cal and financial consequences might arise and the
success of the enterprise itself might be placed in jeopardy. Upon a
maximum cost, in round figures, of $200,000,000 for a lock canal, and of
$300,000,000 as a minimum for a sea-level canal, the additional annual
interest charge would be at least $2,000,000.

But Mr. Stearns estimates that under certain conditions a sea-level
canal might cost as much as $410,000,000, which would add millions of
dollars more per annum to the fixed charges which must be included in
the cost of maintenance, to say nothing of a possibly much higher cost
of operation. Nor can I agree to the statement that the cost of
operation of a sea-level canal would be $800,000 per annum less than in
the case of a lock canal; but, on the contrary, I am fully satisfied
that the expense would be very much greater in the sea-level project, if
proper allowance is made for interest charges upon the additional
outlay, which cannot be rightfully ignored. Upon this important point
the evidence of the engineers and of the minority members of the Board
is strongly in favor of the lock-canal project.

As regards ultimate cost, the estimates of the majority are very much
more indefinite and conjectural than the more carefully prepared
estimates of the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers. Upon
this point the majority of the Senate committee say:

There are two estimates now before the Senate, both originating
with the Board of Consulting Engineers. The basis of computation of
cost at certain unit prices was adopted unanimously by the Board,
and we are told that the cost, with the 20 per cent. allowance for
contingencies, will be, for the sea-level canal, the sum of
$247,021,200. Your committee has adopted the figures stated by the
majority on page 64 of its report of a total of $250,000,000 for
the ultimate final cost of the sea-level canal.

The estimate of the minority for a lock canal at a level of eighty-five
feet is, in round figures, $140,000,000, or about $110,000,000 less than
for a sea-level canal, which would represent a difference of $2,200,000
per annum in interest charges at the lowest possible rate of two per
cent. The majority of the Senate committee attempt to meet this
difference by capitalizing the estimated higher maintenance charge,
which they fix at $800,000 per annum, and they thus increase the total
cost of a lock canal by $40,000,000; but th