El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-02-02
I'HE NICARAGUA CANAL
A Crisis In Relation to the En-
terprise.
WHY GREAT BRITAIN OPPOSES 1T

The Drink Question In Congress-Eforts
of Temperance illustrated Jour
naIism In New York and Its Cost-WelI-
mans Gossip.
| WASHINGTON, Jan. 60 Special. -
Among the important foreign matters
which President Mckinley will probably
| have to attend to is the negotiation of a
new treaty between this country and Mica
ragua and Costa Rica, with a view to the
construction of the Nicara qua canal. There
arrived in Washington u few weeks age
Minister Rodriguez, representing the new
ly formed Greater Republic of Central
America, composed of Nicaragua, Hon
duras and Salvador. Tew was recognized by
the PRESIDENT and has already distinguished
himself in the field of diplomacy. He sent
a letter to the state department., and
through Secretary Olney to the senate and
the country, in which he hit the Nicaragua
canal scheme as it is now pending in con-
gress a very hard blow. He pointed out
that the concession of the present canal
company had virtually lapsCd through fail
ure to comply with the requirements of the
contract made with the government of Mic
aragua.
A Crisis at Hand.
The country is therefore brought to a
crisis in its relations to the Nicaragua canal
enterprise. The people of Nicaragua are
apparently dissatisfied with the present
company. They have waited Il long time
for fulfillmcnt of the promises and Obliga-
tons of that company and for the canal
which was to be built so quickly, and their
patience is exhausted. They now propose
to stand upon their rights. They are tired
of dealing with the ineffective company,
and they want to treat directly with the
United States government. They want the
canal constructed, above all things, and
they think it can be done only by the Unit
ed States directly, without the Intervention
of company. In this their opinion coin
cides with that of many prominent public
men in this country.
There can be no doubt that popular
sentiment in the United States is in favor
of the construction of the Nicaragua canal.
But there is Il widespread feeling that the
government should build the canal directly
through its own officers and not through
u company. The people do not want an
other Pacific railway job on their hands.
They want no more Credit MObilier scan
dals. While the present company appears
to be composed of honorable men, there are
many senators and representatives who
think the principle q bad one. They object
to lending the credit of the United States
to what is primarily private enterprise.
If the thing is worth doing at all, they say,
it is worth doing directly by the nation.
For these reasons the probabilities are that
an effort will be made under the Mckinley
administration to secure treaties with Mic
araUga and Costa Rica, through which
the United States can go ahead and build
the canal. Senator Morgan and others
think the general arbitration treaty with
Great Britain may prejudice our interests
in the canal, but state department officials
tell me there is no danger of this.
Great Britain's Position.
Great Britain is not much in favor of
the canal. The reason is obvious. Itwould
add more to the commercial activity of the
United States in the western hemisphere
and increase the naval advantages of this
country. While the canal would have to
be perfectly neutral, though we were to
build it with our own money, we could
never hope to gain the consent of the ma
tons to placing Notifications upon it.
While we should not have the right to do
as we liked with our own and charge high
er rates of tolls to the ships of foreign
countries than were paid by our own YES
sells, Great Britain fears the commercial
effects of the opening up of this great high
way. The truth about it appears to be, the
British are Indifferent. The officials of our
state department deny that Great Britain
is scheming to gain any advantage in Mic
aragua through the arbitration treaty or
otherwise.
Cablegrams from London tell us that the
house of commons is having great deal of
excitement over the discovery that liquor
is sold in Westminster. 1t is contrary to
law, and there is a great ado about it
among the temperance people. But as the
members of the house of commons do not
propose to give up their tOddy, there is no
way out of it save to license the bars at
which they get their drinks. 1t is awk-
ward to call public attention to the pres
encc of drinking saloons in the Hobbies of
the houses of parliament, but any one who
knows the dubious habits of English pub
lie men may easily imagine they are not
going to reform themselves with any sur
prising suddenness.
From the Sublime to the Ridiculous.
Rev. Wilbur T. Crafts, who has promoted
the efforts recently made to suppress drink
ing in the house of representatives here
and in the senate, tells me the temperance
people are making concerted effort to stop
the rum traffic in every national and state
legislature in the world They have so far
succeeded in New Zealand and in Canada.
They are making Il desperate effort in Lon
don and in Washington, as well as in many
state capitals in the United States. As 1
wrote you some time ago, the house of rep
rescntatives here passed bill fOrbidding
the sale of liquor in the restaurant under
meath the house, but the senate has to
agree before the bill can become law. 1t
was rather cOwardly in the members of the
house to do this unless they were in ear
nest, for they must have known the senate
would not agree. he senate already has
a rule fOrbidding the sale of liquor in its
restaurant, but there is no penalty for VIC
lation of the rule, and no one seems willing
to enforce it.
Illustrated journalism is the fad of the
time. Most of the readers of this dispatch
are probably aware of the extent to which
metropolitan daily Papers now use pictures
to embCllish their pages, but l doubt if any
one will lie prepared to believe that there
is single newspaper establishment in
New York city which has in its employ 80
artists. Yet such is the fact. There are
half n dozen men on the evening edition,