The evening times., 1898-05-23
WHAT NIGHT HAVE BEEN.
Asvantsses Of Z. Niearasue cansl,
- NaA one Been Nanax. -.

A0youte8eD OF . N1eokoxu9 CnMoIs
NaA One Been Hapey.
Chicago. Ill, Nay a-Lyman Il. Cooley.
= well-known engineer. who spent two
months Of last year ON the route OF the
proposed Nicaragua Canal in an inter-
view says:
AS bluff. u nothing more. the Nica-
ragua Canal in operation today would be
worth 1000 1000 to this Government.
Completed, II could perpetually say to all
nations that our fleets in moment Of
necessity could command the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans as no other fleets in
the world would be able to do. In a race
for Manila, we starting at New York and
Spain at Cadix. we with the Nicaragua
Canal could reach the Philippines before
any fleet passing through the Suex Canal
could do so."
Mr.. Cooley has studied the journey Of
the battieship Oregon around South
America with extraordinary interest,
since, II the Nicaragua Canal had been
completed. the Oregon might have been
with Sampson weeks ago, or, In an emer-
.gency, any part of our Navy could be
dispatched to. the Pacific coast with the
saving of thousands OF miles Of journey.
T. 0-@@>S
1T cost s5l.0o0.0o0 to construct this canal.
or, at the most, sl3a. a.000. co., what would
that amount to in view Of the fact that at
the present moment every city on the
Pacific coast could be destroyed by a
hostile feet before any battleship Of ours
could even round Cape Horn? When we
could reach the ruins of San Francisco
the enemy would be at Hawaii. and when
we were there they would be at Manila
or safely at home.
Leaving aside all questions OF the value
to US OF the canal as a powerful agency
for developing our commerce. look at its
construction from war point OF view.
The Atlantic coast will always be the
concentration point for the cream Of our
Navy.
New York city il 14.000 miles from San
francisco, without the Nicaragua Canal:
that is, via the Straits Of Magellan, steam
vessels leaving New York are over 1900
miles from San Francisco. and sailing
vessels via Cape Horn l5.e0o miles away.
The canal would shorten one route S,26s
miles and the other route 10, 753 miles.
"A man-of-war sailing ten knots per
hour, or 240 miles per day. would save In
the one instance forty-four days. and In
the other thirty-four days time. In other
words II the Oregon is at Barbados. sixty
two days were occupied by her in reach
lnB tu8k point IIOm odu Sio
Cape Horn. With the Nicaragua Canal
complete forty-four days time would
have been saved over one existing route
and thirty-four days over the other.
"The journey from San Francisco tc
New York could be made In eighteen
days by slow vessel or ten or twelve
by a swif. one. Would not this be OF
value to the Government when SO much
depends on the rapidity with which our
vessels must be moved from point to
point? Possessing the Nicaragua Canal
we could prevent any navy In the world
from traversing the Horn for the purpose
of attacking us east or west"
Mr.. Cooley said the charges through th4
canal would be less than the wages paid
the men on the vessels and the coal con-
sumed In trip around Cape Horn
1--WE. could create a naval station at
Lake Nicaragua second to none in the
world" Mr.. Cooley said. "and from
which our vessels could pass for the pro-
lection of either of our coasts with a
rapidity unequaled. The Spanish war and
the journey of the Oregon will awaken the
general public to the necessity of having
the canal as nothing else could have done.
Once built. the canal. from strategic or
a commercial point of view. means that
our flag with our shipping will enter
every port in the world. and we will be
the maritime power of the twentieth GEN.
tury."