The herald., 1893-02-12

ors both in time and distance where
ls now at a disadvantage. (The Unite
States, suffering as it does by palpabl
disadvantages of time and distance owe
lts European competitors, no measur
can be devised which will bring to it tn
Dement'S of this canal.) The coast wis
trade OF the United States passin
through the canal is estimated at no
less than 10000 tons annually. At S
per ton, which is about half the toll o
the Suez canal, the revenue OF. th,
Nicaragua canal would be $9,000,00t
from this source alone. The interest or
the bonds is $3,000000, and the cost O
maintenance and operation is estimated
at $l,000,000 annually. This leaves
50 100000 annually for a sinking fund
with which to pay off the bonds before
they come due. 1t is not likely thai
there will be necessity for the issue Of
all OF the 100000, 900 of bonds. The
progress in applied mechanics has SC
cheapened the cost of borings, dredg.
ing and excavations of late years that
while engineers unsuspected of bias have
definitely fixed the cost of the canal al
not to exceed $S7 ,00O, 10000, there is very
good ground for believing that under
economical management, coupled with
the low rates of interest secured by fed
eral Endorsement, the cost would be
nearer 100000.
If the committee were asked from
what source the greatest opposition to
the construction of the Nicaragua canal
proceeds, 1t would be obliged in truth to
say the railroad interests, which seem
to see in it a competition which
will decrease the cost of transconti-
mental shipments and impair the size of
their dividends. No stronger illustra-
tion of the urgent necessity for the canal
can be found than in the fact that the
charges of the transcontinental rail-
roads are SO excessive that O Council
Bluffs, Iowa, shipper found it cheaper
to ship goods destined for San Francisco,
to New York and thence by clipper
around Cape Horn, IL 900 miles to the
Golden Gate, rather than directly from
Council Bluffs to San Francisco by the
Pacific railroad.
The fact that the railroads are said to
have a well. organized lobby at Washing
ton, to fight the canal bill, gains added
significance from this state of things,
which ought to arouse the dormant en-
ergies of the commercial spirit of the
United States.
The failure of the Panama canal and
ite effects on the Nicaragua project are
viewed variously, but in our belief the
most reasonable view is that which sees
in the collapse an opportunity it were
wisdom to embrace. To draw compari-
son between the French scandal and the
Nicaragua undertaking, is to lose sight
OF the difference between the French
and American national character, if it
does not insult the integrity of the press
OF the country, as members of which we
would be among the first to resent. The
French government gave no aid to the
Panama canal, except that it authorized
lotteries, and it is alleged to have sup
pressed an unfavorable report upon the
work made by one of its engineers. Had
it taken the precautions which the
United State congress outline in the case
OF the Nicaragua canal, France would
have been saved it's present disgrace.
From the first the Panama scheme was
corrupt and its principal victims being
peasants OF very moderate means, have
raised the not unreasonable presumption
that some. If not all, of its promoters
knew of its fraudulent character. Ger
tainly they were aware that skillful en-
gineers of America, England and Ger
many pronounced the project utterly
lmpracticable for a less expenditure
than a thousand million dollars. That
5gfsqShs 5EgrenGhhs 70 0t6e Contrary aja thAiEas
ing, in the light OF the use of enormous
sums of bribery and corruption. Ii it
had no other result than to incite the
United States government to extreme
caution in dealing with the Nicaragua
canal, the Panama lesson would not be
lost on us.
The Panama route being now out OF
the question, the Nicaragua canal, sew
eral hundred milea north Of it, and
hence more desirable from this nations
view, is demanded with an earnestnesH
that cannot be ignored. 1t ia the only
feasible way of obviating the long and
expensive Journey around Cape Horn.
1t will remove the great obstacle now in
the way of domination by the United
States of the trade of this hemisphere.
1t will open the ports of India, China
and Japan to commercial interchange
with this country, which must result in
immense pecunisry advantage to the
citizens Of the United States. 1t will
stimulateinter-state exchange of prod
ucts between the Atlantic and Pacific
coast states, and will in every way tend
to put this country on an equal footing
with England, which nobody doubts
would like nothing better than to her
self own and control the Nicaragua
canal, if that were possible.
| [Signed] PRESS COMMITTEE,
New Orleans Nicaragua Canal Conven-
ton.
J. M. EDDY, Chairman,
Eureka, California.
1. W. FAULKEs, Secretary,
Cedar Rapids, Ia,
The SNOWFALL Battle.
NJ