Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-07-04
THE PANAMA CANAL.
win II Eyor Be Ilnished?-The Outlook
Very DistOuraging.

wy AfAN'NNAh1aiss
Will il ever he finished; This is the
one single, absorbing question now being
asked IL lhe financial circlys Of Paris. and
no sati, "a tory answer is hriug made to
it, not rv,u by De Les5ops himself. The
failur Of the last loan was much more
seriol atuir lhan was at tr-t reported.
De les-,Ns called for $i5,VOD,UOV, Tut
the mount realized was only S2s. .du0. 600,
alth ugh he had promised tu repay $j0,-
00C 900 and allow 10 per cent, interest
on what already had been advanced.
Tie amount actually realized, however.
was just sufficient TO pay the interest and
ether debt services on previous loans,
leaving nothing whatever for work On
the carnl Itself. When. therefore. II is
Just baoly possible to raise moHry enough
TO pay interest on what has already h,cn
borrowed. the outlook is black for any
further advance. and the igo' Of the
whole canal business is as good rs settled.
But this IL not all. So many reports
have been circulated one way and an
other in regard 10 the entgrprise-sO
many that were false, misleading or inn
possible-Jhdt the French government
itself sent an eminent iinancicr, Leroy
Beaulieu. 10 examine into everything
connected with the work and report
accordingly. This report, Just made
public. has startled De Lessep5' stock
holders almost beyond the power Of
speech, and made not n few Of them
wrathful and accusing.
"lf the work goes on no faster. says
Beaulieu, ethan it has in 1887, it viii take
twenty years to remove La CulcLrn, 4
hill that is almost a mountain. II goes
on three times rs fast it will take six and
half years TO finish the canal under the
best possible circumstances.
Upon the subject Of finances, upon
which he is better able to speak than
upon that Of engineering, his figures have
amazed every one. The total obligations
of the company on Aug. IS, 1857. were
1894, 100000. for which 5000. 500. 900 of
actual money had been obtained. the diff
ference Of $l3t.50O, 900 representing the
amount lost by discount, brokers COM
missions and other such like expenses.
The annual expense of administration
and debt seryiCe-that is, the expenses
outside of any work done on the canal
were $20,O00,000. Therefore. should the
work last six or eight years, and II.
Beaulieu is unable 10 see how it cnn be
done in any shorter time. it will pile the
debt mp 20 tho enormous figure If $780,
10000 or more, the average interest on
which would be S54, O00, coo, Ill Of which
the canal would have 10 earn before the
stockholders could handle a single dollar
In the way Of dividends. to say nothing
Of the outlay that might have to be made
annually to keep the canal in good Eayi-
gable order.
When De Lesseps undertook this q.
gantic work. he estimated is entire cosi
at Sl20000. 600. Its obligations today
are 1894, 900, 900, and it is vet from some
six TO eight years Of completion. There
seems tO have been no head 10 the whole
business from beginning 20 end. Waste.
ignorance and extravaganza have been
frightful. The route Of the canal itself
appears never TO have been properly gone
over in an engineering sense or scicntih.
cally surveyed. Typographical skill up.
pears never to have been evoked ia q sin.
gle instance 10 take advantage of the
natural confguralions of the ground. II
has been like great hole into which
money has been collected and dumped b!
the millions. There is no more money
and not likely TO be any sl0re. If th,
French government does ., take hold o
the enterprise and finish il, then mos
surely viii il never be finished,-Kansa
City Times.