The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-18
THE PANAMA CANAL.
Indications that DE Lesseps's Great Scheme
Is Now on Its Last Legs.

Indications that DE Lesseps's Great Scheme
Is Now on Its Last Legs.
Colon Letter in New York Tribune.
1 see that at meeting of the stockholders of
the Panama. canal recently held in Paris one
misguided individual dared to propose an inveS-
tigation of the manner in which the stockholders
money had been spent He was quickly and
effectually snubbed. If, however the stock
holder with an lnquiring turn of mind will visit
the Is thmus he will soon see where his money
has gone Dumped into big trench in the
ground! Not bit of it. He will see it trans
muted into the fine villas THE chefs de sections
tho huge idle excavator and drcdges, the rolling
stock loaned to the Panama railroad, the fine
turnouts and liveries of the DIRECTORY general the
handsome offices at Panama, and the salaries Of
an army Of clerks and employees. No matter
how the work on the canal lags, no matter how
much money is wanted, the cutting down be-
gins, paradoxically, at the bottom. "Coupes,"
said an American on the Isthmus recently,
never built the Panama railroad and they cali
never build the Panama canal The Panama
railroad was built in the face Of great
obstacles, but obstacles which had been care
fully considered and provided for in the plans
American energy pushed it to q successful COM
pletior. The Panama canal affords the most
startling example the world ever saw of an en-
terprise plunged into without proper consdera-
ton OF the obstacles to be overcome and of the
reckless expenditure of money with no adequate
result. Since the South Sea bubble there has
not been anything approaching parallel. The
name of the old Count de Lesseps is the name
the managers Of the canal scheme use to
jure by. Ferdinand de Lesseps! You see it
everywhere: on the engines, the excavators,
on the dredges. But even that name seems to
have lost it's power in Paris, and now the canal
company is driven to the last resort of a lottery
to raise funds to prclong the farce. general
feeling prevails here that the Zig is up" and
that all the efforts Of the canal officials to pro-
long it will be useless.
In Panama are the Offices Of the canal company.
A large building facing on the Plaza de la Cathe
dral iS filled with an army of clerks all bearing
more sounding titles Even the clerk who files
away the papers is designated as the Keeper of
Archives" There are uniforms and Everies,
display and hustle, but alas! no canal.
From the heights Of Cuehra Balboa mot
stout Cortes'j first saw the Pacific when
Gan his men
Gazed at each other with a mild surmise.
Silent upon peak in Darien."
Below the historic summit runs the course of
the canal. passing between two mountains.
Here is 1.-The summit" where the deepest cut
will have to be made The casual observer
would exclaim on looking at the work at this
point: Here, certainly is a place where
digging has been done" He sees on either side
the terraces of fresh earth rising high,
one above the other He imagines that he is
standing at the bottom of an immense cut. In
reality he is standing between two hills. the sides
Of which have been terraced so that the earth
would not slide into the hypothetical canal to
oe quilt III the suoJunctlve future. NO work or
any importance has been done on the Culebra
section in spite of misleading photographs and
rosecolored reports. l am told that the borings
on this most important section revealed so large
an amount Of rock to be excavated that the
officials OF the canal company never had the
heart to break the sad news to the public in gen.
eral and the stockholders in particular In fact,
the accuracy of all the geological charts of the
canal course prepared by the company, are
much questioned
There Sj0p1 bat opHo IF no
scheme is approaching The money from the
lottery may prolong it's life, but not for long
time. Even the Panama Star and Herald,
paper devoted to the interests of the canal COM