extensive knowledge of navigation to make it clear
that passing through a waterway which for 35 miles, or 71 per cent. of
its distance, will have a width of 500 feet or more, compared with one
which, for the larger part, or for some forty-one miles, will have a
width of only 200 feet or less, must appeal to the sense of security of
the skipper while taking his vessel through the canal.

But it is a question of general principles, and not of personal
preference. Our concern is with a matter of fact, and not with a theory.
No ship-owner on the Great Lakes considers it a serious hindrance to
navigation for vessels to pass through the lock of the "Soo" Canal; no
shipper running 1,000-ton barges through the future Erie Canal will have
the least apprehension of danger or destruction; no captain navigating a
vessel or boat through the proposed deep waterway from the ocean to the
Lakes will hesitate to pass through locks with a proposed lift of over
forty feet. These apprehensions are imaginary and not real. They are not
derived from experience or from a summary statement of shipmasters and
naval officers, but from the individual expressions and prejudice of a
few who are opposed to the lock project. I am confident that if the
matter is left to the practical navigator, to the ship-owner, and to the
self-reliant naval officer, there will be no serious disagreement with
the opinion that a lock canal, which can be built within a reasonable
period of time, is preferable to any sea-level canal which may be built
and opened to navigation twenty years hence or later.

There are two objections made by the majority of the Senate committee
against a lock canal which require more extended consideration. These
are, the protection of the canal in case of war and the danger of
serious injury or total destruction by possible earth movements or
so-called "earthquakes." Regarding the military aspects of the canal
problem, the majority of the Senate committee say:

The Spooner act and the Hay-Varilla treaty contemplated the
fortification and military protection of the canal route. No
proposition affecting this policy is now before the Senate. In so
far as the type of canal to be adopted has a bearing upon the
jeopardy to or immunity of the canal from risk of malicious injury,
the subject of safety and protection is pertinent and most
important. If a canal of one type would be more liable to injury
than a