Los Angeles herald., 1892-05-29

The canal il only . waterway it con-
trolls no ships, mo roadbed or rolling
stock; it's sole revenue is . toll On tbe
tonnage passing through il. And oince
In many wsya the Nicaragua canal
comes in competition with the Suez
canal, it follows that its builders cannot
in their own interests charge excessive-
ly. Indeed, the reverse is true, The
larger the tonnage 1t controls the more
money it will earn. The charge for
tonnage through the Suex canal was
originally 81 80 per ton, but Il was
found that by reducing the charge to
81 the canal made money. On the same
grounds the Nicaragua canal must
ever be reasonable in its charQes-the
more ships that pass through It the
larger revenue it will enjoy.
Let us now briefly note the political
situation touching the enterprise. and
why it is not possible, owing to several
obstacles, for this government to own
and build the canal directly. During
President Arthur'e term treaty was
negotiated between this government
and that of Nicaragua giving us the
right to build and operate the canal as
a government enterprise. This xtreaty
was ratified by Nicaragua, but failed to
pass during Arthur's administration.
When President Cleveland assumed the
chair he Withdrew the treaty on the
ground that 1t conflioted with the Clay
tom -Bulwer treaty. which stipulates
that canal connecting the Atlantic and
Pacific at Nicaragua should be Q Joint
affair between England and the United
States. This treaty has never been alb.
rogated, and has been and is source of
contention ever since 1t was ratified, as
it is in direct conflict with the Monroe
doctrine. About this time (1840-5O),
when it became apparent that the
United States would mske larRe acuui-
sitions of territory on account of the
Mexican war. Great Britain seized the
port OF San Juan del Norte and changed
| its name to Greytown. Nicaragua in this
emergency appealed to this government
and the matter was settled by Great
Britain withdrawing, we assuming that
| it was not domestic but an interna-
tional work. The republic of Nicaragua
having received rebuff from this gov
ernment by its withdrawing the treaty
negotiated by President Arthur, gave
| the concession to q number of American
gentlemen to build the canal and to own
| and operate it for q series of 200 years
under the expressed conditions that it
shall not be sold, nor be allowed to pass
into the hands of any foreign govern
ment. This proviso is clearly in self-de-
fense, to prevent the owners Of the fran
chise from disposing Of the valuable con-
cession to any foreign power, such as
Germany, France or England. This
company is now building the canal, hav-
ing spent up to date some 81, ,000, 900 or
| $6 100000. The important questions
now are:
Whowill build and own the Nicaragua
canal?
How long will it take to complete it
Let me cay right here that the COM
pany has not asked this government for
single dollar. The government hav-
ing frittered away its opportunity to own
the canal in fee simple, in refusing
to ratify the Arthur treaty, members
of the United States senate approached
Mr.. Miller, the president of the Mica
ragua Canal company, to know If there
was any way for this government to
secure control of the enterprise. Since
the charter forbids the company from
selling it to any foreign power, the
governments only course was to secure
a control Of the stock. Thus the COM
pany, through its president, has con-
sented to giving the government the
option on seven-tenths OF the entire
stock, thus practically securing an alb
solute control of the enterprise. This
stock is to be voted and controlled by
the secretary of the treasury. A bill
has been introduced by the committee
on foreign relations in the senate, sub
stantially covering these grounds, and
- - Cos 49, s,,
order to secure the building and control
bill contains provisions in every way
calculated to protect the government in
every step of its progress.
There is little or no opposition to the
enterprise from the people of this coast
and the Mississippi valley and Atlantic
eeaboard. The Farmers' Alliance op-
poses the bill on the ground that the
government is giving its aid and credit
that they are demanding of the govern
ment the control of the Central and
Union Pacific railroads because they
have defaulted in their obligations.
They argue that If the roads cannot pay
the government loans the government
should seize them and at best lease
them to private corporations to operate.
In the case of the canal the government
not only controls the enterprise, but un-
der the senate bill possesses the power to
ope rate it as it sees fit. In the event of
a failure on the part of the people of
America or their government to raise
sufficient funds to complete the enter
prise, the present company will of
course seek capital elsewhere, and that
means in all probability in England.
Great Britain, having learned of the
value of the Suez canal as an invest
ment, is anxious to secure control of
the Nicaragua. Indeed, I might cay
that the company has been given every
assurance of it's being able to float it's
on the London market. So
far no proposition from abroad has been
the men composing the
company being anxious that its control
remain either in the control of the
government, or at best owned
by the American people. But if even
this should fail, the canal will neverthe-
less be built, as in that event the COM
pany would naturally be forced to seek
foreign aid and foreign money to build
it. This is at present the greatest en-
terprise affecting the future Of our coun-
try from every point of view. The Mic
aragua canal will be built. Many in
this audience who are now as old as I
am will live to see it an accomplished
fact. If it is not constructed by Ameri-
can money, American brain and Ameri-s
can Drawn, it will be by European.
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