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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL!
ATLANTA, GA., S WORTH POB8TTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter ot
the Second Class.
JAMES R. BBiT,
President and Editor.
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Atlanta. Ga.
The Ever Vital Need of
Drainage in Georgia.
The good things done by the Georgia Legislature
at its recent session are so numerous that one is not
disposed to grumble over the important things left
undone but, rather, to- hope that all these remaining
tasks may be duly performed next year. It should
be remembered, however, that some of the measures
which were defeated, or left in the lurch, are of
especially vital concern to public interests and cannot
be much longer neglected with any degree of justice
to the State. Among such measures are those for
compulsory school attendance, free kindergartens,
child labor reform, the establishment of a State bureau
of vital statistics and the reclamation o. swamp and
overflow lands.
The last named subject is one of current interest
throughout the South; and widespread surprise has
been expressed in other states that the legislature
failed to appropriate the comparatively nominal sum
that would have assured the federal government’s
support in plans for a comprehensive survey of Geor
gia’s great area of vamp and overflow le nds. The
Louisville Courier-Journal remarks in this connection
that—
“From the health standpoint alone drainage
would he worth untold millions to the South.
Swamps are breeding spots of disease. They are
responsible for much sickness and suffering and
for many deaths. When a swamp is effectively
drained malaria vanishes from the neighborhood,
and malaria is one of the most baneful maladies
of the South, carrying with it a long train of
other ailments. The sanitary benefits of reclama
tion are as moble as is the economic gain
that is derived from transforming noxious bogs
into productive fields."
There can be no uoubt that public sentiment and
public judgment i: Georgia are strongly in favor of
the State’s undrtaking this important work. Drain
age associations have been organized in a number of
counties. The , »or' are awak ning to the fact that
one-seventeenth of Georgia’s ai now rendered
practically worthless because of swamps or ov Dr-
flows, but that these lands, if properly drained, would
he among the most fertile and valuable in the com
monwealth.
The Legislature’s failure to make the small ap
propriation necessary was due chiefly no doubt to
the depleted condition of the treasury. Happily, how
ever, that obstacle will in all probability be overcome
by the time the next session is held. A well consid
ered tax reform law has been passed and will soon
he in operation. Its results are expected to he con
structive and gratifying. We ave good reason to
hope that fn 1914 the claims of swamp reclamation
can be considered wholly on their merits and will
be granted.
The Vital Need of Rural Credits.
One of the most widely interesting and important
questions before the Conference of Governors which
is now in session at Denver is that of rural credits.
Every State represented at this conference is vi
tally concerned, either directly or indirectly, with
agricultural problems. The material welfare and
progress of the entire country depend in the last
analysis on agricultural conditions. It is from the
soil, after all, that industrial and commercial inter
ests derive their sustenance; it is the abundance
and quality of crops that make good times for every
field of business and broaden the path of opportunity
for all the people.
Wc are at length awakening in the United States
to the crucial importance of a better system of finance
for farming activities.
We are realizing that the principles of scientific
agriculture can never be duly applied and can never
bring forth due results until some workable plan
whereby the farmer can secure lecessary loans to
develop his lands and to market his crops is devised.
The present system is entirely inadequate; and
to its shortcomings are du^ very largely the fact that
American agriculture has lagged so far behind that
of Europe.
The American commission which recently made
an extensive tour of the Old World, under the joint
direction of the federal Government and the South
ern Commercial Congress, studying the agricultural
methods of those countries, has submitted a report
on which a suitable system of rural credits for the
United States can be developed.
The Conference of Governors is now asked to co
operate in bringing such a system into existence.
There is no more important claim upon the interest
and aid of the Conference. Its members should, and
undoubtedly will, lenc their cordial support to this
great and timely cause.
No need for a summer vacation as long as the
thermometer shows a willingness to restrain itself.
Ex-President Roosevelt, stopping in Chicago, con
gratulated a woman on the possession of four chil
dren, showing that the colonel still stands pat on
bis political Ideals.
