The morning call., 1891-10-21
TIE NICARAGTA CANAL.

The producers Of California are very gen
orally looking to the completion Of the
Nicaragua Canal as a means of competition
with transportation associations. 1t will be
to the interest of the canal company, it is
urged, to maintain its independence, as it
will be able to do the bulk of the transpor-
tation across the continent at much lower
rates than companies depending upon land
routes. OF course the company itself is not
expected to engage in the transportation
business but it will largely determine the
value OF the canal as competing route
through its power to establish rates OF toll.
II this canal is built with private capital,
especially with Eastern or foreign capital,
there can be no security against a combina-
ton between the canal and other tTanspOr-
tation companies. Private money seeking
an investment has a moral and legal right
to provide for returns. Aud we may add
that private capital thus invested is not
usually slow in acting upon its rights. The
Nicaragua Canal when completed will con-
meet the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Il
viii not be a tide-wRteT canal, on the plan
If the Panama Canal, as at first proposed,
but a ship on either ocean may be tloated
into the other without breaking bulk. The
effect OF opening a route which for many
years can have no competitor possessing
like advantages cannot be closely estimated.
i IS not at all improbable that it will change
the existing route Of transportation and
travel The Suez Canal is at any time
liable to pass out Of British control Mr..
Gladstone's intimation that in the event of
lis return to power Egypt would be evacu-
ated suggests the question whether the con-
trel Of the canal would not 20 with Egypt
Il bo Of
the Nicaragua Canal becomes Of the greater
Importance. Ocean commerce will seek the
safest speediest and most economical route,
all things being considered. I he question for
tie American people to consider is if any
private company should control a route of
such vast Importance. The construction of
the canal implies the necessity of keeping it
open and free from distractions. This can
only be insured at all times by the exercise
of the right to fortify exposed points. The
canal Will run through foreign country,
which may or may not be able to protect
this waterway. While the Governments of
the neighboring countries may be we'll dis
posed toward the canal, such friendly con-
sideTations may not prevail in time of war.
The blockade Of the canal, even for lin
ited period, might cause a loss to the world
greater than the cost of the Work. Under
these conditions is it not best that the GUv-
ernment of the United States should fur
nish the money to build the canal under
such stipulatons as Congress may see fit to
exact? In this way the canal would be
completed at the lowest cost, in the shortest
space of time, and the right of the Govern
ment to fOrtify the canal would not be
called into question. An attack upon the
canal under such circumstances would be
an attack upon the territory Of the United
States. The commercial value Of the canal
viii depend largely upon the cost Of con-
structiOn. The cost will be determined by
the rates at which bonds may be sold ana
by the facilities of construction which
ample means would afford. With the
United States Treasury behind ii, the COM
pany would be able to lay out work with all
possible assurance that their plans will
be carried out Objection will be made that
the Constitution does not directly confer
upon Congress the power to appropriate
money for such purpose. Neither did the
Constitution confer upon Congress the
right to appropriate money for the purchase
Of territory which so strict a construction
ist as Thomas Jefferson recommended and
carried through In the case of the Louisiana
purchase. No President would ever have
been forgiven for neglecting TO acquire
Louisiana, and with it the mouth of the
Mississippi, when the opportunity offered.
The control Of the waterways connecting
the two oceans that wash the shores of
America is of scarcely less importance to
the United States than the possession Of
, the outlet of the Mississippi