PANAMA CANAL TO SMALL

Chronicle (Levin), 3 December 1947, Page 5

PANAMA CANAL TO SMALL

Received Tuesdav, 7 p.m. WASHIXGTON. Dec. 1. The Governor of the Panama Canat zone, Brigadier-General Joseph Niehaffev, proposed to Congress today thar uiuler a ten-year programnie, the' canai be converted to an atom bomb proor sea level waterway at a cost of 2,483,000,000 doilars. The proposed programme would eliminate the locks which now" raise parts of the canal 85 ■feet above sea level. President Truman has sent the recommendations to the House and Senate. General ilehaffey said the canal now "is totally lacking in security to meet future needs of national defence. T'iie sei'vice that the canal performed in the recnt war was made possible only because it was not attaeked. " He stated that bv about 1900 the canal would be uuable to meet the demands of inter"ceau commerce without causing delavs that would beeome in'creasingly more serious as further traffic increases were ' realised. Several ocean-going ships were al ready too big to go through the locks and the canal 's size had been a factor for many years in limiting the size of the Navy's capital ships. Even a sea level canal could be closed tempoi'arily in wartime bv sinking one or more ships in tlie channel or by blocking the channel with debris resulting from a direct hit by an atom bomb bur such closures would be of short duration compared with tho.se that could resutt from an attack on a lock canal. GeneraJ Mehaffey said the construction of a sea level canal could be aceomplished "with insignificant interference with the operation of the presept canal and would follow the present canal 's route with considerable improvemept in alignment. " •