The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-25
MORGAN ON THE BIG CANAL
The Senator Speaks in Favor Of the
Nicaragua Scheme.


out-Estimates on the Cost of Con-
struotion.
Birmingham, Ala, April 4-In re-
sponse to an invitation Of the Combined
| Commercial Organization of Alabama,
Senator John r. Morgan, chairman of the
foreign relations committee of the Sem
alto, addressed that body to-day on the
subject of the Nicaraguan canal. Every
| city Of Importance, and every county in
the state was represented In the
audience, in addition to about 5000 inter-
ested listeners, His remarks began
with very complimentary refer.
ence to Gov. Jones for the
lively interest he manifested
In this project in an address he delivered
here to-day. He said that he was here TO
ask his constituency to assist IN complet-
ing the work, not in inaugurating it, not
to submit to tax for that purpose, or TO
persouai contributions that ne wanted
nothing but their united, emphatic in
| fuence and voices in favor OF the con-
struction of the canal, now that,the har-
vest is ripe for the sickle.
After referring to the committal of the
! consideration Of the subject of construct
| ing the canal to the committee on foreign
| affairs to be discussed in secret, for
| diplomatic reasons, he said the question
had been often debated in the private
! counsels executive and diplomatic cham-
bers of all the great governments Of modern
| times that 1t had been the dream of
| France under the first and third Ma
| poleon that II had been the dream of
| Great Britain under many kings and of
| many others for the smaller states of
| Europe to gain the honor, profit and ad-
vantage in the construction OF a ship
| transit across the Isthmus of Darien.
TWO IMPORTANT TREATIES.
He told how Great Britau had gone so
far as to adopt one of the chiefs Of the Mos
quito Indians In that territory and
having him crowned king for the ultimate
| purpose of gaining control over the coun-
| try and controlling any commercial adj
vantage that would result from the con-
struction of this ship transit; that this
resulted In the ratification OF what is
known as the Clayton-Bulwer treaty be-
tween Great Britlan and Nicaragua, and
with the formation in 1856
| Of treaty with Nicaragua
which Is an exact copy Of the one Great
Britain had negotiated the year before,
which forever did away with the possi-
bility of an objection to the citizens of the
United States having an agreement with
| Nicaragua by which q canal for the
passage Of ships of the heaviest burden
might be constructed across the Isthmus
of Darien. He dwelt for some time
| upon the great advantages the construc-
! tion of this canal would be to the world
at large, to say nothing of the incompre-
hensible advantage resulting to the peo-
| pie of the United States, and especially
to the people of the state Of Alabama.
PRESSURE ON CONGRESS NEEDED.
"I wish to say to you now" said Mr..
| Morgan with great feeling "that there is
but one thing wanting, and L regret TO
say that 1t is wanting, for the
completion of this canal, by which
| mean the passage OF an act
OF congress which will secure its
completion inside of five years,
| and that one thing is what you
possess, In common with the con-
stituencies Of the different states of
the American union, and that is, the pres
sure of your demand upon your represent
atives in congress that they shall cast
aside timidity, that they shall rely upon
your strength and your faith and your
| confidence, and have regard for your
opinion in the support of this act of con-
gress which is to complete this work.
! TApplausel
TENDERFEET IN CONGRESS.
"They have among their frontiersmen
| Of the west class of men, generally new
comers, who are called tenderfeet They
are men who are afraid to speak out who
are afraid TO take responsibility, who are
afraid to expose themselves to any danger,
who have not enterprise, and little faith
in their convictions after they are formed.
| III ~ are called tenderfeet, and congress
al Tnds with them, and the reason they
are shere, is that they are not held up to
| their responsibilities They will shrink
/ trnG Garsa a Aaf NJ Nsyha
! think their reelection is jeopardized
rather than to obey your positive COM
| mands upon such a subject. They expect
| you to pioneer them TO success"
In contrast with this condition of many
in the House. he referred to the unshrink-
ing determination Of the senators in sup
port Of this measure, that he thought he
could safely assure the people that the
| bill, which is now on the calendar OF the
Senate and ready to be called up for ac-
tion at any time, would be passed by q
majority approximating two-thirdS
vote.
THE SENATE COMMITTEES REPORT.
Senator Morgan then went into an ex-
| PLANTATION of why this matter had been
| acted on secretly, and when reported
| back to the Senate with the recommends
tion that IL pass, 10 show that there was
| no politics in the bill. The first report Of
! the committee was signed unanimously
! by John Sherman of Ohio, George f.
| Edmands Of Vermont, William p. Frye
OF Maine, William NJ. Evarts Of New
| York, ]. N. Dolph Of Oregon, John t.
| Morgan Of Alabama, Joseph y. Brown of
| Georgia. Henry 3. Payne of Ohio, and
j. b Eustis OF Alabama, thus clearing IL
| entirely Of the possible insinuation that
| IL was q political measure
"Those," he said "are not light names,
and the men whose signatures were ap-
pended to that report staked their repu-
tation not only upon the truth of the
statements therein contained, but also
upon the feasibility and advisability of
recommending this great work, and both
great political parties have since in
dorsed the measure in national conven-
tion."
COST OF CONSTRUCTION.
In reference to the expsnso of the con-
struction OF this ship transit across the
lsthmus of Darien, Senator Morgan made
every full reference TO and comparison
with the Suez canal He said that the
best engineering talent in the world had
made numerous and exhaustive surveys
Of the different routes, and had made
their reports on the possible cost, and
after all these, the first bill had been pro-
pared limiting its cost to &l00, 100000,