Nearing the End of
Tfie Tariff Discussion, j
The Senate's quickened pace on the tariff hill in
tlie past few days is distinctly cheering.. The con
sideration of the free list has moved so expediously
that Democratic leaders forecast a final vote on
the measure within the next week or ten days. The
free sugar schedule has been adopted; free raw
wool has been approved in the “committee of the
whole;” indeed, with the exception of a few com
modities reserved for future discussion, the free list
now stands virtually ratified.
Long ago the ultimate enactment of the bill was
conceded even by its opponents. Though the Demo
cratic majority, slender enough from the outset, has
beer, reduced to a hazardous margin by the defec
tion of tlie two Louisiana Senators and the vacancy
in Alabama’s representation, the party’s balance of
power is unwavering. The administration is sup
ported more stanchly today than at any time since
the extra session of Congress began. The passage
of the bill is simply a question of time.
The Republican minority has evidently seen the
unwisdom of purely obstructive tactics. It has
realized that public opinion is practically a unit in
demanding tlie speediest possible settlement of the
tariff issue in behalf of business interests; and the
firm declaration of Democratic leaders that were
prepared to stay in Washington till the snow flies to
finish the work le'ore them has had the desired
and very wholesome effect. Besides these circum
stances, the recent vote on the sugar schedule was
so significant that i s meaning could not he mistaken.
The free sugar proposals, which had been the center
of the tariff war, were adopted by a vote of thirty-
nine to thirty-four, thus dispelling every shadow of
uncertainty that the measure as a whole would
triumph.
Even the foes of tariff revision realize that the
sooner the bill is out of the way the better will it
be for the country’s commercial quietude and prog
ress. No one is disturbed over the reductions that
are to he made; the process of readjustment began
months ago and is now all but complete. Every one
feels however, that until the new system is actually
in operation there will necessarily be more or less
suspense. The best thing that can be done for the
nation’s peace of mind and orderly business life
will be the prompt enactment of the hill.
That this wish Is about to be fulfilled all present
omens indicate. The backbone of the opposition
was broken weeks ago. Indeed, the tariff issue has
long been settled in so far as the nubile is concerned;
there is no further reason or excuse for its con
tinued agitation. If need be, the Democrats should
prolong the daily sessions of the Senate to seven or
ten hours and force the partisan obstructlonsists
either to talk ceaselessly or vote promptly. Indica
tions are, however, that this will not be necessary;
the prediction of a final vote next week will doubt
less materialize.
The disposal of the tariff question will clear the
way for banking and currency reform. That issue
is moving steadily forward in the House. The ad
ministration bill has been amended by Its friends
In such a way as to strengthen it and make It more
workable; but Its dominant principles remain unim
paired. There will probably be other changes in its
details but the wisdom of its larger purposes is proof
against attack.
The essential features of the bill have been rati
fied by the House committee on banking and cur
rency and are now being ratified by the Democratic
caucus. Its passage In the House seems assured.
This measure like the tariff will probably encounter
considerable opposition in the Senate, though hardly
as much as that which the tariff bill has weatherel.
There is one important fact to be considered: the
administration ha3 the Democratic majority of Con
gress squarely behind it and the majority of think
ing Americans squarely behind it. The administra
tion declares that banking and currency reform shall
be accomplished Defore the extra session adjourns.
That is the best of reasons for believing that it will
be accomplished.
Under the Wilron administration, Atlanta has
managed to rise to second place in the Southern
league.
The Automobile in Rural Life.
Among the socializing influences in rural life,
few have been more potent than that of the automo
bile. Tire telephone, the trolley line, the free de
livery of mail, the parcel post and divers other agen
cies are breaking the spell of isolation that once
overhung the farm and are enriching country dis
tricts with many of the advantages which in years
gone by only towns and cities enjoyed. But after
all the surest and simplest aid to neighborliness is a
good road; and the automobile is undoubtedly the
greatest practical force that has yet appeared for
the betterment and extension of highways.
