The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-07-13
Completion of the Panama
Canal is Now in Sight.
ROthschilds Will Furnish the
Necessary Funds.
A BIG FOUR COMBINE.
Z. s. Invited to Join France,
England and Germany
In Maintaining Perpetual Nue.
trality of the Big Ditch.

tralIty or the Big Ditch.
New York, July 13.-A special to the
Journal and Advertiser from Washing
ton says:
An understanding has been reached
between France and Great Britain look
ing to the completion and control OF the
Panama canal. Germany was invited
to participate, but owing to the Greco
Turkish complication, her assent has
been delayed, though it will undoubt-
edly come in time. Now an effort is be-
ing made to learn if the United States
Will come in and form quadruple al
lance for the completion and neutrali-
"a tiOn of the canal
Should such an alliance be effected, il
would be the most powerful for peace
the world has ever known. Fourteen
hundred and SeVenty-seven naval YES
sells, mounting 1928 guns and manned
by IFS, ,685 seamen, would stand for the
protection of the canal under the flags
of the four great powers named. They
rine tonnage of Is, 1885, ,956, nearly three
quarters of the worlds shipping,
against 6,71S,676 for all the rest of the
world.
Nathan Appleton of Boston, who has
represented the interests of the Panama
Canal company in the United States eV-
er since the palnly days OF De LeSsep'S
extravaganza and the gross corruption
of the canal ring in Paris, has just call
ed upon President Mckinley in compa-
ny with Secretary Long, who acted as
his intTOducer, if not his indOrser. 1t is
not understood that Mr.. Appleton has
done more as yet than present a brief
argument against the feasibility of the
Nicara qua canal and to show the bene-.
fit which would come to the United
States by having huge contracts for
construction work thrown into the hands
of American contractors.
1t is known that inquiries in this di-
| rection have been quietly prosecuted
for several months. The tremendous
work and wonderful improvements in
dredging machinery brought about by
the Chicago drainage canal have open
| ed the eyes of the directors of the new
Panama Canal company to the advan-
tage of strong American alliance
1t is part Of the huge scheme to Sc
cure powerful American interests
| through these contracts to such an ex-
| tent that the Nicaragua canal project
can be thrust aside
The scheme of the quadruple alliance
| had it's inception in the wonderful
| financial brain which engineered the
Suez canal, by which a majority of its
stock came into possession of Great
Britain.
This is the brain of the house of
J Rothschilds For several years this
magnificent coup of high finance has
been maturing. The stock and bonds in
| the Panama Canal company have been
! depressed to so low a figure that they
actually represent no tangible value ia
the work already done upon the canal.
The most recent estimates of careful
and conservative engineers OF the high
est integrity have shown that the ca
nal can be completed with locks
through the Culebra cut at a sum not
to exceed 20 millions pounds-in round
figures $100 900, 900.
On this a dividend earning capacity
of four per cent could be predicated on
the fresh capital and the stock in the
old company at it's present valuation,
provided that the millions of bonds
nkown to have been fraudulently taken
possession of by the canal ring and it's
accomplices can be recalled. The act
ual financial participation of the Uni
ted States in this new scheme is not
looked for. though it would be accepted
with pleasure. No more will the gov
ernments of France, Germany and
Great Britain be directly interested in
a financial way. The capitalists of
London, Paris and Berlin viii take all
the new stock which tnay be issued.
leaving the diplomatic questions in
VolVed to be settled by the four pow
ers represented. There is nothing in
the concession from the government Of
Colombia to prevent such an arrange
ment, which in fact, will be welcomed
by that government as securing the
completion of the canal with the least
delay possible.
Work has been quietly progressing on
the canal, particular in the neigh
borhOod of the Culebra cut for the past
year and a half. Some 5000 employees
are at work and the whole canal plant
has been kept in excellent condition
on the east side, and at point has
the work been allowed to deterioriate.
There has been a good deal of clever di-
plomatic work done in Washington
during the last year to prevent the
Nicaragua canal scheme from being
carried through congress. Mexico, Col
Ombia and Costa Rica have been par
ticularly active in their opposition. The
dispute over Salinas bay and the mouth
of the San Juan was one of the obstac-
les raised to block progress on the
unfavorab bic report of the engineering
commission by President Cleveland had
its weight. Nicaragua sent one of her
ablest diplomats, j. D. Brodiguez, to
Washington to see if treaty coSld be
formulated, which would insure the ac-
tive participation of the United States
in the construction of her canal. 1t did
not take him long to discover that he
| had undertaken a hopeless task and he
| at the prospect.
The United States have always been
| extremely Jealous of anything looking
toward European control of Isthmian
| transit The Panama Railway COM
pany an American institution, char
tered and managed in the United States
although it's stock is an asset of the
Panama Canal company. While France
was permitted to secure the privilege of
building and operating a canal under
a concession to Lieutenant Napoleon
still maintained between Colombia and
| the United States.
Atchison Strengthening Her Team.
| A4chison July 13-Manager Mitchell
l,ol For- A 7-f 1nT1f