St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-27

ever, secure postponement of action
until another commission could be
sent down to the isthmus to look
over the ground and report on the
present prospect of the enterprise.
Contrary to the general expectation,
this report is said to be distinctly
unfavorable The gentlemen who have
been booming the canal project do
not appear, to Use the slang of the
day, to have been able to get next
to the members of the commission.
The quotations from their report
show 1t to be a moderate and sensi-
BILE document, satisfied to give the
plain facts.
These facts are that, however de-
sirabl it may be for this country, or
across Nicaragua, no data yet exist
on which to base even approximate
ly accurate estimates of cost, or of
the time required for completion. A
scientific survey of the route has not
been made. Those who have the
scheme in their custody have fol-
lowed the example of the projectors
of the Panama canal, who organized
their company, raised their capital
and went to work first, and then be-
gan to consider the engineering diff
ficulties afterwards. The result of
that policy was repeated bankrupt
cy and final failure. 1t would have
been exactly the same in the Mica
ragua case, had the canal jobberS
succeeded in getting a bond guar
antee without further investigation.
The commission says that many of
the practical propositions of the
canal company for construction
along the route are impracticable.
1t says that most of the work done
has been simply an examination of
the topography of the country, in
stead of a careful scrutiny of the
engineering conditions that the ca
nal must meet. 1t finds that some
of the works along the way cannot
be completed for less than four or
five times what the canal company
has reported to congress as maxi
mum cost. 1t says that, while the
canal company's estimate is under
$70,000,0G0 for the whole work, the
actual estimate should be over $780,
0,O00, or nearly double the sum.
In conclusion, it says that nothing
further should be done without an
extensive survey, and an eXamina-
ton requiring at least a year and
half for completion. Its principal
recommendation is that $350,000 be
appropriated for this purpose.
We can see now exactly, what
sober-minded people saw from the
beginning, in what situation this
country would have been placed had
it yielded to the representations of
the canal company and it's friends.
The guarantee of the nation would
$100,000,00O worth of bonds, on the
supposition that this amount was
largely in excess of the sum neces-
sary to put the canal in complete
working order. Then the money
would have been raised on the credit
of the government; and, after the
jobbers had pulled out their COM
missions, the balance of it would
have been sunk in a ditch about
half completed across the isthmus.
Then the government could have put
in $1,000 900 more, or lose what it
had already contributed 1t is the old
Pacific railroad subsidy game over
again. The wonder is that honest
men, from the president down, have
been taken by the glamour of the
scheme. This report takes the wind
out of the sails of those who hope
to push canal bond guarantee
through congress tn1S winter. In the
face of it, an honest man can scarce
ly do less than vote for the survey
and investigation recommended.
Then the country will have some
thing to go upon. If it concludes
that the Nicaragua canal ought to
be built, it can go ahead, build it,
own it, and pay for it, knowing in
advance just about what the bill
will be. AS for the great speculative
steal that has stood behind it all
theses years, we rejoice to believe
that this is dead beyond resurrec-