The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-11-15
UNITING THE OCEANS.


to build ship railways, or who had not
been given paying positions by NJ. de
Lesseps in his Panama canal opera
tons, have been condemning the I'M
dertaking as an impossible accom-
plishnent. or at least an impracti-
cable thing, the great Frenchman has
been going right along with prelimi-
naries, overcoming first one thing,
then another, until at last the canal
begins to assume shape, and no one
can deny it is to be a grand reality.
The total length of the canal is "a XII
lometres, or 1885 miles, divided into
IL sections. These united sections
employ daily 80 steam excavators, 40
locomotives, and 800 tip wagons.
There are 100000 cubic metres to
be excavated. The grand cutting,
about two-thirds of which has already |
been eXcavated, is that between |
Obispo and Paradise. The force en-
plOyed upon the work is upward of |
10000 men, and the excavation up to
October 10 amounted to more than
100000 cubic metres. During these
latter months of the bad season the
excavations have amounted to about
$4,000 metres per month. This figure
will be quintupled during the fine
season, which begins in December,
and next year, when all of the neces-
sary machinery is at work, the exca-
vations will amount to 100000 me-
tres per month. The working force
will be increased to total of 1900
men. The port works at
Colon are nearly complete, and the
great breakwater protecting the en-
trance to the c@naI is finished. A
town has sprung up, with all the
workshops and railways necessary for
the receiving andhandling, and for the
distribution Of m and repairing
of machinery. From Colon to Gatun
the contractors are Huerne & Slavin,
of San Francisco. These engineers,
must, with three machines of 100
horse power each, open the first sec
ton in six months between Colon and
Gatun, distance of nine kilometres.
The first of these machines is in full
blast, and is able to eXcavate the
enormous quantity of 5000 metres per
diem, to be paid at the rate of one
franc per fifty cubic metres. The
Pacific opening between the mouth OF
the Rio Grande and Paraisa is con-
tracted for by the Franco-American
Trading Company. The first machine
Of the American system is already
working, and will be supplemented by
others which will be necessary to fin
ish this part of the canal in two years,
from GatLn to Bahia Soldado. On
the Atlantic side the company are
working two machines, moving a
minimum of 1000 cubic metres per
diem. The average days work at
present may be set down at about 60OC
cubic metres. Everything counted
the cost to the company of building
this great canal, uniting the
two oceans, will be $780,
100000 francs, or nearly $780,
100000. Besides this necessary
sum the company is provided with an
additional 100000 francs, for the
"unforseen," as aParis journalist puts
it. AS to the completion of the canal
a letter written in the French capital
says:
cit was believed in the outset that
; the canal might be ready in 1888, viz.
five years. According to the new plan
of campaign about to be submitted tC
the consultative commission, COM
, posed of admirals and the chief engi
neering authorities, the completion OF
, the canal in 1888 is no longer doubtful
but if the directorate of the company
wished, by increasing the machines
and opening new work yards, a thing
acknowledged to be easily practicable
the date of completion might, it is
said, be accelerated by some months
; perhaps by year. The unexpected
fact is reported that at some yards
whittier machines had been brought
to perform the excavations, the
negro workmen, hired in great
numbers merely as hodmen, asked tC
be allowed to do the eXcavating them
selves, and have, in fact, succeeded il
, doing it cheaper. The machines were
therefore, conveyed to another yard
1t appears from reports of travellers
that M. de Lesseps' popularity in the
isthmus is as great as here. The
workmen are aStoniShed at the care
with which they are treated, and the
regularity with which their wages are
paid. Lord Granville's statement thai
her majesty's government could never
have two different policies, one al
). SueZ and another at Panama, pro
duIed a lively impression in the
United States of Colombia, and an.
other impresSion-an impression Of
attentive supervision-at Washing
ton. A New York paper has said
that the government. of the United
States had a good preceptor, whose cost
is nothing-viZ., the English govern
, ment. By doing in the future at Pan
anna exactly what the English gov
eminent would at SueZ, 1t would be
: be sure of not going wrong. 1t may
be added that M. de Lesseps has
very deXterously contided the eX'
} the canal t, leading American con
tractors, and public opinion at New
York and Washington has become
very favorable to the enterprise. M
de LeSSeps is not the man to miss
0oSh Gil OPPO1oOihAOJ LIZ
wishes to hurry on the work as fast
as possible, in order that the CANA
may be finished while the fever lasts
and there is no doubt that after the
new issue operations will be resumed
with renewed vigor. At M. de Les
sepS' age it is natural for him not tC
wish to delay the moment when a sec
ond apotheosis will take place, fol
few enjoy it even but once. In any
case it seems certain that the Panama
canal will be traVersed in few years
as the SueZ canal is now"
The commercial world will hardly
throw anything in the way of an
early completion of this interoceaniC
channel of communication, and pc.
litical demagogues will not dare op.
pose it. The blowing that was SC
freely INDUCED in by Mr.. Blaine and
his right-haDd man, President Gar.
field, has become one of the forgot.
ten things of the past. The 'honor'
| of the United States, according tc
the doctrine then advanced, stands un.
defended, and the Pacific and the At
lantic oceans are to be united by the
Frenchman, despite the mutterings Of
dead and living American statesmen