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were estimated in 1908 at $297,766,000. The items of the estimate of 1908 are as follows:

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$375,201,000

Total............

Reimbursements to Treasury, not including salvage from present plant, $15,000,000.

It is apparent, therefore, that the estimated cost, less reimbursements and salvage, will be about $358,000,000.

Since 1908 the force has increased so much in efficiency, that unit costs have decreased, and it now seems probable that the $358,000,000 will cover not only the items mentioned above, but also the $12,000,000 estimated for fortifications. Distances by Way of Panama.

Tables of distances from leading ports to other ports by way of the Panama Canal follow:

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Via San Francisco

(b) Via Strait of Magellan 8,461.

(c) Via Strait of Magellan, 11,344.

New York to Honolulu 400 miles longer than by San Francisco and Great Circle

MR 22928-7

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(a) Via Jamaica. (b) Via New York. (c) Via Tahiti. (d) Via Wellington. (e) Via San Francisco. (f) Via Honolulu. (g) Liverpool to Valparaiso via Strait of Magellan 8, 830.

Fortification and Neutralization.

Little is known on the isthmus about the fortifications which are to guard the entrances to the Canal, because, here where the construction work is in progress, a commendable secrecy is maintained in regard to the forts. The forts at the Atlantic entrance will be at Toro Point and Margarita Island, guarding, respectively, the west and east sides of the Canal. At the Pacific entrance they will be on the islands of Flamenco, Perico, and Naos in Panama Bay; and on the mainland at Balboa, points from which they command the entrance at this end. They have been named as follows:

Names of
Forts.

The Reservations at the Pacific Entrance-Fort Grant and Fort Amador, the first in honor of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, U. S. A., President of the United States from 1869 to 1877, who died on July 23, 1885; and the second in honor of Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero, first President of the Republic of Panama, who died on May 2, 1909. The Reservations at the Atlantic terminus-Fort Sherman, Fort Randolph, and Fort de Lesseps, named in honor of Gen. William T. Sherman, U. S. A., who died February 14, 1891; Maj. Gen. Wallace F. Randolph, U. S. A., who died September 9, 1910; and Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, promoter of the Panama Canal, who died December 7, 1894.

FORT GRANT MILITARY RESERVATION.

Battery Newton, in honor of Maj. Gen. John Newton, U. S. Volunteers (Brigadier General, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A.), who died May 1, 1895.

Battery Merritt, in honor of Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt, U. S. A., who died December 3, 1910.

Battery Warren, in honor of Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, U. S. Volunteers (Lieutenant Colonel, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.), who died August 8, 1882.

Battery Buell, in honor of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, U. S. Volunteers (Colonel, Assistant Adjutant General U. S. A.), who died November 19, 1898.

Battery Burnside, in honor of Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, U. S. Volunteers (First Lieutenant, Third U. S. Artillery), who died September 13, 1881.

Battery Parke, in honor of Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, U. S. Volunteers (Colonel, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.), who died December 16, 1900.

FORT AMADOR MILITARY RESERVATION.

Battery Smith, in honor of Maj. Gen. Charles F. Smith, U. S. Volunteers (Colonel, Third U. S. Infantry), who died April 25, 1862.

FORT SHERMAN MILITARY RESERVATION.

Battery Howard, in honor of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, U. S. A., who died October 26, 1909.

Battery Stanley, in honor of Maj. Gen. David S. Stanley, U. S. Volunteers (Brigadier General, U. S. A.), who died March 13, 1902.

Battery Mower, in honor of Maj. Gen. Joseph A. Mower, U. S. Volunteers (Colonel, Twenty-fifth Infantry), who died January 6, 1870.

Battery Kilpatrick, in honor of Maj. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick, U. S. Volunteers (Captain, First Artillery), who died. December 2, 1881.

FORT RANDOLPH MILITARY RESERVATION.

Battery Tidball, in honor of Brig. Gen. John C. Tidball, U. S. A., who died May 15, 1906.

Battery Webb, in honor of Brevet Maj. Gen. Alexander S. Webb, U. S. A. (Lieutenant Colonel, 44th U. S. Infantry), who died February 12, 1911.

