Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-03-02
THE NICARAGUA CANAL.

Capt. Fl. G. Taylor, U. S. NJ, read a
paper on the Nicaragua canal before
the national board of trade at Washing
ton recently. He said that the require
ments of commerce make it certain that
there will be transit for ships between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The
only questions are. When where and
how? Elaborate explorations have re-
duced the feasible routes to three. of
which Tehuauntepec is claimed for
ship railway. Panama is the seat of the
French Canal company of NJ. De Lesseps,
and the Nicaragua route has been grant
ed to an American company for canal
with locks. At Tehuauntepec nature
forbids canal, and a ship railway, even
if possible, does not meet the demands of
commerce for a water transit between
the two oceans. The failure of the pro-
ject for sea-level canal at Panama is
now admitted and this failure renders it
improbable that successful canal of any
kind will be made at Panama. The Mic
aragua route, with the lake as a summit
level, has been surveyed several times
under the auspices of the United States
government, and has been preferred by
our engineers and surveyors as the east
est, cheapest, and surest route for the
solution of the question of isthmus tram
sit. A company of American citizens
hold a liberal concessionfrom Nicaragua.
American engineers are now on the
ground, resurveying the route and max
ing the final location of the line of the
canal. There are no complicated politi-
cal questions involved, as the transit is
already under the protection of the
United States, by virtue of the Clayton
Bulwer treaty and the treaty of 1867 be-
tween the United States and Nicaragua.
There is no question of subsidy or guar
antee by our government. The compa-
ny's charter, recently introduced in the
Senate by Mr.. Edmunds, provides for
nothing but an incorporation. The Mic
araugua canal will be little west of the
longitude of New York. 1t will make
Chilli, Peru and Ecuador commercial neigh
bOrs of our Gulf ports, and trade will
be created between them which, by rea-
son of the favorable circumstances, will
exclude all rivals. 1t will bring Callao
4 900 miles nearer Liverpool than the
route via the Straits of Magellan. Three
quarters of the existing commerce be-
tween the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is
to and from the ports of the North At
hntic and the North Pacific. For all
this trade the canal will shorten the
water route by 1000 miles. The already
rapid development of California, Oregon
and Washington must, from such a facil-
ity of traffic, take a wonderful increase
of impetus, particularly in the leading
articles of wheat and lumber, now al
ready amounting to many millions annu-
ally. The lumber trade of Oregon and
Washington presents the most notable
development of any line of commerce
during the past year. In 1886 the whole
shipment was 100000 feet. In 1897,
the shipment averaged 4, 0O0, 900 feet per
month, or eight times the total of 1886.
The canal will quicken the commercial
life of Mexico and Central America, and
their wants will be supplied from our
adjacent ports, while their productions
will find in those ports ready and pro-
fitable market. For the United States
the canal will be the entrance to COM
mercial empire. 1t will make our along
shore interests include the coasts of half
the world, and our coastwise navigation
lines will only need to reach out and
share the expansion of business.