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being, if the width is doubled, four times as great on the side of least extent of deep water as on the other."

That is, these pressures are as the squares of the distance.

"In consequence the ship yields to the greater pressure and heads directly for the transverse bank which makes the end of the siding." He is talking now about these sidings in the Suez Canal, which were made in order to facilitate ships passing each other. They are mere notches, cut right out of one side or other of the bank, and of course the end of the notch represents a transverse wall of earth. He says that a ship coming abreast of one of these enlargements shunts right off for the enlargement-that is, she tries to get to the center of the channel all the time.

Senator MORGAN. Ships that are put into these notches are stopped? General DAVIS. They are stopped absolutely, and tied up there until the other one goes by.

Senator MORGAN. Until the other one goes by; yes.

General DAVIS. On the subject of increasing the width of canal, which from about 1870 to 1880 was under discussion, Admiral Ryder, of the British navy, reported:

"At first sight it might appear advisable that the canal should be widened, but I am convinced it would be a misfortune, as wild vessels that now cannon harmlessly from bank to bank of the ditch, which is only 72 feet across, would then, instead of cannoning, dig their stems in and stick perhaps for hours."

Senator TALIAFERRO. General, before you proceed, do you know the width of the Suez Canal at these points for passing-for ships to pass each other?

General DAVIS. At that time they were much less than the figure I give you now, but now they are 147.6 feet. That is their width now. Senator TALIAFERRO. At the passing places?

General DAVIS. At the passing places; yes, sir.

Senator KITTREDGE. At the bottom or the surface?
General DAVIS. At the bottom.

Sir John Stokes, of the Royal Engineers, in his report to the Government this is an official paper-says:

"It has been urged as a reproach against the company that it did not excavate a channel of the full width originally intended, namely, 200 feet at the surface and 144 feet at the bottom."

That was the plan that Mr. De Lesseps set out to accomplish. He got just half of that-that is, he got 72 feet instead of 144. [Reading:]

"But I think it is a fortunate circumstance that the intention was not carried out. I believe that the navigation is, in consequence, effected in much greater security, that the risk of collision is greatly reduced, and that in the long run the passage through the canal is performed in a much shorter average time than if vessels were allowed to navigate without supervision. If the canal were wider, and vessels allowed to navigate without restriction, obeying only the rule of the sea, the usual rivalry and endeavor to get through as quick as possible would, even if restrained by regulations, be accompanied by the usual collisions sometimes occurring from accidents beyond control.

"There is practically no limit to the number of vessels that can be passed; the present sidings' can be increased in number, but as

the large Bitter Lake affords the means of shunting any number of vessels

(At this point General Davis indicated on the map the location of the Bitter Lake on the Suez Canal.)

Senator KITTREDGE. How far is that, General, from either end? General DAVIS. That is about 25 miles from the Red Sea, and this end of it is about 60 miles from Port Said.

Senator KITTREDGE. It is about 15 miles long?

General DAVIS. There are 9.38 miles there of uninterrupted lake navigation.

Senator KITTREDGE. And the longer section is about 15 miles longer than the Panama Canal?

General DAVIS. Oh, the whole length of the canal from ocean to

ocean

Senator KITTREDGE. No; I do not mean that. I mean from that lake in the central part, of which you are speaking.

General DAVIS. Lake Timsah is a turning point. There is a place where ships can turn around. It so happens that from Lake Timsah to Port Said is exactly 49 miles; and in that distance from Lake Timsah to Port Said there is no place where a ship can turn around, nor anywhere near turn around, unless it is a mere tugboat or something of the kind. It happens to be just 49 miles from Lake Timsah to this end. There is a point where they may turn [indicating] and so they may here [indicating the Bitter Lake].

Senator MORGAN. Does that Bitter Lake receive any contributions of water from the Nile or from any other great stream?

General DAVIS. None whatever, except from the Red Sea and from the Mediterranean.

Senator MORGAN. I know; but I mean did it naturally, before the canal was constructed?

General DAVIS. Oh, no; it was a dead sea; it was dry. It was a dry basin. So was Lake Timsah.

Senator MORGAN. It has been filled up by the water being let in from the Red Sea and the Mediterranean?

General DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Senator MORGAN. So it is now salt water?

General DAVIS. It is now salt water, and so is Lake Timsah.

Senator MORGAN. They were both dry basins before that canal was cut through there?

General DAVIS. Oh, yes. One of the arguments that was brought against the Suez Canal by those who were opposed to its being constructed was this: "Just as soon as you let the sea water into the Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah the evaporation will turn the whole affair into salt, and you will have nothing there but a body of salt." That was one of the charges against it.

Senator MORGAN. That has not occurred?

General DAVIS. No, sir.

Senator TALIAFERRO. How far is it, General, from the Red Sea end of that Bitter Lake to the Red Sea?

General DAVIS. From here out [indicating]?

Senator TALIAFERRO. Yes.

General DAVIS. That is mile 64, and this is mile 90 or 91. It is about 30 miles. I shall come to that again.

Senator MORGAN. Practically 24 miles.

