The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-02-16
And the Great Undertaking Has Been Practi-
cally misunderstanding Extrava-
gance of the officers of the Company.
Merchants Closing Up Their Business
and Preparing to Leave the Isthmus.
Further Disclosures in Relation to the Parnell
Letters-Germany's Aggressive Attitude
in SamOa-The French Cabinet.
THE PANAMA CANAL.
Two Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars Sunk
and the Work at a StandstiI.

fifty million dollars sunk in the Panama
canal scheme and the work is practically
abandoned. That is the condition of affairs
as stated by railroad man who recently
returned to New York after two-years'
residence down there. He says there is no
question about the canal scheme being fail
ure, and that within very short time work
will cease entirely, and every body who can
do so will abandon the scene of "De Les
seps's folly.o The informant tells remark
able story of the recklessness with which
money was squandered ON the proposed ca
nal, and says every statement he makes
will soon be verified by official information.
The situation, as he pictures it, is as fol-
lows: when the last mail left
the isthmus only few small gangs
of men were making any pretense of
continuing work, and it was conceded that
they must stop in q few weeks at furthest.
The last important desertion from the work
took place Feb. 1, when the contractor on
the San Pueblo cut discharged his 1900
men and announced that he would not need
them again. At one time as many as $4,000
negroes, mostly from Jamaica, were EN-
ployed on the canal. From time to time
men were discharged. They became turbu-
lent as the unemployed increased in num-
bers, and the Colombian government found
it necessary to place on duty large guard
of soldiers, and have the line of the Panama
railroad patrolled to prevent outbreaks.
The negroes were paid small wages, and
being shiftless, saved nothing. They drew
their money in small sums and when they
happened to have more than was ecessary
to buy rum, they rode out the surplus on
the railroad trains, and consequently
when discharged were penniless. Amer
ican, French and English men-of-war
are anchored in the bay of Colon to protect
the interests and citizensof Retrospective
countries if necessary. But not only on the
canal, but ON the railroad a large number
of men have been thrown out of work.
When the canal-building was being pushed
there were four passenger trains being run
on the railroad. But now over half of the
employees have been discharged, and those
still at work have been threatened with q
reduction Of wages. This is the dry season.
and there is consequently not SO much sick
ness as there will be when the wet season
sets in. Then, unless the idle men are re-
turned to ther homes. it is feared they will
die off like sheep.
"When the Company Universelle Trans
atlantique began work in 1880, it gave out
no contracts, but prepared to dig the canal
itself, and under the liberal guidance of
Count De Lesseps made ample provision for
such comforts as were possible in that sec
tiOn. Towns, hospitals and other modern
improvements were introduced. At Colon
the French quarter is laid ont like park
and improved like European villa. De
Lesseps built at the company's expense a
son at total cost of $250,000. The frescO-
ing of De Lesseps's house was said to have
cost $4,000, and everything else was on q
corresponding basis. and yet neither house
has been occupied: The hospital at Panama
cost S1,0O0,0OO, and other preparations for
the comfort of the canal cOmpany's en-
plOyes were on an equal scale. Within the
past two years the streets of Colon. which
were previously almost the cOnsistence of
mortar, have been inacadamiZed. and the
principal street has a substantial board
pavement. Before these improvements
We're made the only wheeled vehicle in
the city was carriage provided for the
hospital nurses, but now cabs are plentl-
been lavished for the comfort and even lux
uIy of the cOmpany's officers, all of whom
| lived, while the bubble fiOated, like princes.
| This extravaganza had a cOunterpartin the
| way money was thrown away ON the work
| OF canal digging until three or four years
| ago, when contracting began, and altogether
| there is very little to show for the vast out
lay of $3.50, 600, 600 which Is said to be the
| amount sunk.
"Ihe only water-course actually devel-
| oped by the wreck is from Colon to BOhiO, a
| distance of thirteen miles This work was
| chiefly through marshes, and was done by
an American dredging company. The only
hard work was at Menda, where for a dis
forr nnf 4. l.1~xo%
sary owing to rock Obstructing the way.
This section is a comparatively small frac-
| tion of the entire work projected, as the
other thirty-four or thirty five miles of the
canal We're surveyed over mountains, some
| of them bristling with rock. On the Guile
bra considerable work was done, but it
was not anywhere nearly finished, and
| elsewhere very little was accomplished. On
the. basis of previous expenditures, it is
estimated that thousand million dollars
would be required to finish the canal. AS
an example of the manner in which money
| was squandered. it is stated that the expen-
sIve and valuable engines and other ma
chinery taken there from Belgium and
| France were dumped upon the commons,
and not even covered up or otherwise pro-
tected from the elements Much of this
| machinery was never used, but still lies
where 1T was unlOaded. Some of the ma
chinery has been Overgrown with the rank
| weeds which abound in that section.
| "DeLesseps, when inaugurating his work
announced that the canal would be thrown
| open to the public in 1889, but that year will
be memorable only as marking the aban
donment of the enterprise, probably never
to be resumed. Everybody down there
is intensely nervous. and all who can do 81
| are preparing to leave. The merchants art
closing up their business as rapidly as pos
slble, and many of them are waiting new.
| from the United States, with a view of go
ing to Nicaragua, as they have faith il
that canal project. Some of the canal con
| tractors are said to have been badly caught
by the collapse of the scheme and some O.
| them have gone to France, hoping to secur,
at least portion of the money due them
The American Dredging Company is amonl
| the concerns reported not to have beer
paid In full, and its representative ha
gone to Paris. Americans have suffered t,
a considerable extent by the cessation o
work, as all of the railroad employees ant
the dredging company's workmen ar
from this country. The caua
company's employees, except the laborers
all of whom are negroes, are. as a rule
Frenchmen, and they are grumbling loudl,
about unpaid salaries. As an evidence o
the complete collapse of Panama's brigh
prospects, 1T is mentioned that while tn
government of Colombia, which is NOR
thrifty In such matters than the Unite,
States. last year sold the gambling priv
leges to a man named Garcia for 100.00(
Colombian currency tabout $40, 900 in gold
this year no bid was made, therefore a
effort is being made to collect revenue b,
arresting individual gamblers. Three rail-