Daily Los Angeles herald., 1880-12-31
ssnClAL NOTICE.

SPECIAL NOTICE. 81
Ioreafter notices Of companies, soc!e-
- the HnRALD As gn;d advertisements.
Ne reserve, for Places Of worship, . graf
y directory, which Will appear every
Sunday morning.
re RRelsessd Iassrscssnls Csnsls.
The energy OF Mr.. Lesseps In
pushing ahead his scteme of q tide
water canal across the Isthm us OF
Panama 10 about to be crowned
With success 20 far as the obtaining
Tie money whsrewlth to prosecute
No entsrprise 10 concerned. The
nilxoad people at the East seem to
~ annoyed 1t It and are pushing .
eeunter project forward, at least
- far ~ to seek . charter at the
hands Of Congress Incorporating q
eompauy to dig . similar work
aeross the Isthmus Of Nicaragus,
which, however, cannot be q tide
water canal, from the nature of
Ne country that is to be traversed.
~ We Of this coast are interested
4 n the success Of both enterprises,
Ne question naturally presents It.
oelf, why did not Mr.. Lesseps Sc
cure the Nicaragua route In prefer
oooe 70 that Of Panama, and op.
orato under an American charter ?
me answer 10 probably to be found
u the cempArison hc instituted be.
twoon the two routes, which show.
~ that the difficulties to be over
oome via Panama were not such as
- defy modern engineering at q
moderate cost, whereas the canal
via Nicaragua, whilst practicable,
would cost more money than he
could control without subsidies
frem al the governments Of Eu.
rope and Of America. Again, had
he undertaken to organize an
American company he would have
found 1t difioult to obtain a char.
ter from Congress, a. the combined
railroad influence would have been
brought against him, and as the
prejudices Of Congress are op posed
to the organization of q corpora.
tlsn whose figure-heads, president
and directors, would be A mericans,
but al or the majority Of whose
dtockholders would be foreigners.
1t has always been received as a
truth thas when an engineer pre-.
sents scheme TO the capitalists ol
the world and shows them the COST
and that the returns that may be
expected will yield q fair interes,
on such cost, the money for the
project will be fofthc6ming. Thi.
e what Lesgtps has done in his
semi-monthlt paper called the
BHIfetin Of he interoceanic canal,
and ~ the )stock of his first great
schemes-Tia Suez is now worth
double vhat was paid in per share.
and IL ought after in Europe, 1t ia
Int surprising that capitalists
abroad have confidence in him and
have responded to his call.
A. We Of this coast are interested
In the success OF both schemes, as
their Joint success would insure
cOmpetitioD, the following state
mont OF the difficulties to be over
come on each of them may not be
without interest.
A. regards Nicaragua, we may
cay that the great natural harbor
ct Grsytown, on the Atlantic, has
bsen fllled up, and that therefore
Il would become necessary to con-
struct artificial ones, as did Lssseps
at Port Sail, on the Isthmus of Suez,
for there 10 none on the Pacific, un.
less. the canal Is heightened to an
extraordinary degree. Then the
canal must necessarily pass
through Lake Nicaragua, the ele-
walton Of which above either ocean
cannot be less than APO feet, II we
give fall Of three feet to the mile
70 the river San Juan, by which it
discharges into the ocean. To
overcome this difference of level
would require AZ locks of ten feet
lift. The construction of q lock for
the passage Of one OF our modern
nteamers would be exceedingly ex-
psnslve. and the time consumed in
passing through it, together with
the great length of the canal, would
make Ghs transit very long, were it
huished upon reaching Lake Mica
FaRue; but 1t must not be forgotten
that as many locks will have to be
passed through in descending to
the level Of the Pacific as
would be made use of In ascending
from the Atlantic to the lake.
Then, again, its length as compared
With that Of Panama will be as 100
miles to AZ. II must not be for
gotten that the rainfall Ia Nicara-
gua, though not SO heavy as in
Raname, ts yet no trifiing matter,