purely as a choice of 

 evils. It admits all that has been said 

 above in regard to the fundamental 

 principles that underlie this discussion. 

 There can be no doubt that the Com- 

 mission would have welcomed a straight 

 waterway, without locks or tide-gates 

 as the solution of this question, and have 

 eliminated immediately from the discus- 

 sion any canal with impounded water 

 and locks, if such a line had been before 

 them. 



1 ' It will naturally be asked, then, how 

 such a line came to be overlooked, for 

 a route in the San Bias region is not a 

 new thought. That such a line offered 

 the shortest distance between the oceans, 

 that it possessed perfect natural har- 

 bors, that it could be made at sea-level, 

 were facts within the knowledge of the 

 Commission, and a reference to their re- 

 port will show a description of such a 

 line and a discussion of its merits. It 

 will there be seen that the Commission 

 preferred both the Nicaragua and Pan- 

 ama locations, considering the tunnel 

 of San Bias more objectionable than 

 the complicated system of locks and 

 tide-gates, dams and lakes, of Nicaragua 

 and Panama. The Commission, how- 

 ever, made the line they illustrate in 

 valley locations, necessarily involving 

 curves and radically objectionable from 

 our point of view, in a country of vio- 

 lent rainstorms, while their tunnel, both 



in design and cost, is far inferior to the 

 Mandingo tunnel, which we advocate 

 and which we claim to be the ideal solu- 

 tion of the canal problem. 



' ' It will be asked why the American. 

 Isthmus Ship Canal Company did not 

 bring its line to the attention of the 

 Commission. 



' ' The answer is, first, the Commission 

 was appointed to discover and describe 

 a canal route to be owned and operated 

 by the Government of the United States. 

 This was not and is not our purpose. 



' ' Second, and far more important, is- 

 the fact that not until the deliberations of 

 the Commission were practically closed 

 had we completely located our straight 

 line and demonstrated to ourselves and 

 to the eminent scientific gentlemen whom 

 we consulted the feasibility and economy 

 of our tunnel plans. 



' ' When this point had been reached we 

 laid the matter before the President of 

 the United States, who referred it to the 

 Commission; whereupon we sought and 

 obtained an interview with Rear Ad- 

 miral Walker, the president of the Com- 

 mission, who, together with Professor 

 Burr, expert engineering member of the 

 Commission, saw our plans, maps, and 

 drawings, and desired that they be 

 exhibited to Mr. Morison, who was 

 charged by the Commission with the 

 investigation of the group of projected 

 routes, of which ours is one. Mr. Mor- 

 ison, up to the present time, however, 

 has not found it convenient to call upon 

 us. We are confident that when Mr. 

 Morison shall have seen our plans and 

 communicated with his colleagues the 

 Commission will make a supplementary 

 report to Congress which will clear away 

 any doubt as to the preference due to our 

 canal. 



" It must be already apparent, from the 

 facts above stated and from the report 

 of the Commission, that the only point 

 in our plans open to discussion is the 

 tunnel. But does the tunnel really pre- 

 sent an objection to modern science and 



