The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-12-24
THE INrER-oCEAN cRossING.
IN. o. CITY Item. 1


1t is now evident that additional
| facilities for the transportation of
tarffic and travellers from the waters of
the Atlantic to those of the Pacific are
as speedily as possible, to be provided.
What now attracts most attention in
this regard are the rival schemes of
the French engineer Lesseps, who
to the commerce of the world the Suez
canal, and the American engineer,
Eads, whose great contributions are,
the st. Louis bridge and the Mississip.
pi jetties. One proposes to pierce the
mountain chain which separates the
worlds waters at Panama the other
to carry ships bodily from ocean to
ocean across tho Isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec. We, in the interests of COM
merce, would like to see both of these
great enterprises carried to a successful
| issue, but when the decided disadvan-
tages of climate and distance are con-
sidered in regard to Panama, NJ. de
Lesseps must not be surprised If Amer
lean capitalists prefer the nearer and
more healthy. crossing at Tehuantepec.
In this fact we find nothing ssdeeply
notifying" as the Picayune does, but
conclusion based on the true phiioso-
ply of trade.
The Eads plan Is the boldest and
most novel, and the previous successes
of Capt. Eads in accomplishing what
had been pronounced impossible, has
given to his engineering project do
gree of public confidence which eau
tious people declare to be altogether
unwarranted. Be this as It may, we
have no doubt that Mr.. Eads can se-
cure a sufhciency of American capital
to test the merits of his plan. It is al
so apparent that M. de Lesseps can
raise enough money in France to tun-
mel the mountain wall at Panama,
In order to, as 1t were, Americanize
his proposition, M. de Lesseps has in
duced Secretary Thompson to resign
his Naval Bureau in the Washington
Cabinet and accept the presidency of
the American branch of the Panama
enterprise. The old objections, based
on the Monroe doctrine, seem to have
died out, and the American people are
willing to bid God speed to the en-.
thusiastic Frenchman in his great un-
dertaking.
Meanwhile the double-traclx rail-
way, for the transportation of goods
Tehuantepec, is being pushed forward
with commendable vigor, and when
| completed will attract to itself almost
the entire business of the Panama rail-
road it will, indeed, with proper ter
minal facilities for loading and un.
loading, serve nearly all the purposes
which are proposed by the great rival
engineers.
Ever since the days of Cortez this
Isthmus was selected as the proper
crossing point for traffic between the
two oceans. The distance from New
Orleans to San Francisco by Tehuante-
pee is but 2704 miles-little over hall
of what it would be by Panama. Mr..
Trastour, in a report presented to the
government years ago, distinctly re.
cognized the peculiar advantages of The
Tehuantepec route. He said "With
| less alluvial land at the sea level, it is
more healthy than San Juan de
Nicaragua and from its more north
ern latitude, its mean annual tempera.
ture is less than that of Nicaragua OF
Panama. The latter place has, indeed,
temperature and climate truly tor
rid.'
If Lesseps succeeds, well if Eads
succeeds, better but if neither sue
ceeds, the Tehuantepec railway will
become one of the great tracks of a
more than continental commerce.
NEW COTTONS. =