Battery Weed, in honor of Brig. Gen. Stephen H. Weed, U. S. Volunteers (Captain, 5th U. S. Artillery), who was killed in action, July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pa.

FORT DELESSEPS MILITARY RESERVATION.

Battery Morgan, in honor of Brig. Gen. Charles H. Morgan, U. S. Volunteers (Major, 4th Artillery), who died December 20, 1875.

The right of the United States to fortify the Canal was

Right to
Fortify

seriously questioned at one time by statesmen and publicists because of a clause contained in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of April 19, 1850, providing that neither the United States nor the United Kingdom would fortify the Canal or exercise any dominion over any part of Central America. In the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of November 18, 1901, it is provided that the first Treaty is superseded without impairing the general principles of neutralization as established in Article 8 of that Convention. The Treaty further provides:

"It is agreed that the Canal may be constructed under the auspices of the Government of the United States, either directly at its own cost, or by gift or loan of money to individuals or corporations, or through subscription to or purchase of stock or shares, and that, subject to the provisions of the present Treaty, the said Government shall have and enjoy all the rights incident to such construction, as well as the exclusive right of providing for the regulation and management of the canal. The canal shall never be blockaded, nor shall any right of war be exercised nor any act of hostility be committed within it. The United States, however, shall be at liberty to maintain such military police along the canal as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness and disorder."

* * *

The question of fortification is no longer an open one because the United Kingdom, the only nation that had a right to object, has acquiesced in the erection of forts. The ground taken by the United States was, that in order to insure the neutrality of the Canal, as it is bound to do by Treaty, it was necessary to have such forts and naval bases at both entrances as would enable it to repel the attack of an enemy, and to insure the use of the Canal by belligerents in accordance with the rules laid down. (See Treaties.)

The forts as planned are in a position to protect not only the entrances of the Canal, but to make it practically impossible for the ships of an enemy to deOther Military stroy or injure the only vulnerable part of Protection. the waterway-that is, the locks. Gatun Locks are seven miles inland from the forts at the Atlantic entrance, and Miraflores Locks nine miles inland from the outermost fortification at the Pacific entrance.

In addition to the forts which will guard either entrance, a system of inland defenses for the locks has been agreed upon. The headquarters for the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps on the isthmus will be at the Pacific entrance of the Canal, but posts will be maintained elsewhere, including the Atlantic entrance, the locks, and probably at a point along Culebra Cut, opposite Culebra.

Panama Railroad

The Panama Railroad is owned by the United States, but the form of a private corporation is maintained because it enables the railway to do business more promptly than if all its acts were scrutinized by the Auditor and the Comptroller of the Treasury. Each of the board of directors holds one share of stock, but this must be turned over at any time on demand of the Secretary of the Treasury. The railroad is conducted by a railroad man of 25 years' experience, Mr. J. A. Smith, the General Superintendent, and the steamship line by Mr. E. A. Drake, first Vice President, whose office is in New York, and who has spent his business life in the service of the company. Col. Geo. W. Goethals is President. This first railroad to be owned by the United States pays dividends, and is run on business principles. Although it has been a Government railroad eight years, under three distinct Canal administrations, it has not yet attracted to itself or had inflicted upon it the "political favorites" that we are commonly told would run the trains on Government railroads.

The first concession for a railroad across the isthmus was granted to a Frenchman in 1847, but he failed to raise the money necessary to build the road. In December, 1848, a concession was granted by Colombia to William H. Aspinwall, Henry Chauncey, and John L. Stephens, Americans, and this was modified to the advantage of the company on April 15, 1850, and again on August 16, 1867. The concessionaires had in view the handling of the immigrant trade bound for California and Oregon, recently opened to settlement, and Aspinwall had already (1848) established a steamship service between San Francisco and Panama. The discovery of gold in California made it possible to raise the money to begin the undertaking.

At that time railroad building was in its infancy, and the project of a line 50 miles long across a notoriously unhealthful country was regarded as a distinct hazard. Money ran low in 1851 and the progress of the work was not encourag

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