The record-union., 1893-01-14
FRENCHMEN OUTGENERALE ED.
DIPLOMATIC WORK OF AN AMERI-
CAN CORPORATION.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Efforts to Gain Control of the
Panama Railroad.

Special to the REooRD-UNIoN.
New YORK, Jan. 13.-The Pacific Mail
Steamship Company has outgeneraled the
Frenchmen who controlled the Panama
Railway, according to the WorLPs Wash
ington correspondent. In the course of a
three-column article he says: "Ever
since the failure of the great swindling
canal scheme, the shrewd operators who
comprise the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company have viewed with apprehension
the prospect of the future of the Panama
Railroad. The stock of the railroad had
passed from American control at very
exorbitant prices into the hands of the
canal ring. The franchise of the railway
gave it the exclusive right of transporta-
ton across the isthmus, and the canal
people were powerless without the pos
session of the property. The failure of
| the canal company left the railroad stock
almost the only valuable asset, and shares
numbering 63, ,534 out of total of 10000
secured by the canal people, had passed
into the hands of the receiver appointed
| in France. A Paris dispatch gave out the
| terms of the holding of the s., ,534 shares
exactly as the receiver of the canal COM
pany desired the public to believe. All
the stock of the Panama Railroad,' the
receiver will say, if he is pressed, is
out of the control of this office, except the
equity of redemption.
1.-THE actual fact is only 30,500 shares,
held by Cheramy, are in hook, as it were,
for the benefit OF the unpaid canal con-
TRACTORS. ha 9- IaI1 huy
and l,02l held by Boudet, are still practi-
cally unpledged and are at the disposal of
| the canal receiver. Hyronimous was
formerly Treasurer of the canal COM
pany; Boudet was the last Secretary
They are in the employ of the receiver
and have the Panama shares in their
names simply as means of safety. The
receiver is protecting the assets as long as
possible, protection which would be in
vestigated and upset very quickly any
where but in France. where, until very
recently, the energies of the Government
have been directed to cover everything
adverse to the canal ring.
'When the Pacific Mail formed pool
with the transcontinental railway lines to
regulate freight traffic by the way of the
isthmus, the Panama Railroad people
were placed in the position of complain
ants. They objected to the compara-
lively small cargoes of goods which the
steamships brought down from San Fran
cisco and New York. The Pacific Mail
Company received a large monthly sub
sidy from the railroads, and oftentimes
the boats from New York would arrive
at Colon half-laden, with the result of
greatly diminishing the transportation Of
the railroad.
1.-The pool was maintained until broken
by the withdrawal of the Atchson Com
pany. At present the Atchison, and
probably the Northern Pacific, are out.
but the Huntington lines, the Gould
interests and Jim Hill of ST. Paul are lust
as earnest in the desire to control the
isthmus traffic as formerly.
"a few months ago q representative of
the Pacific Mail went abroad to communi-
cate with Receiver Monchicourt. The
burden of his business was that the Pa
cific Mail wished a controlling interest
in the Panama Railroad. The shares
Leld by Hyronjmous would be enough to
secure majority of the stock of the vot-
ing list. The receiver was in position
where the conflicting interests influenced
him. If the control of the Panama Rail-
road passed from the canal, the latter
would be at the railroads mercy. Mon
chicourt has been hopeful all along of the
renewal of the franchise and of future
work on and the completion of the great
ditch. After much discussion Monchi-
court named the price for the stock.
which was not satisfactory to the diplo-
matist from New York. He was willing
to give all the stock was worth, however.
but the receiver would not change his
figures. In final interview with Mon
chicourt he informed the latter that he
(Monchicourt) would realize before long
that the value he attached to the stock
was fictitious; also that the receiver
would be glad to sell on the Pacific Maips
terms.
''In due season the diplomatist left
Paris and he set in action the machinery
of depression, and the prospects of the
canal scheme has been growing beauti-
fully less. The friendly aid of President
Harrison's Government was invoked and
obtained and State papers were drawn up
db lAS oedIC IOpd1 l4lISdlt duQ QlSDdCclGd
to Bogota.
"The situation of the canal affairs in
that republic was as follows: The canal
interests, through Monchicourt, had ap
piled for renewal or continuation of the
franchise for the construction of the bio
ditch, which was forfeited because of the
failure of the company to fulfill it's part of
the agreement. Secretary Foster informed
President Nunez that it would be ex-
tremely distasteful to the United States
Government if the franchise were con-
tinued, and Bushnell OF Nebraska bore
credentials giving him authority to speak
tor the Secretary of State. Although the
official interposition Of the United States
had been successfully invoked, Pacific
Mail interests deemed it expedient to use
little private diplomacy of its own.
representative was dispatched to the