A decade ago this particular service of motor ve
hicles could scarcely have been foreseen. They were
regarded as being primarily, if not entirely, machines
for city use. But as their mechanism was perfected,
as they were made more secure and more dependable
for long distance travel, they began to exert a far-
reaching influence on rural conditions. The automo
bile demanded well-kept roads. A road along which
the teamster might somehow struggle was Impass
able for the motorist; and so, with the increasing
use of automobiles there arose a widespread, an in
sistent and organized demand for better roads. This
movement once under way gathered momentum every
year and today its good results are manifest .over
the greater part of the entire United States. The
need for good roads had always existed; but it was
the automobile that created the occasion for united
endeavor in this great cause.
Indirect though it may have been, the influence
of the automobile as a road builder is incalculable.
The comforts and amenities of farm life are rapidly
increasing; the day will come when a home in the
country will have practically all the advantages with
none of the disadvantages of a home in the city or
town; and then one of the gravest of our economic
and social problems—the congestion of population in
urban centers—will be solved. This wholesome change
will be brought to pass largely through improved
school systems, largely through devices for
lightening household labor, largely through adequate
methods for marketing crops and financing farm
needs, very largely through scientific, businesslike
methods of farm management and chiefly, perhaps,
through a broadened and quickened sense of social
kinship among the people themselves. But is is not
evident that better schools, better marketing facil
ities and a closer neighborliness all depend upon bet
ter roads? Well built and well-kept highways fur
nish the key to the full enjoyment of all those bene
fits with which rural life Is being invested.
SUPERFLUOUS ENERGY
By Dr. Frank Crane
One of the most astounding thihgs in nature is the
waste of sun-force. Frank W. Very, in an article in
the Popular Science Monthly, calls attention to this,
saying:
“The earth is a mere point in
space, and receives no more than
one 2,200,000,000th of the radiant
energy the sun is outpouring so
lavishly.*' yet from this almost
infinitesimal fraction of the
sun’s radiation practically all
known forces on earth are due.
The power of wind and wave
and tide, of fire and its son,
steam, of plant and animal life,
of glacial movement, of rain and
snow, even of all growth in trees
and hAbs and all forms of ani
mal energy, come from this
crumb of solar potency caught by
the whirling world. And this apparent waste and ex
travagance characterizes all nature, and men and their
spiritual dynamics.
It is a law of mind. You cannot learn one fact
alone. Your study, your experience, must embrace
a myriad of facts; onl3 r so will the one remain with
yoi'
From months and years of “practice” the pianist
culls at last the flox%?r of perfection.
You read a book of 400 pages, and are lucky if one
paragraph sticks.
To make forty sales the department store must in
duce 400 customers to come and look.
The traveling salesman interviews twenty merchants
to get three or four who will place orders with him.
This is the law of success: Keep trying; if you
want one man to give you employment or buy your
wares you must apply to many men.
Out from every soul pours the power of personal
influence. All but a minute fraction of it seems wasted,
as in the case of the sun. You*must be kind a thou
sand times to be effectually kind once. You must for
give seventy times seven to find the'"one instance
where forgiveness counts. A hundred times must you
be courageous if you hope to be brave the one time
when it will be worth while.
The teacher knows how in the school room she must
sow beside all waters to make a few seeds grow.
An editor writes cne appeal in his daily newspaper.
A hundred thousand copies ar e bought. Perhaps 5,000
persons glance at his article. Five hundred read it
through. One hundred are interested. Ten perhaps
are persuaded.
Of the countless volumes of philosophy, how rare
are those that reach and fecundate the receptive mind!
What becomes of all the wasted energy of sun,
souls, books and all powers, physical and spiritual? We
do not know. We believe that somehow Nature, in her
nicely balanced adjustments, throws nothing away, and
transforms into other kinds of energy all superfluous
vigor.
