Evening star., 1898-11-07
THE NICARAGUA CANAL.
Whether by Private Capital or the
Government 1t is Assured.

whether by Private Capital or the
Government 1t Is Assured.
Ex Senator Warner Miller in the Forum.
Columbus died a disappointed man be-
cause he had failed to find new route to
the Indies. His ships were stopped by the
impossible barrier of continent the exist
ence of which he had not dreamed Of. 1t
remained for the adventurer Balboa, max
ing his way across Darien in 1913, to be
the first to look out upon the waters of the
Pacific ocean and to realize by how narrow
a strip of land the Atlantic was separated
from the Pacific. From that time to the
present there has been an ever-increasing
desire to cut through this barrier, and thus
to connect the waters of the two great
oceans and to reduce the sailing distance
around the world by more than one-third of
the circumference of the globe
Inc question Is frequently heard, why
is the building of the canal not undertaken
by private capital or by the government?'
AS to the former, the writer has said that
the Panama fiaSco and scandal have been
the chlef causes in preventing private capi-
tai from taking up this enterprise in way
energetic enough to insure its speedy COM
pletion.
The reason that the government has done
nothing more than to make repeated sur
Feys and reports is to be found in two
facts: First. in matter of this kind our
government moves only when pressed to
do so by the demands of a great majority
OF the citizens. 1t has been no mean task
Tor those who have advocated the construc-
uon or the canal to convince a majority of
seventy millions of people that it ought to
pc undertaken by the government. But the
nnaI argument in the advocacy of the
measure has been furnished by the trip of
the Oregon. and this has rendered unneces-
sary any further efforts in the matter of
educating the people on this question
Ihe second reason why the government
mas not acted is found in the fact that the
representatives of great capital invested in
our transcontinental railroads have believed
mat the construction of a canal across the
lsthmus would greatly injure their proper
ties. Acting upon that belief, they have
used the power of their corpora tions in
every way possible to prevent congression-
al action. Once a bill for its con-
structlon passed the Senate, but failed to
receive considera ton in the House The
influences above referred to have ALWAYS
been able to prevent joint action of the two
houses at the same session of Congress- A
powerful lobby has been maintained at
Washington during all these wears: and
sklllful statistical writer's have been en-
pioyed to prove to the American people
through the columns of the press and mag
aZlneS, that the canal is unnecessary either
as means OF defense or in the interests of
commerce. and that. If it were constructed
le" vessels would ever pass through it,
thus making it a stupendous commercial
failure
After years of waiting / am satisfied that
the position in which this enterprise stands
today, not only before the American people,
put before the whole commercial world is
such that its speedy accomplishment is as
sured. either by the government of the
United States or by private capital