Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-09-26
Through or Over the Isthmus ?


they came to land, carrying them from
river to river, from ocean TO ocean.
with muscular nonchaldnce. That is
what Capt. Eads proposes to do with
ships at the Isthmus, and his plan
sounds almost as much like fairy.tale
as the legend of Odin. "Skid bladner
is one of the best of ships. When they
wish to land, such is its marvellous con.
struction that it can be taken to pieces.
rolled up, and put in the pocket" So
Capt. Eads would take o ship bodily.
cargo and all, out of the Caribbean Sea,
put it in cradle, without any water
tank, drag it quickly along o railroad,
and pick it up and set it down in the
placid waters of the Pacific Ocean. To
change the direction in transitu, he will
have immense turntables. To change
the grade, the turntables are to be in
clined, the track being higher at one
side than at the other, so that locomo-
tive and ship may be easily transferred
from one level to another, the grade
being nowhere more than fifty feet to
the mile.
But what about the Canal? The re-
ports of Admiral Ammen and Mr..
Menocal give but little more that is in
tsresting to the general public than the
the passages on which the Null has
already commented. The dispute in
Paris was between two interested par
ties, the influence being with the Pana-
ma route a niueau, while the engineers
ranged themselves, for the most part.
on the side of the Nicaragua route,
The latter is cheaper and easier, and q
sea level canal at Panama is really i'm
possible. The Chagres river would
overflow it, and the expense is incalcu-
liable, on account of the enormous
amount of cutting and draining to be
done. In word, the members of the
Paris Congress did not know what they
we're talking about, and many became
disguised and did not vote. Admiral
Ammen sums up the whole affair in a
few sentences. The project must be
discussed free from personal interest;
the Nicaragua and Panama routes are
the only ones that need now to be criti-
cally examined; the Panama Canal, a
nireau, is commercially impracticable;
that engineers have learned something
about the Isthmus, and are now pre-
pared to treat the subject intelligently.
These things the Congress has accom-
plished. The result is that new Con-
gress must be held, in America, and the
Isthmus thoroughly examined and sur
veyed, before practical decision can
be reached.
It is possible that we shall have both
a canal and a railway, and thus whole
some competition will be caused. The
canal, according to M. de Lesseps' cal
culation, is to cost $4,000, 900. But,
says Capt. Eads, the Suez Canal cost
SAC, OO0, 900, subscribed. and $50, 900, 900
raised by mortgage. The Panama pro-
ject has been heretofore much in the
hands of Suez Canal men, who would
apply the old methods to the
new scheme, and demand only $50, O0O,-
900 cash because they expect to mort
gage the canal for 500, 000. 900 more.
Capt. Eads' railway plan can be built.
clear of all liabilities, for less than $780,
00O, 900, and its cost, as is readily seen,
can be estimated accurately, as there are
no unexpected beds of rock and de-
posts of water and overaowings to DO
His scheme has the en-
thusiastic support of shipbuilders, who
are familiar with vesselssjn dry docks,
and who laugh at the notion that the
of ships in cradle and with
out water, even when fully laden will
STRAIN them any more than other means
of carriage. The only alternative is q
canal with locks. which would cost
more, but would be quite as good q
means OF transportation.
One thing with regard to the Isthmus
may be considered settled. A new Con-
gress will be held and proper surveys
will be made, the discussion being as
open to French engineers as to Ameri-
can. We cannot doubt that this will re-
suit in the cutting of q canal at the least
possible expense, and by the route most
useful to commerce. At the same time,
Capt. Eads is the sort of man to carry
q thing through when he has set his
heart on it, and We may have a railroad
for ships across the Isthmus in four
years-the canal being completed four
years later. This is the present out
look.-N. Y. Mail.
EXPENSE OF FARMING IN ENGLAND
For at least twenty years, the London
N HaH AVG