Life — March 8, 1906 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“ While there is Life there's Hope.” VOL. XLVI. MARCH &, 1906. No. 1219. 17 West Twrery-Frest Street, New Yori. HE Panama Canal, as all know, is a highly speculative under- taking, having many f 5 tures and possibilities which no_ pre dents govern The President has >> tried faithfully to find out what kind of a canal we ought to build. Of the thir- cn consulting engi- neers, five Europeans and three Americans guessed that a sea-level canal would and five ought to Guided by Commission give best satisfaction, Americans bet that we build a canal with locks these views the Canal with Chief money voted five to one for a canal Secretary Tait Stevens put and their on that pattern, and the President having taken counsel with a voyant: and some astrologers, recom- mended to Congress to build it that way, A lock canal, then, with its top- level eighty-five feet above the sea, is likely to be attempted, unless in- fluences at present unforeseen move clair- Congress to favor another design We may save nearly a dollar and a half apiece by adopting the lock canal plan, and anywhere from four to twelve years in time; at least the estimates so indicate. We get the lock canal in about nine years for than two dollars $140,000,000; or the se $247,000,000 (about three apiece) in twelve or thirteen or maybe twenty. For our part we do not grudge the extra dollar for the sea-level cut, but dislike very much to spare so much time. We are therefore well satisfied with the President’s choice. It is the bolder choice of the two for all concerned in it, because if the eight-year canal fails to give satisfaction, a large pro- less apiece, or -level for dollars ars, -LIFE- portion of its promoters will still be alive on the earth and exposed to disparagement, whereas by the time the twenty-year canal has fully demonstrated its imperfections, most of its indorsers and promoters will be out of harm's way. It is a de- advantage of the eight-year plan that there will be a_ better chance to talk it: over retrospec- tively with its originators. cided HE railroad rates bill is almost as big a gamble as the canal The id course to take with it would be to keep it forever imminent. The dread of it has already done much good and no harm, which is a bet ter result than can reasonably be hoped for any bill that be- But since the bill: lire indetinitely without im- irom comes a law not ha pairing its efficiency as a regulator. let us hope it will be a little too stiff rather than a little too limp, since. once in operation, it will be easier to amend it to ce faults of faults of rect its than its neglect, It is shorten a dog's commission always easier to ail than to lengthen it. Now the railr and the ads being the dog commission the tail, let us hope the tail will be of an effectual length to start with. [f it wags the too violently, chop some of it off rates rsed to stiffen the Elkins ast rebates by reviving the penalty of imprisonment which it first provided. That penalty was dropped and punishment. by fine substituted on the supposition that if the gentler form of correction was provided, it might be possible te secure and so en- force the law. But very few convic- tions were ever accomplished, though the law universally I is pro aw ay, convictions, was almost broken by the railroads. It is said to be better observed since the rates bill agitation has stirred the whole matter up. If the old penalty should be revived and one or two convic- tions could be s¢cured, it would doubtless have an immense effect in stiffening the backbones of the rail- road men against the aggressive im- portunities of the shippers, and per- haps it might even modify the zeal of the big shippers in securing un- lawful rates to the ruinous disadvan- tages of their smaller competitors. The spectacle of Mr. Armour, for example, doing time behind a grat- ing for unlawful scrouging would be exceedingly painful, but there is no doubt that it would be an effectual hint that the Elkins law was not de- vised for a joke. Captain Van Schaick got a ten-year sentence the other day for ignoring a neglected law about fire drills and other pre- cautions on excursion steamers, It was cruelly hard on him, but it put new life into the law which he had broken. WE spoke last week about the predicament of army officers, in that their pay was fixed thirty- five years ago when the expense of living was very much less than it is now. It is always possible to esti- mate approximately what the cost of living is and how it varies year by year. Ti Congress cannot put back the cost of living to where it was thirty-five years ago, it ought to readjust the pay of the army and navy to fit the times. The just way to do would be to provide for the re- adjustment of Government salaries every five years to match the con- temporary cost of living. The tariff and the immense increase in the production of gold have made prices high, and the folks with fixed sala- ries squirm in consequence. Such of them as get their salaries from the Government ought to, have relief from the Government. Some of the others, as the college professors, are getting relief from other sources. comicbooks:com