St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-12
FOUND NO CORRUPTION.
Report of the Congressional Com
mittee Investigating the Pam
anna Canal.
No Improper Means Employed to
Defeat the CapO Reso-
luton.

New York, March 1.-THE congress
sional committee appointed to look into
the conduct of the affairs Of the Panama
canal, the Pacific Mail Steamship and
the Panama Railroad companies made
its report public today. Among
other things, the committee finds
that of the three great banking
firms, J. & W. Seligman. Drexel,
Morgan IL Co., and Winslow, Laner &
Co., who were the financial agents of
the Panama Canal company in this
country, the first named concern con-
fessed to spending 40.000,OOO francs.
Neither of the others are credited with
any expenditures to advance the
interest of the Panama Canal
company. Another Finding OF
the committee is, that the three
banking houses named above received
apparently for the loan of their names
to this enterprise the sum of $780, 600.
Four hundred thousand dollars apiece,
or $50. 900 a year, was paid those houses,
without the knowledge of eX-Sec-
rotary of the Navy Thompson,
chairman of the commission Gre
ated to popularize the Panama
canal scheme. Thompson had all the
time supposed that he was the main
factor in the enterprise, and was him
self given but $4,000 year for his
services. When the canal company
went into liquidation his salary was
chopped to $4,000, he remaining in
! ignorance that the members Of the COM
mittee of which he was chairman were
each given $4,000 year.
what influence" the report says,
twas used upon the financial public
opinion of the Omitted States by the
names of these three great banking
| houses: what indirect credit and pop
| ularity was given to the enterprise
| through their numerous correspondents
and connections throughout the country,
! it is, perhaps, impossible now to estimate
| but to effect this was the object of the
formation of this American committee,
| a committee which testifies that it had
no regular meetings and some men,
bers of which were never present
at meeting or knew whether
any minutes were ever kept by the
| committee, while each of these houses
was receiving 100000. This fact, if ii
Is measure of the general conduct and
management of the Panama Canal COM
pany, might possibly explain why it
was compelled to go into liquidation as
soon as it did"
The report also states that: "Your
committee has examined the matter suf-
ficiently to be able to say that, so far
as the treaty of 1916 with New Grenada
is concerned, and so far as the conces-
sion granted TO, and contracts made with.
the present Panama railroad corporation
| There is no cause for the assertionSthat
| any exclusive right to cross the lsthmus
was ever in terms granted or by impli-
cation secured either to an American
corporation or to citizens of the United
States to the exclusion of any other
country. Your committee reports that
| it was not found that corrupt or improp-
er means were used to stifle the In
vestigation or discussion of these reso-
| buttons. In fact, in spite of the argu-
ments of Mr.. Thompson and the
counsel employed by him to assist. the
Grape resolution was reported back
to the house IN somewhat modi-
fed form, but with report ringing
with true American patriotism and a
manly, yet conservative assertion of
the Monroe doctrine as it is generally
understood in the United States. Your
committee cannot refrain from calling
attention TO an Obvious deduction from