Litchfield enquirer., 1879-05-29
The Panama Canal.

While American politicians have been all l the week wrangling for small advantages al Washington, scheme of really vast propor. | tions and of immense interest to this country sideration at Paris. This is no less than the proposed formation of a company who are to bore ship canal through the Isthmus of Da- rien. M. Lesseps, the projector of that other most successful international work of modern times-the Suez canal-is an earnest advocate of the Darien scheme, and there seems every reason to expect that sufficient capital can be obtained to carry out the plan which may be finally adopted at the Paris congress of engi- neers now considering the various plans pro- posed. The time seems, indeed, most oppor- tune. The world is full of surplus capital seeking investment at lower rates than have been known in generation. There is also a great surplus of labor, seeking employment at lower wages than have been known before for years.
 Unluckily we get rather meager news of the
 
 perambulations of some crown prince seem more important to the European press, and our American papers devote about one-fiftieth part of the space to the Canal that they give to the words of statesmen like Eaton and Blaine and Voorhees,. We gather, however, that M. Lesseps-and his opinion seems likely to prevail-deems the direct piercing of the Isthmus, at the sea level, a prime necessity. This plan will lead to tunnel through the ridge of solid rock which separates the Allan tic from the Pacific oceans, not less than seven and perhaps ten miles in length, and requiring the excavation probably of about twenty times the amount of rock taken from the Mont Cenis Tunnel and about thirty-fve times that exca- vated from the Hoosac Tunnel. This would give us a tunnel 100 feet wide at water line, 115 feet high in the centre, and % feet depth of water. Since it is the heading" or begin ming of the perforation of tunnel which is most expensive, the sides, top, and bottom, being blown off much more rapidly, it may be presumed that the actual work of excavation might not be more (amere guess, however, than seven times that of the Mt. Cenis Tunnel
 We see from an article in the June Scribner that Lieut.. Wyse estimates the cost of tun- nel, about twe-thirds of the width assumed above, at about twelve and a half millions per mile. Estimating its probable length at eight miles, this would bring the whole cost up to about an hundred millions, which is the amount of stock which M. Lesseps proposes for the company to undertake the construction of this great work. We cannot see how it can be done even at that cost. The Mont Cenis Tun- nel, about eight miles long, was driven through at an expense of fifteen millions. There have been great improvements in the means and modes of excavation since; but, on the other hand, the climate of the Isthmus is deadly, and the work below the water line may meet with serious obstacles If an hundred and fif- ty millions builds Darien Ship Canal, it will be nearer first estimates than was the SueZ scheme which was estimated at fifty millions in the beginning, and cost about an hundred millions in the end.
 A Darien Canal can promise advantages to commerce, however, far beyond even the high est estimate of the cost of it's Construction. MT. c. c. Buel in the Scribner article above al- luded to, estimates the saving to existing con- merce which this canal would make, at $48,- 900, 900 annually. Most of this would be sav- ed to American merchants. The distance to San Francisco by sea would be lessened 14,- 900 miles, to Shanghai, 11,600 to Calcutta, g 9,600. The whole annual saving to American commerce would be $36, ,O0O,O0O
 England and the United States would seem to be the nations who would reap the greatest commercial advantages from the construction of Darien Canal It would greatly shorten the distance between England and Eastern Asia and would perhaps restore some of the commercial advantages that country has lost by the construction of the Suez Canal. To American commerce it would be a blessing of a value beyond computation. Says the Scrbner, ''while greatly benefitting Europe, it would place America incontestably in the centre of the world s commerce. and it cites the Edinburgh Review as declaring that the construc tion of a Daren Canal would be 'the mightiest event in favor of the peaceful intercourse of nations which the physical circumstances of the globe present to the enterprise of men,"
 Last week. we omitted through inadver- tance, to publish the following reply of the Wolcottville Register to certain questions of ours in our recent article on Mrs. Mix:
 The Litchfield Enquirer says it has been looking with interest for the Register to speak about Mrs. Mix's wonderful cures in this vicinity Should be very glad to do so but we don't know of any. We have made ire quent enquiries but never have been able to obtain information satisfactory to us that Mrs. Mix ever made cure in this vicinity of even an imaginary disease. Those stories sound hnttar q a diat"nna tha thAy dn at bama tsIt is only necessary to have faith', perhaps, to believe that Mrs. Mix has power to perform miracles but we are too skeptical to take any stock in such nonsense. Still we will willing ly give publicity to any trustworthy evidence in regard to the cures reputed to have been performed by her. If any of our citizens has any information Tn regard to them. that is not hearsay, guess-work or fancy, we request them to pass it in person or over their own signatures.
 Our readers have no doubt noticed the re- port of our Washington correspondent regard ing Mrs. Woodruff-one of her alleged cures We notice, however, that the Ray continues firm in it's faith.
 The Tribune paragraphist perpetrates the following
 The World lifts as the battle cry of it's party in 1880: "IndiSSoluhle Union of Inde