removed. Another break occurred directly opposite this one, covering an area of 111⁄2 acres on the east side of the canal. The third break was at La Pita Point and permitted the waters of the Obispo diversion to flow into the canal for a period of three days, drowning out some of the shovels that were at the north end. The total amount of material removed from all slides and breaks in this division during the fiscal year amounted to 2,649,563 cubic yards or about 15 per cent. of the amount removed from the Culebra cut. During the year floods seriously interfered with the progress of the work. The most serious of these occurred on December 26, 1909, overflowing the dike separating the cut from the Chagres River, cutting a channel through it about 200 feet long and 21 feet deep. During the year 17,749,306 cubic yards of material were deposited in various dumps. A considerable portion of this amount was dumped on the Panama Railroad relocation for filling trestles and for raising the embankment of the new line to the desired level. Work was continued during the year on the breakwater from Balboa toward Naos Island, with the object of cutting off silt-bearing currents from the excavated channel in the Pacific, thereby reducing the cost of maintenance and making navigation of the channel easier by protecting vessels from the existing cross currents. Prior to July 1, 1909, the trestle had been constructed for a distance of a little over 2 miles and during the fiscal year it was extended 1123 feet, giving a total length from the shore of 2.4 miles. The work so far accomplished has been of material benefit in securing the objects originally sought. The average cost of excavation for the year was 66.99 cents per cubic yard, including plant charges and division expenses. PACIFIC DIVISION. The work in this division consists in the construction of the locks and dam at Pedro Miguel, the locks and dams at Miraflores, the Ancon quarry and excavating a channel between the locks and below Miraflores locks to deep water in the Pacific. The total amount of dry excavation in this division during the fiscal year was 1,269,865 cubic yards and the total amount of dredge excavation was 6,990,391 cubic yards. Work continued during the year in excavating the lock site at Pedro Miguel and the approaches thereto from the south. When the excavation on this point was nearly completed two slides occurred on the east side delaying the work and increasing the amount to be removed by 75,299 cubic yards of earth and rock. The laying of concrete began on April 4, 1910, and the total amount of concrete laid during the fiscal year was 166,869 cubic yards. The west dam at Pedro Miguel consists of two mounds or toes of all classes of waste material, a large percentage being rock, with the intervening space filled with selected material forming an impervious core. The selected material is clay excavated from the canal prism and is deposited from sump cars in layers about 6 feet deep. In the fiscal year 51,827 cubic yards were added to the impervious portion and 41,964 cubic yards to the toes. The excavation for the upper locks of the flight at Miraflores was practically completed during the year and the work of preparing the foundations, erecting concrete plant, and placing concrete was begun. The total amount excavated was 234,731 cubic yards by steam shovels and 59,098 by hand, scrapers and cranes. The total amount of con PANAMA CANAL crete laid during the year was 1630 cubic yards. The estimated amount of concrete in the locks, including approach and wing walls, was 1,327,300 cubic yards. A reinforced concrete power house at Miraflores was completed during the year at a total cost, including equipment, of $486,096. The west dam extended from the head of the locks to Cocoli Hill, consisting of two mounds or toes made up of waste material obtained from rock excavation, mostly rock, and of hydraulic fill between them, was continued during part of the fiscal year. LABOR. The average number of gold employes and skilled laborers on the rolls of the Commission during the fiscal year was 4369 and on the Panama Railroad, 753, or a total of 5122. During the year there were 2890 separations from the service of the Commission and there were employed in the United States 1099, on the Isthmus 1092, and re-employments on the Isthmus 967, or a total of 3158, which indicates that more than 60 per cent. of the force was changed during the year. Laborers recruited during the year aggregated 2519. These were all West Indians, a large number from Barbados. The last recruiting was done in January, 1910, from which date immigration exceeded emigration. During the last four months of the fiscal year an immigration movement began from Europe and more than 200 laborers came from Spain and Italy of their own volition. From the beginning of the fiscal year there was a steady increase in the force until on March 30, 1910, a maximum of 38,676 was reached. This is the largest force on record in the history of the work on the canal. Following this date there was a slight decrease, but the total effective force on June 30, 1910, was 35,578, as compared with 33,493 on June 30, 1909. A number of new buildings were constructed during the year for the accommodation of gold employes and laborers. The total number of buildings in the Canal Zone owned by the Commission was, at the end of the fiscal year, 3078, of which 1147 were acquired by purchase from the French. ISTHMIAN CANAL ZONE. On April 12, 1910, Maurice H. Thatcher was chosen head of the Department of Civil Administration to succeed Hon. J. C. S. Blackburn, resigned. No congressional legislation of importance affecting the Zone was passed during the year. Negotiations were carried