The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-01-06
THE PANAMA CANAL.
Why France VIII Not Finish It-An Oppor-
tunlty tJr American Push and Money.

LONDON Spes ;tatOr.
The Ps1nama canal will, we believe, be
cut, beef luse it is wanted, because it has
tired tho imagination of two continents and
becanse, though it may never pay the cut
tiers, ~ will pay certain other powerful men;
but ~ will never be cut by NJ. De Lesseps
and lIis present company. Those who still
belbsye that because M. De Lesseps finished
the Suez canal therefore he must, in spite
OF all appearances, finish the Panama canal.
forget the dominant facts of the situation.
The money subscribed, which has been real
ly about f55, 900, 900, though the nominal
sum advanced has been nearer Els, OOO, 900,
has all been expended, and until the canal
is completely finished. and for heavy ships.
that enormous sum, exceeding the capital
OF fifty tUst-class banks, is all unproductive
money, yielding no more than if it had been
literally buried in the swamps of the
Chagres. To finish the canal will take, by
the BEST calculations, 100000 sterlings
move. That all along has been the view of the
American engineers; it was the view of the
engineer specially selected by the French
governments; and it is not really at yari-
ance with the sanguine calculations of NJ.
De Lesseps himself, who has always wished
10 raise thirty millions more to finish the
waterway and send ship through, feeling
satisfied that, this once done, ANY remaining
mil lions required for harbOrs, fortresses,
diAes, lighthouses, etc., would be easily
forthcoming.
Now, whence is that forty millions to be
procureds The popular idea in this country
~ that, under one device or another, the
French government viii guarantee success
SlVe sums sudlclent 10 complete the work;
but that idea may prove wholly unfOunded.
The difficulties in the way are enormous.
In the hrst place, the government would
only do this to secure votes, and 1T is by no
means sure that votes would be secured.
Even those who favor this plan acknOwl-
edge that 1ylterest must be suspended
until the canal is complete, and the sus-
pension OF. interest, say for live years, Will
cause nearly as much irritation as u liq-
nidation ON favorable terms-a liquidation
which, ~ we shall show, is by no means
past hoping for. Moreover, there are mill
ions OF shareholders in other concerns than
the Panama canal, and every one of these
will Feel that his claim to equality with his
nelghbor has been impaired by the state
preference shown to his rival. Then there
is much reason to believe that the govern
lnent and the Chamber are not free to give
such guarantee. There has always been
"A definite understanding between the Amer
lean and the French governments about
the canal, Its basis, as settled in 1880, being
that the canal shall never become. directly
or indirectly, Il government undertaking.
That wouM be a breach of the Monroe
doctrine. If, therefore, the Chamber votes
the form of an authorization to the Credit
Foncier. whose president is a state nOmi-
nee, TO Issue "A Lew Panama loan, the gov
ernment OF Washington may intervene,
risk which no French politician, In the
present, state of Europe, will run for one
moment. A quarrel with America would
paralyfze France for q time as European
power.- That this risk is serious is evident
from the assurances given by American
statesmen to Gen. Boulanger when he was
In New York. and by him reported as mat
ters of the highest political urgency to his
government in Paris.
There remains the enthusiasm of the
French peasantry for NJ. De Lesseps and
for their investments; but how far will
that enthusiasm gof Not one inch, we
sion. It has already failed to iii the tempt
ing lottery loan and this, remember, before
the interest at 5 per cent. was stopped. We
do not believe that $4,000, coo could be ex-
priority bonds whatever. fhe French city
editors and scribes write magniloQuent
nonsense about the grand personality of
VI. De Lesseps and itsinhuence on the mill
IONS; but the influence of a grand person
atty who offers hope and per cent, and
of the same personality when offering hope
only, are two very different things. The
French peasantry are III the aggregate very
rich. they are patriotic, and they are CRATE
full to Nj. De Lesseps for making their Suez
canal shares pay; but they are not the kind
of persons who. just when they are cruelty
UdIu llI. luNeSb Lou per iDdll-lueEt are CtU,-
600 shareholdersan bondholders-on bonds
to become profitable some years hence.
They will worship Nj. De Lesseps to any
extent, but they will prefer bonds in the
SueZ canal.
We believe all these ideas IRE illusory,
and that NJ. DeLesseps and his shareholders
have, IN the long run, just two alternatives
before them. They can struggle on for
bonds, keeping the works half alive, but
hardly advancing the canal, till some oc-
currence, probably the great war, compels
them 10 suspend operations and admit that
they are face TO face with lure; or they
can sell their concession and their works to
Americans for a sum down and right to
some rate OF interest when the works sue
ceed. The Americans can and will buy
them out, for they are so interested in the
matter that they are proposing to
spend twenty millions upon rival
and inferior canal through Nicaragua.
They would much rather have possession of
the Panama canal, and SO own the sole key
of their own house, the detensible water
way upon which the future prosperity of
their grand Pacific provinces win mainly
depend. The purchaser may even be the
government of the Union. That governments,
oppressed with its wealth, would be pleased
TO see its surplus appropriated for five
years, and content TO draw on the money
invested an average of per cent. Its Sc
curity must always be erfect for no Eu-
ropean power will fire on the American
flag, and if it never recovered shilling in
0lNlut0QS, the Oh SalaDle value
in land and mines within the Pacific States
consequent on the new route would be an
ample compensation for the entire outlay.
There is no constitutional difficulty in the
way, for treaty owe nides the COnstitu-
ton, and the Union bought with money
the grand French domain of Louisiana
then much larger tina d the present State of
that name.
IS for engineers, the Washington Cabinet
has the pick of the alDlest in the world, and
as for labor, it WOULD only be too delighted
If the 10000 of abb q. bodied negroes would
all take dollar a day to work in the
swamps on the Pan anna canal. The Ameri-
cans would finish tlit canal in five years if
1T Is In human pow'I TO do it. and no engi-
neer has yet denie d its possibility. That
America, either Through her government or
her mammoth CAPT talists, would leap at the
chance, we have TO doubt whatever; we
have not patiencas to discuss the possible
opposition of "CoIombia;" and as to France
as a power. her Isatriotic vanity is always
mixed up with - patriotic interestedness.
General Bonlanger and NJ. Ferry are both
patriots OF the t1aggerative kind and Gen.
Boulanger says openly that, while he would
2aAsa the canaa, the Americans must have