The morning call., 1891-06-20
WEDDING THE OCEANS
The Technical Society Hears
About the Canal.
Warner Miller and Commander Taylor De-
scribe the CompletedsW ork-Its Effect
on the City's Future.

bers of the Technical Society in the Acad-
envy Of Sciences Building last evening to
hear an address from Commander Taylor,
formerly Vice-President of the Nicaragua
Canal Company, on 1.-THE Nicaragua Canal
and Its Relation to the Trade Of the Pacific
Coast" The lecture was illustrated by
large scale maps and charts, which enabled
the audience easily to follow the course of
the canal as traced by the lecturer and to
understand the nature of the tasks which
the engineers had to overcome. At the con-
clusion of Commander TayIOr's address the
Hon. Warner Miller was introduced, and
described the work already accomplished
by the company and the care they had
taken to obtIin reliable data and figures be-
fore submitting their scheme to the en-
gineerS and inancierS of the world.
AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE.
Commander Taylor plunged at once into
the heart of his subject by dwelling on the
important bearing the canal would have on
the development of an American merchant
marine. In Nicaragua canal" he de-
clared, "Our wiSeSt statesmen have seen the
one. the only well-grounded hope for new
birth of the United States foreign COM
merce and carrying trade"
Commander Taylor then passed to the
dHbNull1 Va lllo iuCd VI uulllnS Alic iWO
oceans and the various schemes for carrying
out that project, from the proposed enter
prise of Prince Louis Napoleon to the recent
failure of the Panama Canal The history
Of the laSt-named tiaSco was traced at some
length with a view Of showing that the con-
ditionS Of climate and engineering difficult
ties differed from those of the Nicaragua
Canal
After describing the proposed route of the
canal and the character of the country over
which it will pass the lecturer turned to the
effect the opening of such a waterway
would have on The commercial future OF
San Francisco.
IT IS A FALLACY.
eff there be any among us who believe
that the shortest distance between the MeXi-
can coast aud the Chinese coast is on an
east and west line, passing through or near
the Sandwich Islands, let them diSabuSe
their minds OF this belief, for IL Is fallacy.
The shortest distance between these coasts.
the Chinese and the Mexican, is on great
circle of the earth, and such a great circle
passes from HOng-Kong and Annoy north
ward through Japan, close to the Aleutiln
Islands, 1900 miles north OF the Sandwich
ISlaTdS, within a days run of San Fran
cisco. The future shipping trade of the
world" the lecturer continued, will be car
red on by cargo steamers, which Will re-
quire frequent cualing stations. Upon this
great circle route convenient coal ports eX-
be created. Vessels would therefore coal
NJ HakOdate, then at one If the Aleutian
Islands, next at San Francisco, Acapulco,
and so to the canal.
This" Commander Taylor concluded, us
no dream These are hard and practical
| facts which we have considered tonight.
The men who conduct the affairs OF the
canal are practical men,"
HON. WARNER MILLER.
At the conclusion of his address, Com
mander Taylor was greeted with prolonged
applause, which was renewed when PTesi-
dent John Richards introduced the Honor
able Warner Miller. After abiding t. the
share which the officers of the United States
Navy and Commander Taylor, in particular,
had bad IN promoting a Nicaragua Canal
enterprise, Mr. Miller passed TO a narration
Of the work accomplished by the company
of which he is President. $50 day" he de-
clared, "the canal scheme is not merely a
scheme on paper. The SURVEYS YOU see on
the maps displayed here tonight are the re-
suits OF a vast amount of engineering work
A little over half a million dollars have
been expended on this already completed
work"
This work, Mr.. Miller said. enabled the
| Directors to form most accurate estimate of
| the cost Of the undertaking. The company
! had made a test of all the work to be done
! along the whole route in order to find out
tile actual cost oil construction. For long
| time 1t was said 10 be impossible to open the
| harbor Of GraytOwn, the eastern terminus of
! the canal. but the company had already
constructed pier 1900 feet long to keep out
! the sand brought in by the waves, opened
/ the harbor 10 "a depth Of fifteen feet and
| established the feasibility Of making it a
| deep-dTawing ship haTbOr. They had
| dredged the first nine miles of the eastern
end Of the canal to depth of seventeen
| feet and built twelve miles Of railroad from
! Graytown west. All this work had been
/ rrI4H IUT at puUs i6nTQhlV lass than tina
| estimate of their own engineers Making
| the highest possible estimate and allowing
| for every possible contingency the canal
| cannot cost over S90000,O00.
of l had enough money" Mr.. Miller
| concluded, Il would build the canal and
! own it myself. l am very sure it will be
carried to a successful conclusion within the
centnrY."