on with the officials of the Republic of Panama which resulted in the adoption of sanitary regulations, the amendment of the agree ment with Panama for the maintenance and operation of Santo Tomás Hospital, the maintenance of the insane of the Republic of Panama in commission hospitals, the verification of the survey of the Canal Zone boundaries and the enforcement of the executive decree of Panama prohibiting the recruitment of labor in the cities of Panama and Colón. A reorganization of the police department, by which the Zone was, for police purposes, divided into four districts coextensive with the administration, became effective February 1, 1910. During the year 12 schools for white children and 12 for colored children were maintained. IMPROVEMENTS IN COLON AND PANAMA. Municipal improvements continued to be made under the agreement between the United States government and the government of Panama for sani. tary and other improvements in these cities. The amounts thus expended are to be refunded to the United States at the end of a 50-year period from the collection of water rents. In Colon work was undertaken on the construction of a sewer at an estimated cost of $136,000. In Panama streets were graded and macadamized, sewers and water mains were laid and concrete curbs and gutters were placed, making a total expense for improvements thus far undertaken of $134,750. PANAMA RAILROAD. The construction of a new line for the operation of the Panama Railroad was being done by the Panama Railroad Company under an agreement with the Commission. At the beginning of the fiscal year work was in progress along the entire stretch from Gatun to Gamboa, with the exception of 8 miles through the valley of the Gatun River. As canal construction contemplated the closing of the west reversion and discharging the Chagres River through the spillway, the elevation of the floor of which was placed 10 feet above sea level, work on the relocation during the year had to be arranged so as to give continuous communication at such times as the Panama Railroad is flooded. This made necessary the construction of several trestles. The material for embankments for the relocation was obtained from the excavation of the canal. PANAMA EXPOSITION. See EXPOSI TIONS. PANAMA LIBEL SUITS. See UNITED STATES, Administration. PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE. The fourth Pan-American Conference was held at Buenos Ayres July 12-August 30, 1910. Among the American delegates were former Ambassador to France, Henry White, Professor John Bassett Moore, Professor Paul Reinsch, Professor David Kinlay, Professor Bernard Moses, E. B. satt Moore, Professor Paul S. Reinech, Professor Quintero, and Colonel Enoch Crowder. Many important questions were discussed, including the question of a steamship service between the United States and South America, Pan-American railway, an agreement concerning patents, trade marks and copyrights, proposals for interchange of university professors and the subject of sanitation. It was decided by the Conference that it would be unwise to make a general declaration in support of the Monroe Doctrine and the subject was therefore not taken up by the Conference. A committee drafted a report on the proposed treaty calling for compulsory arbitration of the pecuniary claims of one nation against another. In the committee appointed to consider sanitary regulations for commerce there occurred some difference of opinion. Venezuela objected to the proposition supported by the United States and Cuba that the condition of ports of departure should be such as to satisfy the nation receiving shipments that in these ports there is no dangerous infectious or contagious disease. The representative of Venezuela complained that such requirements would attack the sovereignty of the country from which shipments were made. A delegate from Santo Domingo asked that the programme of the Conference be extended to permit declaration of the intentions of European, North American or South American powers with respect to domestic politics of any American nation. The Cuban delegates declared that the time for making such an extension was when the programme was arranged at Washington by representatives of the Republics. No action was taken on this suggestion. The national holiday of Argentina occurred during the session of the Conference, and Professor Paul S Reinsch, of the United States delegation, made an address in Spanish, speaking for his country. The Conference also celebrated the anniversary of Peruvian CANAL EXCAVATION TO DECEMBER 31, 1910 COST OF THE CANAL. The appropriations made by Congress for the Isthmian Canal available to the close of the fiscal year 1909 amounted to $210,146,468, or 56 per cent. of the total estimated cost of the canal, which is fixed at $375,201,000. On June 25, 1910, $37,855,000 was appropriated for the fiscal year 1910-11, leaving $127,199,531 of the estimated total cost of the canal to be appropriated. The total classified expenditures for canal work to June 30, 1910, was $191,258,113, of which amount $31,188,426 were the net expenditures for the fiscal year. Of the total expenditures to June 30, 1910, $25,699,450 were for plant and equipment for construction work, of which $4,388,511 were expended during the fiscal year. The expenditures for the fiscal year were distributed as follows: Department of Civil Administration, $719,351; Department of Sanitation, $1,803,040; Department of Construction and Engineering, $26,300,166; General Items, $2,866,088. The canal excavation to the end of 1910, including that done by the French companies and by the Americans, together with the excavation done in the several divisions, is shown in the following table: |