General DAVIS (reading):

"There is practically no limit to the number of vessels that can be passed; the present 'sidings ' can be increased in number, but as the large Bitter Lake affords the means of shunting any number of vessels it is unnecessary to widen the canal. The fact that Her Majesty's troopships, vessels of 4,400 tons, 400 feet long, of 52 feet beam, and drawing 22 feet of water, pass through the canal in an average on 49 voyages of seventeen hours under weigh

A distance of 104 miles, remember.

Their average time in the canal being about forty hours "That is, with the nights added, because at that time they did not have any electric lights to use in illuminating the place at night. In other words, the canal was not lighted. (Reading:)

"Affords a convincing proof of the sufficiency of the canal for all reasonable purposes and as a mercantile highway."

This report was written about 1884, when the bottom width of the canal was 72 feet and its depth 26 feet, and when the average capacity of vessels using it was but 1,500 tons. We have the tonnage; we know how many vessels passed; we know what they paid tolls on, and we find it averaged 1,500 tons. But the enormous increase in steam tonnage throughout the world and the increased size given to ships forced the Suez management to enlarge the capacity of the canal prism.

The Suez Canal has been in process of widening, deepening, and flattening of curves ever since it was opened, in 1869. Not a day has passed since then when they have not been taking out something, making it wider or deeper. They are doing it all the time; and I have some very interesting figures here about what it cost. And if there exists such paramount importance or advantage in having straight sailing courses, such as the lock people claim, why have not the curves at Suez, or even one of them, been changed according to the modern idea, as might easily have been effected? These French engineers are not asleep. They are as live men as you can find anywhere; and if this system of polygon navigation had been adapted to canal purposes those Frenchmen would have found it out long since. Instead, they have left every curve which was there originally. They have not taken out one. They have made them flatter; they have made the sweep longer.

This polygon navigation is absolutely indispensable in the Great Lakes, in the submerged channels. There they have to have it, and they do have it, and it works beautifully; and they have followed it in the Hay Lake channel and the Neebish channel and in other parts of the Great Lakes. But this canal as proposed by the minority is a system of lake navigation.

Another point which the Secretary makes is that the proposed Gatun locks are capable of receiving vessels 25 per cent-the minority say 40 per cent-larger than the new Cunarder, whose dimensions are 800 by 88 feet by 38 feet draft.

I want to say a word about this matter of the draft of ships.

If you take Lloyd's Register, which is the standard of all of the registers of shipping in the world-next to it comes the Bureau Veritas of the French-they never, in those books on classifying ships, give you the draft. They give you exact detail about the ship,

its length on the water line, its length over all, and its greatest beam; they will tell you how many horsepower its engines develop, who built them, where the ship was built, and everything else about it, but they never put anything about draft in those tables, because the draft is variable. That is perfectly well recognized. As you gentlemen all know, every foreign ship and a great many American ships have marked on them the maximum load line, sometimes called the " Plimsoll mark," but usually called the "Lloyds mark," which means that you must not load that ship deeper than that mark.

That is all that anybody can say about the draft of a ship. If you put more of the cargo forward and less astern she draws more forward. If you load more astern and less forward she draws more aft. So all we give in our Navy Registers about the draft of our ships is their mean draft, the ordinary, usual draft of battle ships and cruisers. That is very easy to state for those vessels, because when they are put in commission they are expected to carry a certain definite amount of weight. But these commercial ships are continually changing.

The reference to this Cunarder as having 38 feet draft-as given in the report of the Board-means that you must not load that ship so as to draw more than 38 feet; but probably not once in the whole lifetime of that ship will she ever be loaded so as to draw 38 feet.

One of the vessels that passed through the Suez Canal last year, the British battle ship Terrible, is put down in the Naval Register as drawing 30 feet, and yet she went through the Suez Canal drawing 26 feet. That shows how little dependence you can put upon the matter of draft, so far as the published reports are concerned.

These locks, and all others proposed by the minority, are to have a depth on miter sills of 40 feet. At the end of the dry season the lake level is expected to be drawn down to Level 82, which will decrease the depth of water on the miter sills of the two upper locks to 37 feet, and this low-water period may continue for two months or more, or until the rains and floods restore the level of Lake Gatun to 85 feet. If the supposed Cunarder applied for transit with conditions as above, she would have to wait weeks or even months to be permitted to enter at all.

Again, it is well known that the draft of vessels is greater in fresh water than in salt. This is frequently stated for moderate-sized vessels at 3 per cent of the draft. With such allowance for increased draft of the Cunarder in the fresh water of Lake Gatun she would then draw 39 feet, and in entering the lock she would have only 9 inches of water between her keel and the miter sill. Would the owners of a 35,000-ton ship be willing to take the chances of escaping injury with a margin of but 9 inches to go on?

It seems to me that the question answers itself.

The minority may say," But the majority plan calls for a canal only 40 feet deep, and that only leaves 2 feet of margin to go on," and they will also say, probably, that since it is proposed to spill into the sea-level canal the regulated flow of the Chagres River and some other minor streams, the waters of the sea-level canal will be fresh water and this same remark will apply to that type of canal. That is true if the premises are sound. But there is another condition that will result. If that water is let into the prism of the canal about its center, if the canal is at uniform sea level throughout its

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