Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-08-28

THE SCHEME PROVING TO BE AeoN.
ANA FOR THE CONTRACTORS.
Observations Of q Returned CinCinnatian
The Army Of LeeChes who Find an
Asylum on the Isthmus-Bad
Business.
Cincinnati Enquirer Interview.l

A former Cincinnatian, Mr.. ". ].
Crosby, has just returned from Panama.
where he has been since last September
fulfilling a contract for tightening cargoes
on incoming ships to the shore. The
yellow fever has been and now is com
hitting dreadful ravages there, and when
his turn came his physician and a
friend hurried him out of the country.
Mr., Crosby has been a number of years
\ on the isthmus; at one time as an agent Of
Ae Pacific Steamship company, and his
position gave him opportunities for OBJ
servation, which he seems to have i'm
proved to the fullest extent. "The
history of the Panama canal, +" said he.
will be a record of fraud almost unpar-
alleled in the annals of any nation.
Already it has cost the sum of $3.50, 0OO.-
OO0 The projectors have in addition a
DEBT OF $50, 900, 600, and now they esti-
mate that to compass its completion $780,
10000 additional will be needed. What
have they accomplished? Nothing more
Than the transportation to the objective
point of an unlimited amount of machin.
cry, which is useless and can not even be
converted into old iron, as the rates for
freight away from the isthmus are 40
high as to render prottless any such ven
ture.
The Nicarauga route is undoubtedly
the best for canal purposes, but it is said
at the same time the longest. The route
selected by the French and German syn.
dictate is the shortest, but it is fraught
with difficulties which, [ think, have all
Deen too lightly considered, ever if they
have been considered at all
For instance, the land lies very high
In places, and the deepest portion will be
q cut six hundred feet in depth. Now,
the water surface of the canal will have
fo be 100 feet in width. This will neces-
State a cut of nearly eighteen hundred
feet in width at the top; so you can easily
imagine the amount Of dirt to be removed
The canal line follows closely the line of
the Panama railroad. The contract for
removing the dirt has been let
70 a Dutch and French syndi.
cate for $40, 900, 900, and as vet
The contractors have done nothing. Then
they seem to have taken no account of
The varying aspects of the spring tides.
OF course they will have to employ an
Elaborate system Of locks. In the spring
the tides IN the Pacific side rise from
twenty five to thirty feet, while on the
gulf coast they are from twelve to fifteen
inches. These conditions l deem of i'm
portance, and lastly they are using the
channel of the Chagres river as a starting
point of the canal on the gulf side. The
Chagres is a mountain stream, and in
times of flood is a terror to the inhabitants.
You have heard about q torrent rushing
and jumping. Well, the breast of q tor.
rent in the Chagres just jumps along.
1t comes down like a solid wall, bearing
all before it They will have to divert
the entire channel of this stream. The
canal has now been under way four years,
and the channel, when completed, will be
forty.seven miles in length.
1.-THE company has erected q great num-
r of houses along the line, and Just to
give you an idea Of the manner in which
they conduct their business l will tell you
that in their Office, which is an immense
place, they had at one time over 700
clerks employed. 1t seemed at once a
hospital and an asylum for broken-down
relics of French nobility. Each window
of the office had a small balcony, and each
balcony its lolling F%renchman. When
one got tired, and went within to either
pore over the pages of a French novel of
questionable moral purity or the Paris
papers, another Frenceman took his
place. If any one appeared with a bill or
series of accounts he, as like as not, would
De told to call again, as all hands were too
busy to pay any attention to him. To any
man attempting to conscientiously dis.
charge hisduty this was discouraging. All
these fellows did was to draw their
salaries. l understand, however, that the
force has recently been materially de-
creased.
"In addition l can assure you of one
thing, and that is, if the Panama canal is
ever completed it will be by American
brain and pluck, The way the present
syndicate are engaged it will take 100
years to finish the work.