The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-05-22
NICARAGUA CANAL,
ITS VAST IMPoRTANCE TO THE
UNITED STATES.
The Advantage It Would be at
the Present Time If
Completed.

CHICAGO, May 21.-Lyman E. Coo
ley, the well-known engineer, who spent
two months Of last winter on the route
of the proposed Nicaragua Canal, in an
interview says:
LAS a bluff, if nothing more, the Mic
araguan Canal in operation to-day
would be worth $100.000O00 TO this
Government. Completed, it could per-
petuany say to all nations that our
fleets in a 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 Cadiz, we, with
the Nicaragua Canal, could reach the
Philippines before any fleet passing
through the Suez Canal could do so.
Mr.. Cooley has studied the journey
of the battleship Oregon around South
America with extraordinary interest,
since, if the Nicaragua Canal had been
completed, the Oregon might have been
with Sampson weeks ago, or in any
emergency any part of our navy could
be dispatched to the Pacific Coast with
the saving Of thousands of miles OF
journey.
1t costs at least sd, 100000 to con
struct this canal, or at the most
S133 100000; what would that amount
to, in view of the fact that at the pres
ent moment every city;on the Pacific
Coast could be destroyed by hostile
fleet before a battleship Of ours could
round Cape Horn. When we coulo
reach the ruins of San Francisco the
l.. How ord
we We're there they would be at Manila,
or at anchor safely at home.
Leaving aside all questions of 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 is 14,0OO
miles from San Francisco without the
Nicaragua Canal; that is, via the
Straits of Magellan, steamers leaving
New York are over 1900 miles from
San Francisco, and sailing vessels via
Cape Horn 1860 miles away. The
canal would shorten one route $500
miles. and the other route 10, 1913 miles.
A man-of-war sailing ten knots an
hour, or 240 miles per day, would save
in the one instance forty-four days, ana
in the other thirty-fOur days time. In
other words, if the Oregon is at Barba-
does, sixty-two days We're occupied by
her in reaching that point from San
Francisco via Cape Horn. With the
Nicaragua Canal completed, forty-toHr
DAYS time would have been saved over
one existing route and thirty-four
DAYS over the other. The journey from
San Francisco TO New York could be
made in sixteen days by a slow vessel,
and,in nine or ten days by a swift one.
Would not this be of value to the
Government in time of war, when so
much depends on the rapidity with
which our vessels must be moved from
point to point?"
Mr.. Cooley also said that the charges
through the canal would be less than
the wages paid the men on the vessel
and the coal consumed in trip around
Cape Horn.
In conclusion, Mr. Cooley said: I'VE
could create a naval station at Lake
Nicaragua second to none in the world,
and from which our vessels could pass
for the protection of either of our coasts
with a rapidity unequaled. The Span
ish war and the journey of the Oregon
will awaken the general public to the
necessity of having the canal as moth
ing else could have done. Once built,
the canal from strategic or COM
mercial point of view means that our
flag and our shipping will enter every
port in the world, and we will be the
maritime power of the twentieth cen
tl1rV"