Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE PANAMA CANAL. 149 great work is carried to a triumphant con- clusion, as we hope and believe will be the case, the United States will have raised a monument to faith and perseverance of which they and all humanity may be proud. An enterprise so gigantic, carried on amid new and trying conditions, and involving great and seemingly hazardous departures from recog- nized engineering practice, must inevitably arouse criticism and hostility. Its history will doubtless record mistakes ; from time to time plans have had to be modified and even radically changed ; now and again accidents have occurred, and are quite likely to cause vexatious delays and trouble in the future. All these things, however, must be looked for when men face immensity and the unfamiliar. Equally inevitable are the carpings of the timid folk of whom President Roosevelt spoke in the special message communicated to Congress on his return from the Canal Zone in 1906. He recognized the epic nature of the task under- taken by his country, and claimed for the men engaged upon it credit equal to that which would be given to the leaders of a victorious army. The day for awarding honours has not yet been reached; but, in the meanwhile, we may agree with the ex-President in regard- ing the future Panama Canal as high among “ the greatest conquests, whether of peace or war, which have ever been won by any of the peoples of mankind.” president Roosevelt’s visit to the canal works. THE PRESIDENT DICTATING A MESSAGE.