The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1897-01-23
ROANOKE, VA, SATURDAY, JANUARY %, 1897

governments or TO foreign powers and
that article 53 provides that any contra
ventlon of the stipulations shall entail n
forfeiture of the contract. He then as
serts that the bills before Congress effect
a transfer to the government of the
united States. making this government
the absolute owner. He points out other
1acts nc variance with the contract, and
proceeds to say:
Among the benefits which the Mica
ragua reserves to herself is six per cent.
OF the shares, bonds, certificates, or such
other obligations as the company may is
sue with view to raising capital Not
withstanding the fact that the company
has made several issues it has not fulfilled
It's obligations, and as the bills say moth
ing on this particular part, the securities
Will either be lost in the new form of the
enterprise, or would be liable to trouble.
some and tedious litigation.
Two OF the bills in question have al.
ready been reported by II committee so
that they may finally exclude the others.
Nothing, however, is established in them
with regard to the shares that would be.
long to Nicaragua; and it might happen,
owing to this, that Nicaragua would
get none ut all. If the company was to
issue hundred and fifty millions of dol
lars worth OF bonds in order to meet the
cost of work, which bonds would have to
be consi aered as capital or be left out of
contract, Nicaragua would be entitled to
SIN per cent. in virtue Of stipulations:
but the bills leave no door open to such
possibility. Nor do they allow her any
participation in the purchase which is to
he made to pay for the work already
done''
He calls attention to the fact that the
contract calls for completing the canal
within three years, and says that the term
expired Il long time ago; but the com.
pany, notwithstanding, has made no pre-
tense of meeting that obligation, or OF
definitely adjusting the compensation
which 1T ought To pay in order to be dis.
charged therefrom. The bills establish
nothing on this other point, and Nicara-
gua's rights in this matter might thus
be annulled i'll consequence Of their ST.
lence.
BY the plan involved in the new form,
which the bills devise for the enterprise,
the present company is eXtingushed, and
nothing remains of it in it's relations
with the enterprise, save the shado'v of n
personality represented by vote in the
board of directors of eleven members,
which. in its relations with Nicaragua, it
may always claim full personality as the
holder OF the concession, although hav-
ing none OF the means necessary to emu.
bic it to meet its obligations.
Finally, it is to be observed that, while
the bills contravene and set Mt naurht
stipulations of the contract, they do net
state whether the remaining ones shall
remnin i'll force or not, although among
these latter there are very many which
are of great Importance to Nicaragua in
particular and to Central America in gen.
eral.
Mr.. Roderiguez says he does not cues
ton the good faith of the authorities in
the various bills, and adds that he is i'm
PEELED in the course which he is pursuing
with the hope Of protecting just rights.
The document closes in the following
words:
1T seems evident that the company is
unable to raise money to fulfil it's con
tract unless the United States of America
furnishes it, and since that contract ex-
cludes the possibility of attaining that
result, the undersigned, having been
duly authorized to do so, proposes to his
eXcellcncy, the Secretary of State, that
the Two governments, relying upon the
favorable disposition of the Government
OF the United States, shall come to Il di-
rect understanding OH The subject on the
basis of the Iavala, Frelinghuysen ire .ty,
with such notifications as may be agreed
upon, and endeavorng to reach Il lust
arrangement with the Maritime Canal
Company, of nicaragua, that it may re-
nounce concession with conditions it is
unable TO iuliill.n
WANTED-A secondhand No. q Rem.