Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-05-31
THE DE LESSEPs CANAL.
Interview With the American Com
SUI at Panama-ProgEessa and Char
acter az the Work.
Cincinnati Times

Mr.. John NJ Wilson, formerly mem
Der of the Legislature from Hamilton
county, afterward for several wears
American Consul at Hamburg, and now
occupying the important post of Consul
to Panama, is in the city.
''How long since you left Panama, Mr..
Wilson, said the TSmes.Sta representa-
tive, after cordially greeting the gentle
man from the Isthmus
"Oh, about two weeks"
''How goes the work on the great canal
project?"
work being done yet There are about
fifty Frenchmen and hundred Jamaica
negroes on the ground. The French
surveyors are running lines and the
negroes clearing away the brush and
underground, with which the whole
country is covered"
"Have De Lesseps' representatives
made any such start as to convince the
people that the canal will be built ?"
Il can't say that they have. Before
the Frenchmen came there was an idea
that their advent would make times first
rate, and that every one who had any,
thing to do with the work would walk
off with hatful of money. Instead of
that they are managing things very care
fully. They have had very little money
there, and spend very sparingly. They
propose to divide the line of forty five
miles into six sections, and proceed with
each as a separate work. The task is
much more difficult one than the public
seems to think. In the first place they
must purchase the Panama Railroad.
This will cost them about $40, 600, 900.
1t was some time ago reported that they
| had done this, but it turned out that
the negotiations had fallen through"
Gas to the real work of building the
canal?"
"This means forty five miles of exca-
vation, part of the way through noun
tains three hundred and fifty feet above
what will be the surface of the canal,
and the cuts through solid stone. This,
even, is not the most difficult part of the
work. They propose to change the
course of river, which work alone will
require wall of solid masonry over a
mile and half long and seventy feet
high. These are mere incidents of the
undertaking, and form no part of the
actual labor OF digging the canal. The
800, 600, 600, it is not believed, will any
thing like complete the vast work.
There will probably be a canal built
there at some time, but whether the
present effort is to succeed or not re-
mains to be seen"
''What kind OF a country is it down
there?'
'fThe line of the canal is through
rough country, inhabited mainly by
Chinese. The country is full Of malaria,
and no human beings can stand it ex-
cept Jamaica negroes and Cinnamon.
The latter stand the climate, but die of
homesickness. When building the Pan
anna Railroad the superintendent of the
work said his greatest difficulty was TO
keep the Chinese laborers from COM
mitting suicide from homesickness.
They would go of in gangs of half
dozen at time and hang themselves.
The labor question is the hardest one to
solve in estimating the cost of work A
man cannot do half as much there as up
here. During the wet season he cannot
work, and when the dry season comes
on he must labor under sun that sends
the thermometer up to from 1876 to 140. :"
'sWhat kind of a people are the ma
tives7"
"They are mixture Of French, In.
dians and negroes"
"The governments"
Panama is one of the nine States
that make up the Republic of Colon
bia. Each State is sovereign in the
fullest sense of the term. A revolution
in one State in no way disturbs the gen.
eral government. Panama elects q
| President every two years, and the
event is one of as much importance
there as is our Presidential election here.
The State also sends its Representatives
and Senators to the general government
at Bogota, which, in a mild way, is an
imitation of our form of government.