But the observer may learn, if he be wise, not to be
discouraged at the apparent fruitlessness of his effort,
but to go on, as the sun for many millions of\ years
has gone on, putting forth his full vitality, that some
fragment be used.
The Stubborn Turk.
It was an easy thing for Enver Bey to lead a
Moslem army back into Adrianople whence it had
be'en driven in the waning days of last winter by
the Balkan Allies. Bulgaria, to whom the city had
been awarded, was harried on all sides by her former
.confederates, the Serbs and Greeks, supported by the
Rumanians. For the time being the common cause
which the Christian States had waged so heroically
against the Turks was forgotten. Saloniki and
Monastir completely eclipsed the importance of Ad
rianople. The city was left virtually ungarrisoned.
The Turks had simply to step in and take possession.
But can they hold this recaptured prize? If the
Treaty of London, with all its far-reaching signifi
cance to the future of Balkan peace and European
harmony is to be observed, the Turks must either
retire or he forcibly expelled.
Under the terms of the London treaty, which de
fined the boundaries between Moslem and Christian
territory and alloted the conquered lands among the
Balkan victors, Adrianople was cede., to Bulgaria!
That city was, indeed, the crux of the first Balkan
* war. Had, Turkey seen fit to have given it up
earlier in the conflict, much fighting would have
been averted. Its final surrender marked the end
of Lie struggle and opened the way to definite and
fruitful peace negotiations. Upon the cession of
Adrianople to Bulgaria, depended the virtue of all
the other terms in that agreement.
If, then, Turkey is permitted to reverse the treaty
in this important respect, the constructive results
which European diplomacy accomplished' after
months of arduous and delicate effort will all be
undone. It is scarcely believable, therefore, that the
larger Powers will suffer Turkey’s action to stand.
The London Times significantly remarks in this con
nection :
_» -r-
OUNTRY
TlMELTf
0ME topics
Cotmcro BrjlRSVlHjLLTDfl
A POINTER POM, PEILAifTHROPISTS.
The working girls in Paris are given no time to go
home for their miclday meals. Where tne most of
them are employed in the expensive stores or shops
the nearby restaurants are also fine and expensive.
Accordingly there are restaurants arranged for
where cheaper food can be obtained for such poor
girls.
The restaurants are managed by women and only
women and girls are allowed to eaf in them. These
girls can get a lunch for 12 or 15 cents, according to a
publication which , I found in an authoritative news
paper. They have also kitchens or cooking places
where a girl may bring her food and cook it. She can
use gas, water and saucepans. She pays 2 cents for
the use of them. It has been found to work well, for
they can live economically and morally.
It is said the Protestants of Paris, particularly the
Young Woman’s Christian association, have been very
active in arranging for these benefits. It is said the
majority of these shop girls are only paid from 40 to
6'0 cents per day. A low price for living expenses is
a necessity.
There have also been numerous country places
where these girls may spend their summer vacation,
at a moderate expense, In the vicinity of Paris.
The best charity in the world is the help that is
given to those who will help themselves, and we un
derstand that Paris has long had a bad reputation for
the safety of its poor girls.
This Idea is not a bad one for the shop girls of
America, and now that food prices are soaring so high
it would seem that this plan for assisting wage earn
ing girls should appeal to our philanthropic people.
Now that the legislature has authorized the con
struction of a home for wayward girls, the idea of
helping decent girls to keep away from pollution and
uncloanness should be more impressive, and they must
have enough food to live on to keep in health and
must earn enough to pay for what they eat and wear,
As soon as I read of the plan used in Paris I felt it was
a good thing to be adopted In this country.
DRIFTING AWAY FROM THE BIBLE.
Where the fault lies I am unable to decide, but It
is manifest that many young people, especially those
who are interested in scientific things, are gradually
discrediting the teachings of the Bible, ;
It is banished from the public schools as a reading
book or a text book in a great many places, and even
ministers of the gospel are joining In with such ob
jectors, It Is a strange sight to find ministers as ob
jectors to the Bible'. If the Bible is recognized as the
"Word of God” it should be a text book in every in
stitution where the people are educated, because the
Word of God Is above ail the words of men by com
mon consent.
