The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-01-13
CAPT. EADs' SHIP RAILWAY.
4 Full Statement of the scheme by
the Inventor.

| nc AufchtoE-
Washington, Jan. 12.-Capt. Fades,
who is here to urge his scheme before
congress, says:
"When we consider our own ships
sailing from New York or New Orleans
to San Francisco or Portland, we must
traverse about 1900 miles around
Cape Horn. A difference of only / 200
miles does not seem very marked, but
the Tehauntepec route will strike off
200 miles of this distance and leave
these same ships only about I, 900 miles
of distance to traverse. If this were
now done, the proposition to change
such route for one / 200 miles longer
by way of Nicaragua, void be looked
upon as preposterous, for this would
increase the distance nearly one-third.
The Panama route is one proposed
almost wholly in the interest of Europe,
while the Tehauntepec route is essen
TALLY American. By it our commerce
from the Atlantic to the Pacific passes
through the Gulf, which is wholly
American, and is safer from storms
than the Caribbean sea, and in case of
war, it would be more completely under
our control. The .Nicaraguan route,
aside from making the route one-third
longer from the mouth of the Mississip-
pi river to San Francisco, requires that
portion of the distance shall be made
through the Caribbean sea. The dis
tance across the isthmus of Nicaragua
is also considerably greater than that
across the isthmus of Tehauntepec,
being as much as 100 miles to 140 miles.
The ship railway would virtually be an
extension of the jetties across the Mex
lean isthmus, for it would give the
grand Mississippi as free an outlet for
its immense product into the ocean as
it has to-day through the straits of
Florida into the Atlantic ocean. 1t
would give the commerce of the Mis-
sissippi valley the choice, if not the
command, of the markets of the world.
1t would complete our coast line and
give degree of security against war,
and create unification of interest be-
tween our Atlantic and Pacific states,
and give value to the Mississippi
which no series of ordinary railroads
that may be hereafter constructed
across the continent could possibly ac
complish. No inter-oceanic transit for
ships could be permitted across any part
of the American isthmus which is not
under the control of the United States.
No statesman is wise enough to foretell
the wonderful changes which will be
wrought by such radical alteration in
the commerce of the world, as such a
transit across the isthmus will create.
The project of DeLesseps is, of course,
rival one. Two lines of ship transit
across the isthmus cannot be made a
paying business, and this generation
will not be likely to witness the estab-
lishment of two rival routes across it
for ocean vessels. / have never felt
the slightest anxiety as to the rivalery
of the DeLesseps scheme, for the rea-
son that it will require so many years to
carry it into execution, and will involve
the expenditure of such an enormous
amount of money, even if permitted to
proceed with the sanction of the United
States. An estimate of the canal, made
by the distinguished engineers who ac-
companied DeLesseps to Panama last
year, was s16S, 100000. Subscribers to
the DeLesseps stock are promised a re-
turn of 5 per cent. during the construc-
tion of the canal. That is, they are to
receive back s5 annually on each S10O
they pay in, and S60,0O0,000 is the
amount of capital subscribed. Hence
if it were possible to construct the ca
nal in ten years, there would be paid
back to the subscribers so per cent. of
the money paid in, or $50, ZOO, 900 of the
$50, 900, 900, leaving $50 900, 900 to 60
into the construction of the canal, and
S138, 600, 900 more to be provided at the
end of ten years, To pay for the re-
mainder of the cost of the canal, sup
posing it could be built at the cost esti-
mated by the engineers, to say
the least of it, this is remarkable
financial scheme, for q work which
must involve from fifteen to twenty
years in its construction. The ship
railway with its harbors, can be con-
structed, if no delays occur from want