The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-10-27
The Truth About the Panama Canal.


by an extraordinary coincidence, the
Panama Railway was temporarily de-
stroyed by an earthquake on Thursday,
the very day on which the money was
subscribed for its purchase in Paris. All
communications between Aspinwall and
Panama have been interrupted, the
bridges having been destroyed by the
earthquake. The damage done to the
buildings in Panama is said to be inn
mense, but the chief Importance of the
incident is the illustration which il af-
fords of the instability of the ground
over which M. de Lesseps proposes to
carry the greatest engineering work of
this century. If railway bridges cannot
stand, what security is there for the gil
gantic dam which alone is to stand be-
tween the swollen Chagres and the in
slant destruction of the canal? 1t is pro-
verbally dangerous to build house
upon sand, but it is worse to rear dam
upon an earthquake. The catastrophe
not only will impair the value of the
railway property for which M. de Les
seps has paid such a handsome price,
but it is likely to shake public confidence
in the ultimate success of the canal it
self. Even before the earthquake the
outlook was by no means inspiriting, and
If the truth about the canal were fully
known it would hardly conduce to the
comfort of holders of Panama stock.
Take. for instance, the question of the
health of the Isthmus. % Although the
rainy season is very light this year."
says a recent telegram from New York,
+" it has been found necessary to order
the stoppage of all heavy work ON the
canal. No laborer is able to work three
days together or he would be stricken
down with fever" The thermometer in
the hot season stands $50 to LAO degrees
in the sun; the mean heat alike in hot
seasons and dry is s. degrees. For five
months in the year during the rains work
is almost impossible. Yet NJ. de Lesseps
declares that there is hardly healthier
place in the whole world than Panama.
and not so long ago is reported to have
said that ''if his family were sick he
would send them to the Isthmus to con-
valesce." 1t must be admitted, howev-
er, In justice to the 'tgreat Frenchman"
that if they did go there they would find
hospital accommodation provided by the
company on a scale which shows much
more accurate appreciation of the ext
gencies of the climate. 1.-The Canal Com
pany's hospital buildings in Panama."
we are told, evil form small city of
eighty-four buildings, and will cost
f100,000." Another large hospital has
been established at Colon, with dispen-
saries along the line of the canal; but
numerous as they are the number of
sick is in excess of the accommodation.
According to the official report, the NOR
taliJy among those employed on the
canal was no higher than the European
average. In July, 1881, only twelve
deaths occurred among LIS workmen,
and last April only five out of 1862.
This year the correspondents on the spot
represent the mortality as appalling. ''In
four days recently thecompany lost nine
officers from fever. Instead of averag-
ing five to ten deaths per month, they
are averaging that number daily. Two
of the ablest engineers of the company
succeeded each other as chief-of-works
only TO be swept off by fever. one after
three days illness, the other only thirty
six hours after seizure. The general
secretary shared their fate, together with
many other officers, and laborers by the
hundred" The lady superior of the
hospital died the same night as the last
chief-of-worhs. 1t is difficult to conceive
3 more sombre picture of a pest-stricken
district than that which is painted by
those who are living in NJ. de Lessep's
sanitorium for convalescents. Smallpox
has been succeeded by yellow fever and
the health authorities at Jamaica and
New Orleans order all vessels arriving
from the Isthmus into quarantine.
American observers, whether journal
lists. naval officers or consuls, agree in
declaring that little work has been done
on the Isthmus. The latest testimony
on this head is dated July IS, and de-
clares that beyond few wooden villages
and lane hewn through the woods
marking the sight of the canal. next to
nothing has been done. From one to
two thousand workmen, mostly negroes
from Jamaica, together with some Chi
namen, have been employed since Feb
ruary, 1881; but SO far the ground has
hardly been broken. A ditch has been
dug here and there, butexcavation must
be begun in earnest before any concep-
of the estimate or the possibility of its eK-
ecution. The canal is divided into seq
tions, and much satisfaction has been eN-
pressed that in letting the first two con-
tracts the excavation has been under
taken at fifteen pence per metre instead
of two shillings allowed for in the origi-
nal estimate. So far, of course, this is
very good. But 1t remains to be seen
whether the adventurous spectators will
be able to complete their contract at the
figure stated. The first section, from
Colon to Gatun, distance of seven and
a half miles, is to be completed in three
years; but as the line passes through a
swamp to which Chat Moss was solid
ground, and breach of contract only
involves the forfeiture of $4,000, it is
premature to conclude that the work
which is not yet begun will be COM
pleted at contract price. According to
French correspondent. the dredgers
and excavators sent out from Europe
are not working well, and will have to
be reconstructed. These difficulties will
no doubt be speedily overcome, but We
must wait for a serious beginning to be
made before the company can be said to
be fairly face to face with the real obsta-
cles which they have to surmount-
1t is often taken for granted that be-
cause NJ. DE Lesseps severed the 18TH
mus of Suez he must also succeed in
severing that of Panama. But the ditch
which he dug in the sand from Port Said
to Suez cannot for a moment be COM
pared to the channel which he has under
taken to hew through the rocks and
swamps of Panama The new canal
will only be half as long as the old one,
b1t as it passes through a mountain range