Fifty years ago nobody but an infidel or an atheist
would controvert the words of the Bible. Now we are
familiar with published criticisms on the “inconsist
encies” of the book from so-called ministers of God.
Religion has been defined to be the life of God
in the soul of man, and the Bible has been reverenced
as the word of God, and an account of the life of God
in the souls of those who wrote down the words of
God for the use ox mankind. On this Bible declara
tion have been founded the Hebrew and also the
Christian churches of the world. To discredit the Bi
ble and its declarations is to make all these founda
tions unstable and uncertain. Some of our preachers
are saying that there are passages of the Bible that
should never be read aloud in public company. If
preachers can ray ro much it' would indicate that men
otherwise than preachers have full liberty to say that
the Bible should be read only in snatches and expur
gated generally. When I remember the history of
Tyndall, Luther and those old veterans in this warfare
of Christendom, I ask myself if we are ceasing to be
Bible believers, and discrediting the foundation stones
of our Christian civilization? Where are we ——ting?
The world is moving fast, too fast for prudence
and caution. Wnen our beliefs are wrenched apart
from the Bible what are we going to depend upon as
a mainstay for clean and upright living? Has the god
of this world blinded our judgment and distorted our
vision of spiritual things?
PRICE TWO DOLLARS.
In answer to various inquiries will say the price
of my book of "Memoirs of Georgia Politics" has been
reduced to $2, and it leaves me only a few cents mar
gin to pay for the printing and binding. It has near
ly 700 .pages. I will send it any wherefor that price,
securely wrapped, with the price of postage added,
namely 24 cents. Thanking the friends who have
made these inquiries, I am truly, yours,
MRS. W. H. FELTON.
Cartersville, Ga.
TWO FARMERS.
BY CHARLES H. MEIERS.
Joe Neverread, for many years,
Farmed in tue same old way,
.v'ith plodding toil and hope and fears; ¥
But could not make it pay.
His crops grew lighter every year,
Until at last he found •
That they had dwindled,^very near.
To seed for all his ground.
“The good disposition of Europe toward Tur
key, the friendliness of this country (England)
to help her in her future development, were all
conditional upon her observance of her word.
If she insists in breaking that she is
opening up a new and perilous chapter in her
history—a chapter of which none can see the
end." ,
The Powers have warned Turkey that she must
stand by her bargain and leave Adrianople. Her
present leaders seem to regard mi.it..ry intervention
by the Powers as highly improbable, but this is
the most hazardous sort of optimism. Europe will
unhesitatingly drive the Turks home again, should
that become necessary to Balkan peace and interna
tional peace.
Why not give congress a year-round job?
Mexico.
The President’.; special message on the Mexican
situation has served at least two highly important
ends.
It hap apprised Congress fully and frankly of
the Government’s policy toward our strife ridden
neighboring republic and has convinced even the
most restless and fearsome that the administration’s
course in dealing with this grave problem has been
not only prudent but also in keeping with the best
interests of the nation.
Furthermore, it has made clear to the entire
world the thoroughly unselfish attitude of the Uni
ted States toward Mexican affairs and has won in
ternational sanction of any future step our Govern
ment may be compelled to take in order to protect
its own honor and interests, and the interests of
civilization.
The President is determined to exhaust every
resource for the friendly pacification of Mexico. In
so doing he has the support of Congress, regardless
of parties, and the support of all the American peo
ple. Besides this he has the moral sympathy of
other leading nations both in the western world and
In Europe.
Jim Readalot, not far away,
Farmed scientifically. *
He read a little every day,
And learned ways w.hereby he
Could save his muscle and his time
By exercising brains.
He reached success while In his prime
Through methods that spell gains.
Joe tried to farjn a vast expanse
Of land; and had to skim
Across the fields. There was no chance
For breathing spells with him.
