The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-10-04
lean tonnage on the high seas WIN large.

lean tonnage on the high seas will large
ly increase.
The committee says that great trans
Atlantic powers are looking with covet-
Gus eyes toward the Nicaragua project
and that foreign governments would
very cheerfully and eagerly embrace an
opportunity to take advantage ..ot the
enterprise with unlimited capital and
prompt energy, but it conceives it TO be
the patriotic and political privilege OF
the United Statesto complete the canal.
The commercial and naval supremacy
Of the nation which might secure con-
troll OF the canal demands imperatively
that its control should not pass away
from tho people OF the United States.
It is made plain that two fleets would
be required to block an American fleet
in Nicaragua where one would be neces-
sary elsewhere. As foothold from
which to attack or defend, to threaten
or protect all the coasts, islands and adj
iacent seas, it is q more commanding
power than Gibraltar.
Among the beneficial results foreseen
are more practical drawingtogether OF
the remote parts OF the vast domain OF
the world and firmer cohesion OF the
widely separated sections Of the United
States, added to q stronger feeling Of
neighborhood and community between
the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. The
contamination OF the work, whose feas-
Utility has already been demonstrated,
ia asserted to be OF far greater impor-
lance to the Western hemisphere than
the Suez canal is to tho Eastern. 1t is
said that Ito precedent can be cited
upon which to predict the future OF
American commerce when tho gateway
OF the Inter- Oceanic canal across Mica
rauga shall be open to it
All SURVEYS and examination Of strata
requiring removal have been COM
pleted. The jetty has been constructed
and the harbor OF Greytown has been
restored so that vessels Of fourteen-feet
draft have an easy entrance. Extensive
wharves, landing places and permanent
buildings have been constructed, tenn
porary camps erected, a telegraph line
made, the canal cleared OF timber for
twenty miles, and q railroad twelve
miles in length constructed and
equipped. The biggest dredging plant
in America, that formerly used at Pan
anna, has been purchased, and over n
mile OF tho canal has been dredged.
Tho exclusive franchise for the steam
navigation Of the San Juan river
and Lake Nicaragua and an ex-
tensive plant for the navigation
company have been acquired The
government OF Nicaragua mas ncknowl-
edged that the company has complied
with the canal grant, which provided
that 100000 must be expended the
first year. It is shown that the amount
OF money spent to date on the enter
prise is over S6,000,000. The enterprise
is endorsed by tho leading business
men OF the country, and that it will be
judiciousiy and economically managed
Is assured by the character OF the board
OF directors, who, by the charter Of
the company, are accountable to the
government OF the United States. The
secretary OF the interior has the power
to mako public all tho details OF the
corporate management, thus protecting
the investor against the misuse Of his
money.
The Suez canal, It is shown, saves only
5000 miles around the Cape OF Good
Hope, as against over 10, 900 miles saved
by tho Nicaragua canal; and the follow
ing table shows tho number Of ships
passing through, the net tonnage and
the gross receipts OF tho Suez canal Tor
six separate years:
70 -, c.,s. t.o,,.