Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-01-21
THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL
QUESTION.
Grant Playing on the Monroe Doc.
trIne as a FIoater for His own Pet
Scheme.
louisville Colrter-Journol.

General Grants long.heralded article on
the Nicaragua Interoceanic Canal route has
made its appearance In the North american
ite0ietc, and for piece of special pleading
4 by member of the canal corporation pc
euniarily interested in that particular
scheme, it win do very well.
There Is, of course, nothing particularly
new IN General Grants statements. The
newspapers have given all the statistics
touchlng the three proposed enterprises on
! the territory connecting North and South
America, and Grant simply collects those
/ which look most favorable for the scheme
IN which be Is interested, strings them to-
/ gether and closes with an absurd attempt to
make his readers believe that the country
1 VIII be in terrible danger IL his canal is not
! constructed. and he waves the Monroe doc
trine to and fro and insists that it must be
sustained II we are all true Americans.
We have read a good deal OF this kind
Oh stun during the past two years, but have
never been able to accept 1t as gospel, for
the reason that the Monroe doctrine can not
be made to tit the current discussion about
| interoceanic canals. Grant starts eff with
| the assumption (for he does not give any
evidence whstever) that the Panama
scheme of De Lesseps Is a humbug which
viii cost between 500, 90 600 and $500. .OOO,-
600 and will never pay any dividends, is not
practicable, and therefore deserves no
notice. With this easy disposal of De
Lssseps' enterprise, the great man turns to
his own pet project, which we are told in
one place viii cost only So, ,577, ,71S. and
elsewhere that 1t may cost 800, ,000,0C0
Grant gives guess himself (kuowing moth
ing about it) and says the Nicaraguan canal
will probably" cost SIS, ,000, 900, aud he
then makes the following statement:
Estimating the cost of the canal at S75,-
OUU,OOJ, charge OF 81 80 for canal tolls and eli
other charges would give a gross income Of
$1OOOO,OO0 on the 40U0,000, tons upon which
former calculations have been based Deduct
ing from this 81 500. 900 for the expenses of
maintaining and operating the canal we have
SS,50O,tCO as the net earnings of the work A
reasonable modification of these flgnres would
give an encouraging exhibit.
That looks very encouraging, but IL is
altogether on paper. 1t is perfectly proper,
however, for General Grant to indulge In
such visions, but better engineers than
either he or Mr.. MenceaI, who Is Grants
sole authority as to the cost Of construction
and profits, see very serious obstacles in
the way of constructing the Nicaraguan
canal, tbs removal of which would bring
the cost up to $3.50, 600, 600 or $40, 900 900
The Nlcaraguan route ia 1S1 miles long,
according to Commander Lull's survey; ;
the number of locks necessary Is twenty,
and the time of passage through the canal
four and half days. Grant has fastened
upon the longest route, the most difficult
route, the most expensive route. The ports
OF Brito and Greytown, the proposed
termini OF the canal, have no safe
harbors for ships. To construct harbors
would add eight or ten millions to
the estimated cost of the canal. Even
Civil Engineer Menocal places the cost Of
harbor construction at five or six millions of
dollars. The San Juan river will be used
for considerable distance, and an artificial
channel will have to be made, for It has not
depth enough for canal purposes. Immense
sand bars lie across the lake where the San
Juan river leaves it, aud the obstruction
offered by sliding sand would have to be
avoided by costly dykes, In the opinion of
many good engineers. OF course money can
remove the Hlmalayas, ii necessary, and it
can doubtless prepare passage for vessels
from Greytown to Brito, by sixty-one miles
OF excavation, sixty-three miles of slack
water navigation and fifty six miles of lake
navigator. "Almost all public works cost
far more than the estimates made by en-
gineers," Grant admits, and II he and Mr..
Menocal can accomplish the job for less
than Sl2O,OOO,0OO they will sstonish the
world.
But there are some other points In Grants
article which are worth noticing After
telling US that there is really only one route
across the isthmus worth using, although
there are not less than four others which
have been surveyed and are looked upon by
experienced engineers as perfectly prac!ica-
bic, Graft launches into the subject of the
great danger from '1oreign encroaehment,"
II any canal but his is constructed, aud
quotes Hayes canal message of last year 10
sustain his assertion that the Monroe doc
trine must ard shall be maintained, and that
nobody but Americans must be allowed BY
the United States Government to build auy
cauai on the isthmus. He says:
IAN interoceanic canal acEOss the Americaa
lsthmns will essentially change the geographi-
cal relations between the Atlantic and Pacific
coasts of the United States and between the
United States and the rest of the world 1t will
be the great ocean thoroughfare between our
Atlantic and Pacific shores, and virtually
part of the coast line Of the United States Our
merely commercial interest in il is greater than
that OF all other countries, while its relations
to our power and prosperity as a nation, to our
means OF defense, our unity, peace and safety
are matters OF paramount concern 10 the peo-
pie of the United States. No other great power
would, under similar circumstances, fail to as
Sert rightful control over a work SO closely
and vitality affecting its interest and welfare
In accordance with the early and later policy
of the government, in obedience to the often.
expressed will of the American people v ith
due regard to our national dignity and power,
with watchful care for the safety and pros
perity of our interests and industries on this
continent, and with a determination to guard
against even the first approach of rival
powers, whether friendly or hostile, on
these shores, ! commend an American
canal on American soil to the
American people, and congratulate myself on
the fact that the most careful explorations
have demonstrated that the route standing in
this attitude before the world is the one which
commends itself as judicious. economical,
and prosperous work. / have formed the
opinion expressed in this article not from
hasty consideration Of the subject, and not
without personal observation. While COM
manding the army of the United States my at
tention was drawn to the importance of the
water communication that I have here dis
cussed. During my administration of the gov
erDment endeavored to impress upon the
country the views then formed: and 1 shall
feel that have added one more act of my life
to those have already recorded If shall suo-
ceed in impressing upon Congress and the
people the high value, as commercial and in
dustrial enterprise, of this work, which, if not
accomplished by Americans, will undoubtedly
be accomplished by some of our rivals in
power and influence.
Grant certainly does not find it difficult to
"add acts" to his life. He does 1t con-
tinuallV at the expense of his friends, and
nobody has the slightest objection to his
building this canal, and competing for
business With De Leseeps and Eads; but it
does not require much intelligence to see
that all his talk about foreign encroach-
ments," and his reproduction Uf the ghostly
1AObAOO AONeAAHCS 10 1OI bLC puEpDs6 Oh
bulliDg the stock in his concern and floating
the enterprise. Grant knows as well as
anybody that the Clayton Bulwer treaty,
article eight, is In force, and that the United
States and Great Britain are by that treaty
sworn to protect all canals and ship railways
constructed across the isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec or Panama, whether by "JeWs, inf
dels or Turks" whether by Frenchmen,
Germans, Americans, Russians or English
men.
Grant knows, while playing the patriotism
dodge and talking about "resisting foreign
encroachments" as required by the Monroe
doctrine. chat the aforesaid Monroe docTIne
was protest against the doctrines Of the
so-called holy alliance of European powers,
at that time Q623) arranging to put the yoke |
OF despotism again upon Spain's reyolted !
American colonies. The protest was against |
the establishment of the dynastic system |
upon the North American continent, and |
MIR. Monroe never contemplated making !
such an ass Of himself as to declare that the |
gnYernment Is In dIItv hound To rravnut ar,xz |