imes the
map of the world has been changed in less than a decade. No man in 1890
anticipated the war with Spain in 1898, and no man in 1906 can say what
important event may not happen before the next decade has passed. The
progress during peace is far greater in its permanent effect than the
changes brought about by war. The world's commerce, the social,
commercial, and political development of the South American republics
and of Asiatic nations, all depend, more or less, upon the completion of
an Isthmian waterway. It is the duty of this nation, since we have
assumed this task, to construct a waterway across the Isthmus within the
shortest reasonable period of time. Valuable years have passed, valuable
opportunities have gone by. In 1884 De Lesseps, with supreme confidence
and upon the judgment of his engineers, anticipated the opening of the
Panama Canal in 1888. That was nearly twenty years ago. Shall it be
twenty years more before that greatest event in the world's commercial
history takes place? Had De Lesseps in 1879 gone before the
International Congress with a proposition for a feasible canal at
reasonable cost, free from prejudice or bias, had he then adopted the
American suggestion for a lock canal, he would probably have lived to
see its completion, and the world for fifteen years would have had the
use of a practical waterway across the Isthmus.

As to safety in operation, which the committee discuss in their report,
there is one very important point to be kept in mind, and that is that
nine-tenths, or possibly a larger proportion, of shipping will be of
vessels of relatively small size. If this should be the case, then the
sea-level project contemplates a canal chiefly designed to meet the
possible needs of a very small number of vessels of largest size, while
the lock canal provides primarily for the accommodation of the class of
steamships which of necessity would make the largest practical use of
the Isthmian waterway. Now, it stands to reason that special precautions
would be employed during the passage of a very large vessel, either
merchantman or man-of-war, and even if necessity should demand the rapid
passage of a fleet of vessels, say twenty or thirty, it is not
conceivable that a condition would arise which could not be efficiently
safeguarded against by those in actual charge and responsible for safety
in the management of the canal. Considering the immense tonnage passing
through the "Soo" Canal