majority seriously
erred in omitting from their report the necessary data and calculations
for an accurate and trustworthy estimate of the cost of operation and
maintenance of a sea-level canal.

From this point of view and in the light of the facts as presented by
the Board for or against either project, the Isthmian Commission could
not consistently act otherwise than to give their final approval to the
more specific and practical recommendations of the minority members of
the Board, and they properly say that "_it appears that the canal
proposed by the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers can be
built in half the time and for a little more than half of the cost of
the canal proposed by the majority of the Board_." They advance a number
of specific reasons why a lock canal when completed will for all
practical purposes--commercial, military, and naval--be a better canal
than a sea-level waterway with a tidal lock, as proposed by the majority
members of the Board.

The report of the Board was carefully and critically examined by Chief
Engineer Stevens, of the Isthmian Commission and in actual charge of
engineering matters on the Isthmus. Mr. Stevens is a man of very large
practical American engineering experience, and he adds to the finding of
the Commission the weight of his authority, decidedly and unequivocally
in favor of a lock canal. He states as the sum of his conclusions that,
all things considered, the lock or high-level canal is preferable to the
sea-level type, so-called, for the reason that it will provide a safer
and quicker passage for ships; that it will provide beyond question the
best solution of the vital problem of how safely to care for the flood
waters of the Chagres and other streams; that provision is offered in
the lock project for enlarging its capacity to almost any extent at very
much less expense of time and money than can be provided for by any
sea-level plan; that its cost of operation, maintenance, and fixed
charges, including interest, will be very much less than any sea-level
canal, and that the time and cost of its construction will not be more
than one-half that of a canal of the sea-level type; that the lock
project will permit of navigation by night; and that, finally, even at
the same cost in time and money, Mr. Stevens would favor the adoption of
the high-level lock canal plan in preference to that of the proposed
sea-level canal.

To these observations and comments th