Daily globe., 1881-02-07
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILWAY
SWINDLE.

SHlNDl@Es
The House committee having in charge
matters pertaining to inter-oceanic canals
on Saturday reported in favor of the
guaranteeing by the government of the
interest on fifty millions Of stock to be is
sued by the Eads company that has in
contemplation the construction of a ship
railway across the isthmus of Tehuante-
pee This action will prove great sur
prise to the country at large, and to none
more than those who have practical
knowledge of ships and the science of
engineering.
Probably no more chimerical scheme has
ever been seriously proposed than this in
ter-oceanic railway. Capt. Eads proposes
to take ocean vessels from the waters OF
the Atlantic, load them upon cars, trans
port them across the isthmus and dump
them into the Pacific there to pursue their
voyage to California, the Indies or China
and Japan, without breaking their
cargoes. 1t is very pretty plan,
on paper, and were it not
for a few obstacles would
be perfectly practicable. In the first
place, the docks required to raise the
loaded vessel, weighing perhaps ten
thousand tons, from the water to the
platform of a railway, would have to be
of extraordinary power. Again, 1t would
be necessary to stay the vessel during
the transfer so securely that there could
be no shifting of her cargo or strain upon
her timbers 1t is the opinion of the
best ship builders in the world that this
cannot be done-that there would newt
ably be such strain apon the vessel that
every plank would be forced apart be-
fore she could be landed on the opposite
have to be rebuilt before proceed
ing on her voyage. 1t is certain that No
vessel owners would run the risk of the
destruction of their property until the
perfect safety of the plan was clearly de-
monstrated
Another reason why our government
should have nothing TO do with
the enterprise is the fact that it is
chartered and aided by the government
of Mexico, which reserves all rights of
control over it, including the rates of
toll to be fixed, the character and nation
ality of the vessels to be transported, and
other details. Any enterprise aided by
our government should be under its eX-
elusive control
The cost of the scheme is another OBJ
lection to it. No one expects that the
interest on the stocks and bonds of the
company will ever be paid by that organ1-
zation. The United States would there
fore be obliged to pay at least three mil
lions of dollars per annum in interest for
a. period of from fifty to hundred
years, without the remotest prospect of
even being repaid No man in the
possession of his senses would ask this
unless swayed by personal interest. The
people have emphatically declared against
all such subsidies, and will never pardon
members of Congress that so recklessly
squanders the peoples money.
1t is not at all probable that the present
Congress will ratify the report of the COM
mittee The recommendation that such
a bare-faced swindle pass, however, is a
disgrace to the members of the committee
who voted for it, These men have signed
their own political death warrant, for
their constituents will decide that men
who are false to the interests of the coun-
try have no business to represent them in
the national house of Congress-,