Hand County press. (Miller, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1893, 1884-04-30

rapidly. An hours talk with M. do Lesseps
banishes all pessiinistc views, and you come
away as convinced of the ultimate success OF
the gigantic undertaking as the presiiens Of
he company himself
aWork is now going on along the whole
iine.e bs2an II. de Lcsseps, "and the diffi-
cuities are not as great as we had anbci-
pGtsd. Negroes from the Antilles supply all
the MANUAL labor which we need. The health
OF our employees IS very good AT the meet
ing OF the Academy Of Sciences last month
presented statistics which prove that there is
less sickness among our men than among
any body Of laborers engaged in similar
work In America or Europe.
"You Americans have been of great help to
US in many wnyx. In the first place we have
some OF your countrymen in our personne
at Panama; then again we employ
the pretty American excavators; cot
tages which we buy in the United States
reatiy-nals are scattered along the whole
iiae OK the canal; their railroad, which runs
florl Aepinwall to Panama, and which was
baii with American capital, has been Of
ifessimab'e service; and lastly, American
eng g:neers have furnished us many a valuable
suggestion during the progress Of the work.
: The two chief difficulties of the undertaking
tNe mountain on hills of Culebra and the dam
of Ganboa, which is TO stop TIE Chagres
river and form an immense reservoir Of fresh
water. But NJ. Dingler, tue general director
OF the Panama canal, assures us that these
two obstructions not only can be surmounted,
but that they are less formidable than We at
Brst thought them to be. So / am sure that
tha work viii be completed at the specified
time, that is, in 1855. II you wish to get a
good idea of the work yuu must see the pan
Drama of Panama in tae company's office in
the Rue Caumartin.n
followed NJ. de Lessens' a!vice and went
into the large central hall Of the Panama
company Against tue wall on one side OF
the room is very large relief model of the
whole country stretching from Panama to
| Colon You see the railroad, the future
( canal, the towns, rivers and mountains of the
1 whole route. But more interesting and fan
! more significant was the busy air of business
J which filed the spacious room.
The Rue Chsrras aud tnc Rue Caumartiu
run para lei 70 each other. The entrance tc
| the Suez company is on the former street
! the entrance 10 the Panama company is on
the latter street. The two buildings stand
/ back 10 back and are connected. Passing
/ from the busting Suez Office, full OF clerk
and people, you imme lately enter the Pan
ANA office, which ia also rep.ete with hurry
ing men and bhSy clerks. The broad table.
in the center Of the room are all occupied
with owners Of Panama stock, filing ou
blanks with one hand while they hold cou
pons in the ether. AT the counters clerk
arc at work over the various duties OF
great moneyed concern. The annual inter
est is being paid. The stockholders ar
evidently from ths middle classes, II on
may judge by their dress. A priest wa
there, and 50 were women. In fact NJ d
Lasseps glories in this confidence Of the pee
pie in him, in this participation Of I'll
thrifty lower middle class in his scheme,
lord palmeTstou called them the petite
gems" he said on one occasion. "Well, thes
petites gems have made the two creates
works of the century"
After listening TO NJ. de Lesseps' sanguin
utterances and visiting the company's Office
one cannot help sharing the contiience G
Lord Palinerston's "petites gems" in tL
Panama canal and its famous protector.