No one denies that if it were possible to have a great Isthmian waterway at sea level as wide as the present lock canal, it would be the ideal interoceanic waterway. But, as such a proposition is out of the question, the American people have at least one thing for which to thank Theodore Roosevelt--that at a critical time in the history of the canal project he allowed himself to be converted from the advocacy of a sea-level canal to the championship of a lock-level canal, in the face of a majority report of one of the strongest boards of engineers ever assembled, and prevented a situation at Panama that would have been humiliating to America, and which probably would have ended for all time the efforts of centuries to let ships through the American Isthmus. CHAPTER XXIV FORTIFICATIONS When Congress decided that the Panama Canal should be regarded as a part of the military defenses of the Nation, it became necessary to fortify it in such a way as to make it practically impregnable to naval attack. It was, therefore, decided that there should be ample coast defenses at the two ends of the canal and that these defenses should be protected from land attack by the quartering of a sufficient number of mobile troops to hold in check any landing parties that might attack the works by an overland route. In carrying out this plan Congress met every demand of the military experts. When the plans for the fortifications were pending before the Appropriations Committee of the House every military authority, from Gen. Leonard Wood and Col. George W. Goethals down, who appeared before the committee was asked if he considered the defenses recommended as sufficient for the purposes intended, and each replied in the affirmative. These defenses consist of large forts at each end of the canal, with field works for some 6,000 mobile troops. The defenses on the Pacific side will be somewhat stronger than those on the Atlantic side, probably for the reason that better naval protection ordinarily could be afforded to the Atlantic than to the Pacific entrance, on account of the proximity of the Atlantic Waters of the canal to American shores. At the forts on the Atlantic side four 12-inch guns, sixteen 12-inch mortars, six 6-inch guns and four 4-7/10-inch howitzers will be mounted. The guns at this end of the canal will be distributed between Toro Point on the west side of the entrance channel and Margarita Island on the east side. There will be two big 14-inch disappearing guns at each of these points. They will be so placed as to sweep the horizon in the seaward direction, and at the same time will be able to concentrate their fire on the enemy as he steams in toward the channel entrance between the great breakwaters which cut off Limon Bay from the ocean.