He fumed and fussed and worried till
His hair was gray as lime;
And still he hajT-to trudge up hill,
A loser all the time.
J1m concentrated effort on
A small, well-managed tract,
Whereon, as blithely as a fawn,
He moved about. In fact,
His work gave him enjoyment; and
Before he lost his youth
He made a fortune from his land.
This tale Is based on truth.
Where Every Man Has TwoEouls
It is an article of belief among the people of West
Africa that every man has two souls, one of which al
ways animates his human body, while the other, by
means of a magic draught, the secret of which has
been handed down for untold ages, can leave the form
in which It usually dwells, and float invisibly into
the depths of the forest, where it takes on its were-
shape. The Calabar river is supposed to be the home
of many such elephant and crocodile souls—“Efumi,”
as they are called.
Near the bank where the main traffic crosses the
river lies a great oval-shaped stone, half embedded
in the ground. Behind it a ju-ju tree has been planted,
and in front a heap of leaves may be seen. This
stone is one of the altars of Nimm, the great nature
goddess of the Ekol people and the chief object of
devotion to the women of this region. To insure her
protection leaves must be plucked, rubbed on the fore
head, and then thrown upon the heap with the prayer:
“I am coming across the river; may crocodile lay down
his head.”
/
Many a brave man is apt to fear a sitent woman.
PROGRESS AT PANAMA
' Bi FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
So rapidly has the work on the Panama canal moved
forward to completion that all but eleven of the fifty
miles of the canal are under water, and all but three
miles of the eleven yet in the dry,
are completed, so far as the tak
ing out of material is concerned.
The three miles where excavation
still is going on are to be found)
just above the Pedro Miguel lock
and below the Mir»flores locks—j
less than two miles in Culebra cut
and a little more than one mile in'
the sea level channel below Mira-
flores. By the time the work on'
those three miles of the channel
is completed the water in the Ga-
tun lake will have reached a level^
which will give thirty-nine feet of
water in Culebra cut, enough to
float the biggest ship that now
sails the seas toward Panama. Had it not been for un
expected trouble with the slides at Culebra and Cuca-
racha the canal would have been ready for the water
before the water was ^eady for the canal. As far back
as last May the resident engineer in Culebra cut, Mr.
Zinn, announced that there was a channel through the
cut which could accommodate a ship of thirty feet !
draft. But a few days after he made this announce
ment Cucaracha slide began to play its old trick of!
flowing down the mountain side like a glacier. It;
spread all the way across the cut and turned its "toe”'
skyward up the bank on the other side. As if this were,
not enough, no sooner had the engineers feformed their
line of battle and begun to undo the damage Cucaracha;
had done until they were exposed to a flank attack by
a great break in the west bank 1,000 yards or more!
north of Cucaracha, Between the two there were some j
rather anxious moments for the engineers. One aft-i
ernoon a friend happened into Colonel Goethals* office)
to inquire how the work was progressing. “It makes)
one feel homesick,” he replied, “to see how persistent)
these slides are. Cucaracha has ceased to bother me’
a great deal; this morning I tramped all over it, and;
found that about all that can slide is sliding. I saw 1
the basalt rock peeping through at many places and I
that means that the end is in sight so far as Cucaracha!
is concerned. But over on the west bank a crevasse!
has opened up, which, if it proves as bad as it may!
prove, will add a large quantity to the material to bo!
taken out. But at their worst the slides afford no rea-'
son why we shall not have the canal full of water this!
additional reason why we 1
fall—rather, they afford
should have it full.
“We will have seventy-nine feet of water available
in Gatun lake by October,” he continued, “and by allow
ing it to come into the cut we will at once get the ben
efit of the hydrostatic pressure of the water, which j
will help to hold back and further slides that might
otherwise develop. In addition to this, we will be able)
to concentrate the big dredges on the slides, and some
of these dredges can do the work of eight steam bI.jv-
els and sixteen dirt trains. This will permit us to re
move the material brought in by the slides much more
rapidly, at the same time allowing us to remove them
at less than half the present cost. Every engineering
consideration calls for the turning in of the water in
the fall, and every effort will be made to do so. And
it may be added that there will be no physical consid
eration that can prevent it, so far as engineering fore
sight can assure this.
