The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1914. THE PANAMA CANAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 27, 18 September 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1914. THE PANAMA CANAL.

Events of world-wide importance, which under normal conditions would have engaged considerable public attention, have been quite overshadowed and, in some cases, almost lost sight of, by the dreadful fascination of that world’s greatest war which is now raging. One oi these important matters is the opening of the Panama Canal, an event in which the world’s commerce is to some extent interested. In these southern lands the fact that the Canal is now open to the commerce of the world, and that freight steamers are passing back and forth daily from the Atlantic to the Pacific through tiiis new ocean highway for trade, is well worth knowing. As already briefly stated, the official opening took place on August 6th just when the first shock of the war was being felt. The ceremony was a quiet one and almost devoid of ceremony or pomp, but it is intended that there shall be an official opening next year, in connection with the Panama-Pacific Exposition in Sa.' Francisco. The initial trip was mad? by the United States War Department’s steamer Ancon, which navigated the Canal, from the Atlantic to the Pacific side, in nine hours. Next day four cargo ships and a private yacht used the waterway, and now a steady stream of shipping is passing through. An interesting account of the ceremony is given by a correspondent who expresses the view that as the operators of the Canal gain, additional experience in locking and unlock ing gates, more speed is being made in the transit. Under ordinary work ing conditions, the trip , from ocean to ocean probably will tie made in about seven hours. Tt is understood that the great waterway now becomes 1 “free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all nations, on tonus of entire equality.” The big ships of the American Navy, it would lie possible to pass through at any time, and the foreign warshins m Pacific and Atlantic waters could make the trip at any time, lint the naval plans of the European Powers, which have vessels off both coasts of the United States are not iat _ present known. It is ten years since the American Government notified its intention to connect the two oceans by a canal. Jt has cost the United States nearly £80,000,000 to carry out the giant undertaking. This is approximately what De Lesseps, the French engineer, figured it would cost when lie undertook the great work in 1889, but lie spent that and nine and ended in utter failure and financial disgrace. At the end of the first vear’s operation it is computed the American Government will have to show receipts of some £3,000.000 to pay the operating cost of the Canal which will be about £BOO.OOO yearly and the interest on its lingo investment. Whether it will ho able to do so this year or for many years, is

n question. Traffic experts have es- 1 timatod that 10,000,000 tons of freight will be carried through the Canal every year for the first few years, and that later it will be dcubLd. This roughly, it is stated, has been the experience of the Suez Canal. Last year nearly six thousand ships passed through Suez, with a not tonnage of over 20,000,000. The growth of tonnage in ten years has been more than fifty per cent., and an equal growth is hoped for the Panama trade.