National Affairs: Paying Proposition

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The four billion dollars or so which the U. S. Government spent in cutting a slice out of the narrow middle of the Americas proves a better investment year by year. The number of ships using the Canal, their tonnage, the revenue derived from tolls have risen not only progressively, but in great bounds in the last few years. The report for the fiscal year of 1924 was just published with the following comparative showing:

Fiscal Year Ships Tolls

1915 .................. 1,075 $ 4,343,383

1917 .................. 1,803 5,631,781

1919 .................. 2,024 6,156,118

1921 .................. 2,892 11,261,919

1923 .................. 3,967 17,507,630

1924 .................. 5,230 24,290,963

At this rate the Canal is doing well.