The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-08-11
PANAMA CANAL AFFAIRS.

PANAMA CANAL AFFAIRS.
The Outlook for Renewal Of the Work
Not Promising.
Prixate advices received from Colon, dat.
ed July ". throw light on several matters
Of interest connected with the Panams
Canal project. From these advices it ap
pears that the outlook for a renewal Of
canal work for a long time to come is not
promising, despite the rose-colored state
ments sent out by the liquidator of the
Panama Canal company. The policy OF
the government of Colombia is strongly
averse to resumption of operations under
the old company. The authorities will not
treat with any of it's directors, and President
Nunez insists that if the work is begun
at all it must be done independently of the
old De Lesseps management. Failing such
an arrangement, all the work that has been
done, and all the machinery and buildings
that contributed to the erstwhile glory OF
the big ditch, become the property of the
federal government under the concession,
which lapses in 1892.
Owing to the fact that the canal cut
opens into the Bay of Colon and that the
Chagres river now enters into the bay by
the cut, the latter is Swallowing rapidly.
Where six fathoms of water existed four
years ago, three and half were measured
day before the dating of these advices.
The damage will be great, as the small har-
Dor soon will be filled in by the immense
by the floods in the wet season. This de-
struction of the harbor is but one of the
many incidents that have weakened the
faith Of the Colombian government in the
Grand Francois, as they once termed De
Lesseps.
An officer whose intimacy with the gov
eminent entities his opinion to much con-
sideration gives it out that late advices
from Paris indicate very bitter feeling on
the part of the victimized share and bond
holders, and he says that NJ. de Lesseps
stands in imminent danger of being ar
raigned with his confreres. as was M. secre-
tan Of the Societe de Metaux. Several
French papers are demanding redress from
the company that has go long and so sue
cessfully bled them. The directness of
these press criticisms and the bitter hos
Utility that prompts them are very marked,
and a committee of the shareholders has
demanded of the deputies that the minister
of Justice institute an inquiry into the
ways and means of the old company. It is
a notorious fact that NJ. de Lesseps and his
brother founders sold their shares Chat
cost them nothing) in fractions on the
bourse that Melted 81, OO0, OOOf, or I'll ,OOO,-
600. These shares, it is alleged, were sold
that their undertaking was impossible.
The officer referred to says that the judicial
inquiry will reveal stale of affairs that
will astonish the world.
The talk of everybody in government
circles at Colon. when these advices were
mailed, concerned the new impetus in the
stock market through the Vaccinations of
the well-known Frenchman, Sautereau, the
author of a brochure entitled lie Canal de
Panama Transf0rme on Lac Interieur."
Sautereau claims to be an 'ancien oollabor-
ateur de M. Ferdinand de Lesseps." The
operations of man who has been associat-
ed with the savant whose suspicious failure
has excited the wonder of the world, caused
a stir among the authorities at Colon, who
still cherish the idea of transisthmian
canal.
Sautereau visited Colon once before, at
tending the Committee of Studies of the
famous Technical commission. He re-
NAMED for some time after that commits
sion took its departure but it seems that
the rank and file of the canal company
treated the old gentleman with scant cour-
tesy, refusing him the privileges of con-
frere and the kindness of compatriot.
Access to the chalmers of the company was
refused him, and it was only through the
intervention of DR.. Henrique Roman, in
spector of railroads and canals and the
brother-in-law of President Nunez, that he
obtained the information he desired. At
public banquet given by him to his friends
the day of his departure Sautereau stated
that the only cloud on the memory of
most delightful visit to a country to him
new and interesting as the theatre of the
most colossal project of the age was the
discourtesy of his own countrymen, whose
errors he had come to correct, and whose
work he felt it was his mission to finish.
He has been in Paris now about three
weeks with his notes and studies. and his
achievements have resulted in genuine
isthmian sensation. Stocks have gone up,
real estate values have hardened, and land
lords at Colon look to increased rents to
recompense them for the weary waiting of
years. The government of Colombia be-
lieves implicitly in Sautereau, and he has,
it is said. strong support IN France among
the disgruntled shareholders of the old
company. It is predicted that bondholders
of the old concern who hope to retrieve
their lost fortunes by joining the now lilac
interieur" scheme of M. Sautereau will
have an opportunity to get back perhaps 10
cents on the dollar. Work will not be be-
gun within year.