St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-23
BENT ON PLUMBER.

The Nicaragua canal jobbers have
yielded every point except the one
which is the essence and soul of their
scheme; namely. guarantee of the
company's bonds by the United States.
The bill which has been agreed upon
finally by the house subcommittee is
essentially one for the construction Of
the canal by the United States, with
the proviso that the financing of the
project shall be in private hands. OF
all the conclusions that should have
been reached, this is the only one that
tention to open the door to unlimited
boodling. AS the scheme is now drawn
up, the canal is to be built by three
engineers of the United states army.
The United States government is to
have majority perpetually in the
board Of directors. 1t is also to re-
ceive an amount of stock equal to the
total of the bonds issued Everything
Is placed in its hands except the rails
ing of the money. The vital point of
the bill is that the government is to
guarantee the payment of $1OO, 900 900 of
bonds,
This is, as we have said. a palpabIe
proof Of an intended steal. If the
project is on a basis that will make it
commercially so successful as to take
care Of these bonds without allowing
them to become q charoa ,,,1op tho fad
eral treasury, then the government
guarantee is useless. If it is not, then
the people of the United States will
be obliged to pay principal and inter-
est of the cost of the canal. These are
the only two possibilities. In one case
a government guarantee means a pres
ent of that much cash to the indie
fatlgable promoters of the scheme In
the other case, it is of no value what
ever and need not be asked for.
There is not now and never has been
single argument by which this guar
antee could be justified. 1t is less
defensible than ever now that it is pro-
posed to make the enterprise prac-
tlcally government affair. If the
federal engineering officers are to build
the canal, and if federal appointees are
to fill the board of directors, and if the
United States Is to be responsible for
the operation of the canal, and for
maintaining its neutrality, then pri-
Vate interest should have no finger in
the pie. The federal treasury ought to
foot the bills. There is not the slight
est difterence in our financial RESPONSE
olllty whether we guarantee the paw
ment Of $10000O,00O of the company's
bonds or issue $1,000 900 of the bonds
Of the United States at the outset TO
complete the work. If we are going
TO DO anything at all, especially under
the arrangement which has now been
arrived at, we ought to take over
the whole affair, and relegate the in
dividual spectators concerned to the
back row.
The suspicion which the bill agreed
upon arouses is made certainty when
we compare this action with the report
investigate the accuracy of the COM
pany's estimates of cost of construction
1t must be remembered that these gen.
tlemen announce that the actual cost
will be, probably, nearly double the
f1gure heretofore named, and that the
engineering difficulties of the work
| have been either underestimated or AL
together lost sight Of In a word. the
Nicaragua canal project, from both the
engineering and the financial point of
view, is now precisely where the Pan
anna canal scheme was when the neo-
pie OF France were urged to pour
millions of francs into its Golfers
against the advice and representations
or those who have taken pains to in
Vestigate. Unless this commission is
entirely mistaken, and there is no rea-
son to suppose that probable. the eov-
ernment would certainly be Obliged TO
pay every cent of principal and interest
or the bonds guaranteed, and then find
Itself possessed of a half-completed
work, which it must finish at it's own
expense This is the Pacific raiIroa d
subsidy scheme over again on larger
scale, and with a more audacious and
unolushing programme Even a con-
gress as profligate as the one now in
session has shown itself to be ought
to hesitate before approving a project
so outrageous