• • •
“There is another consideration that calls for our
best efforts to get water into the canal the coming
fall. If we should not do so we will have to let the
water brought down by the Chagres river during the
present rainy season run on' to the sea. Then we
would, a month or so later, have a completed canal with
its highest part high and dr£, and be compelled to
wait another full year for water to fill it. In the]
meantime we would lose the use of a $375,000,000 in
vestment for a year; we would lose all the advantage
that has resulted from the faithful work of a faithful
army in hastening the date of completion; and further
than that, we would go up against the date of the of
ficial opening withoute any training in the handling
of ships, without any experience in meeting the prob
lems of operation, and with a year of lost time in mold
ing a permanent organization for the operation of the
big waterway. I feel that It is almost vital that we
shall get the water in this fall, and to that end the
canal army is working—with no difficulties ahead of
them, so far as engineering considerations go, to pre
vent its achievement.”
• • •
The assertion of the chief engineer that the water
ought to be turned in next fall, and that it will help to
solve the problem of the slides, is borne out by the
testimony of Colonel Du Bose Gaillard, who is in im
mediate charge of the work in Culebra cut, when he
last appeared before the house appropriations commit
tee. He said then that one of the ways to combat
slides into the cut would be to get the water In as soon
as possible, and that its outward pressure would tend
to maintain an equilibrium and, therefore, to check the
flow of earth into the big ditch.
• • •
Every preparation is now going forward to turn the
water into Culebra cut in October. Big pipe lines are
being laid through which the dredges will pump the
material so far out into the jungle that it cannot find
its way back into the canal. The work on the lock
gates in the upbound chambers at Miraflores is being
hastened by October 1 at the latest. The railroad tres
tle across the canal at the south end of Culebra cut
has been constructed so that a section can be taken
out to permit the Pacific dredges to pass up into the
slide region. Furthe'rmore, a hydraulic sluicing plant
has been put into commission back of Cucaracha slid?
to attack it by hydraulic methods from the rear, find
that plant is now in operation. Cucaracha slide reaches
so far qway from the cut that part of it slopes over
into another valley, and this is being sluiced away.
• • •
The method by which Culebra cut will be filled
with wateer is interesting. A dike built across the
north end of the cut at Gamboa now prevents any of
the waters of the Chagres river, impounded in Gatun
lake, from flowing into the nine-mil*-' stretch of the cut.
When they get ready to blow out this dike they cannot
merely blow it out a nd let a great rush of watere sweep
through the cut to its end at Pedro Miguel, for that
would carry devastation in its wake. Rather, they
will probably build a small spillway in the dike, and
water will be admitted slowly through this until the
water in the cut reaches the same level as the water
on the other side of the dike. This process may be
aided by large syphons and pumps, and also by a few
small rivers.
• #
Now that the opening the canal to traffic is only a
few short months away, Colonel Goethals is particu
larly anxious that the work of perfecting a permanent
organization shall be taken up and completed. One by
one the best men on the isthmus are leaving to enter
private employment. With no permanent head to as
sure them of positions under the permanent organiza
tion, there is nothing left for them to do but to go
when the opportunity presents itself. The result i*
that the force gradually is disintegrating as the work
moves on to completion, and the men are laid off here
and there. The canal army is the cream of a ten-year
process of elimination, and it is of prime importance
that all the advantage of this skimming process be not
lost to the United States.
Pointed Paragraphs f
Some candidates can’t distinguish between a dust
storm and a landslide.
• * •
if you are a chronic fault finder it’s a sign that;
your acquaintances are tired of having you around.
• * *
No oculist can do anything for the blindness of
self-love.