New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-02-22
THE FOES OF THE FORT ST. PHILIP
CANAL

mas devoted time and money Tor tines
=. years past to developing this work, a
a adTenturer, for personal interest or prt
fessionai fame. should not be permitte
to divide and annihilate these efforts.
~ We have explained that ST. Louis ha
tunneled her city and bridged the rive
to carry Western trade across the Missis
i sippi. SO that if the mouth be never i'm
g proved. SIZE will have ample outlet, Will
New Orleans will be closed out from an
!. adequate way to the ocean
8 These appeals have had no effect. nor ha
the declaration Of the New Orleans Cham
Der Of Commerce to the same effect, with
, request 70 our representatives to stand b,
! the canal, caused any abatement whateve
of the Eads experiment. On the contrary
we find letter from General Barnard
president of the board of engineers, ad
dressed to General Humphreys, which
reviews the report of the board, and sum.
marizes his opinion as follows:
| shall in another report, maintain
that before resorting to an artificial work
OF the difficult and costly character of a
ship canal, a more attentive consideration
of the superior advantages of the natural
mouths and of the fair probability of utiliz.
ing them is needed"
It is something unusual that the pre-
siding officer of commission should un-
dertake to reverse or even discredit the
decision Of a majority of the board. 1t is
not precisely complimentary to American
physical science that the surveys of the
Ganges, or the Rhone, or the Danube, by
European engineers, should be preferred
to the survey of American rivers by
American men. Sir Charles Hartley is
set up as higher authority than General
Newton, at present engaged in that most
stupendous and expensive work, mining
under the He'll Gate. at New York, 20
raise. by simultaneous blast, on hun
dred gallaries. those acres of rock thirty
feet below the surface. We stand by the
decision Of board of American engi-
neers agaius: any one man. be he king or
kaiser.
The individual opinion Of General
Barnard is. however. recommended by the
st. Louis papers mentioned as Of author
ity superior to that Of the engineer board
majority in favor of the Fort ST. Philip |
Canal. This mode Of reasoning is some.
what on the same principle that some Of
our politicians set up: That the report of |
a Senate committee. which was never
adopted. is Of authority superior 20 that |
of the Senate which would not adopt it.
The only effect Of this st. Louis action
may be to throw the outlet improvement
back for an indefinite period. during
which our enemies strengthen and our
friends seek other commercial alliances.
The opinion of Mr.. Barnard is worth no
more than that of one Of his compeers.
He is not professionally unknown to our
citizens. He it was who made the surveys
and estimates for q railroad across TIE.
huantepec. with plans for the preparation
Of forts at Coatzacoalcos ana Ventosa.
TIE estimates were much more costly than
would have been necessary upon a light
,reight and passenger road. and the work
vas never carried into further effect than |
he survey which cos: our citizens. we are
old. abou: $4,000. If, then. General ;
I. G. Barnard. Colonel Of Engineers and
3revet Major General" be not better
dviser for ous river improvements than
lie proved to be for our inter.ocean;c con. q
lection. he may turn out a very expensive
nd Improbable counselor. II
The st. Louis Times and the Missouri c
have. however. adopted the Eads Q
Experiment.. and one of them republishes c
romptly the Barnard letter. The Demo- e
rat, which does not even spell the name v
the canal properly. says: IS
The gratifying intelligence has reached Il
lis city that the subcommittee, to which n
as referred the two plans, have decided to |
epOrt adversely to the canal scheme, and
favor OF the plan suggested by Captain p
ads.
We hope no member OF the Missouri dele =
alton i'll Congress will be so unwise as to | D.
ivocate the Fort ST. Philip canal scheme, il
18th General Barnard's report and tho | -
opposition of Captain Eads and his asso- u
ates before him. OF
1t is to be hoped that all Con gressmen, h,
no repres ent constituencies directly inter-
ted in this work. will unite in supporting d;
% recommendation of the committee. st
The st. Louis Times renounces the Ia
nal and adopts the Eads' experiment: al
we have hitherto favored the or
oject, we confess that now we can not see =,
w it is possible, in the face of his emphatic ~
of the Fort ST. Philip canal, for ar
'ngress, lavish as it is Of the cOuntry'sl
Dney to vote an appropriation for carry
9 out this enterprise, especially when it is pI
derstOOd that if Captain Eads and his h.
sOciates do not furnish the depth prom W
ID the government will have nothing | tn
latever to pay. I'm
In the meantime there are letters here CT,
'm members Of the Missouri delegation NJ
nch by no means yield to the dictation o.
these proselytes. Our own representa- -,
'es have received renewed request not q,
abandon the canal. So our readers r.,
" see upon whom the responsibility rA
IL devolve Of having divided and de- 81
tied the outlet improvement at the pres. ~
t session.
We can not pass without comment an 80
kind suggestion Of the Missouri Demo. -,
1t. that the support OF the canal may | 80
oceed from local interests here. 1t w
Us: ~
We may be excused for the thought that 4,
rhaps there may be some private interests tns
and about New Orleans that are to be | thu
vanced by the expenditure of ten or w.,
enty millions in building canal that we Nn'
) to have completed possibly in ten or
enty years.