Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-03
THE DECADENCE OF COLON.
The Great Change Worked by the Aban-
dOnment of the Canal

The state department has issued a report by
Consul vifqusin on the trade and commerce Of
Colon, in which he says:
The decadence of Colon and the almost entire
prostration of all businessat this place since the
collapse of the canal becomes more and more
apparent. II very often happens that not a soli-
tary vessel is to e found in this harbor, thing
that was never known here even previous to
1880 and after 1860, and yet it is but short
while ago since vessels were obliged to be
anchored out for days in waiting for dock room
at which to unload their respective cargoes.
The local traffic of the isthmus during the
time that work was being pushed on the canal
had reached vast proportions. The line of the
canal, between here and Panama, about fifty
miles. was vast bivouac where the most
energetic of all nationalities and races had
congregated to amass wealth. and many have
done so, especially among the Chinese portion
of it. Wages were high, prIncely salaries
were paid, money was made easy aud expended
most freely. Day time was not enough; the
nights themselves were turned into day, and
literally speaking, the twenty-four hours of
the day were a constant draft on various in
dustries. The expression the most fitting is
lit was bedlam let loose" and people cannot
have any idea of what the isthmus was in 1885
1886, 1887 aud part of 1885, unless they have
seen it.
Forty towns had Strung up on the line in
almost as many miles, every one of them thriv-
ing, real beehive of people; in fact all of
them bent not only at changing the physical
| aspect of the land but in turning a tropical
jungle OF heretofore a death-dealing cline into
new Babylon. for never was there such a con-
fusion of tongues and conSlomeration of
races from all over the world These people
were fighting back the diseases manfully, dying
at once without murmur, or living, in spite of
cline, lives of the most reckless dissipation
when at leisure. 1t is not a wonder that SO
many have died; it is wonder that so many
have lived. Indeed, it can be truthfully said
that grim death got exhausted at the task"
and retreated to his lair The isthmus had
become habitable; before the advent of this
reckless throng it was not. And what has be-
come of it all? Vanished The people have
all gone, business is dead on the line, the local
traffic is dead the line of the canal
once - only short while ago - the
liveliest place on the globe, Is dead;
the rank vegetation of the tropics is growing
denser it seems. for the rest it has had. hid
ing from view railroad trains, dredges and all
the paraphernalla OF the canal contractors. who
left their implements of all sorts as if work
were to have been resumed In tn morning.
Colon and Panama still live. but that is all
merely by-way stations for the traffic across
the isthmus eastward and westward between
two hemispheres.
In Colon rents have fallen off 500 per cent in
three months, and still on the decline The
Panama railroad, which in 1898 paid 81 so per
cent of dividends, will In 1889 pay only 8 per
cent This line in 1888 carried 1900, 900 pas
sengers $4,000 every day.; this year it may
carry probably 100000, if so many.
But the transit traffic has not suffered; on the
contrary, it is only the local traffic which in a
short six months has suffered a loss of nearly
IL C,0O0 tons of imports; that is to say, this
much has been lost to the local trade. As
result nearly two-thirds of the business houses
In Colon are closed up, and bankrupt sales are
a daily occurrence