The age-herald., 1898-11-11
THE PANAMA CAN AL.
New French Corporation Organized to
 Complete the Work.

From the Engineering News.
 As some of our readers may recall, after the Panama bubble burst in 1S9o and work on the canal came to a standstill, the companys affairs were placed by the courts in the hands of a ''liquidator," or receiver we should say, who remained in charge until 1894, when the concession and all the assets of the old company were transferred to the new company. Accord ing to information from official sources, this new company was organized by lead- ing bankers and financiers of France who had no connection whatever with the old company, and by them a working capital of $l3,e00,o00 was subscribed. In taking over the old company no cash was paid for it's assets; but the holders of stock in the old company are entitled to receive cer- tain part of the residuary profits of the new company from the working of the canal. should there be such profits, after the charges on the securities to be issued oy the new company have been provided for.
 From all we can learn, this new com pany has devoted itself almost entirely to the tf-l Of Investigating the engineering problems at Panama and determining in the most thorough manner the best solu- ton of these problems. De Lesseps' propo- sition for a sea-level canal was abandoned It will be remembered, even before the coiapse of the old company, but the details or nv location the height of its levels the lift of its locks, and, more important than all, the questions of the control of the Chagres river and of the sliding of the great earth mass at Culebra. had all to be investigated and settled by the engineers or the new company.
 The detailed plans thus prenared ware submitted first to a board of French con- suiting engineers, which included represen- tatiVes or the receiver of the old company. After this board had further elaborated the project and approved it in detail an international engineering commission, was appointed, which again went over the en- t1re project, visiting and inspecting the Works on the sthmus, and examining tbe engineering problems involved
 General Abbott's paper in this issue of Ehsineering News is the first publication .o pe 'haoe anywhere respecting the work oI tnis commission and the concusons Wnich they reached. According to thie paper, satisfactory plan has been devel- opeo TOT the control of the Chaeres and the n. water supply of the summit level. Ad- ul.ionai ., Ia work at the Culebra cut has shown s,m. .ms ehe siIuing or It's sides can be success ,uny controlled. The work actually done by the old company is estimated to ho..o oeen .'a- a equivalent to an expenditure of about $izo,WVOVO, and the cost of the worL ro - manning 10 be done to complete the canal Ieaoy Tor traffic is set at s10O 000 GOO. The 'iine required to complete the canal is an parentiy hxed by the excavation remaining ~ .o oe uone on the great Culebra cut. and is set at ten years. The interst charges on tne company's securities during the neriod are apparently not included in the above sloo.VooOO, and will increase the actual cost oh the canal by one-fourth or more
 Henerai AbDot's paper makes little or m aIiusion to the financial status. prosnects or pians or the new company, which is inc question or greatest practical interest just now ana the companys representatives in this country are not authorized to nnata any statement as to its future policy ero cept 10 say that no government aid vii, ha asked from any source.
 From all the information that we ran sIean, however, we believe that few months hence, when the complete renort ..e international engineering commits sion IS made public, an effort will he roodo
 to raise funds for the comnletion of .Se'
 WorK' and 1t seems quite probable that inc proJect Will be placed in so favorable a
 nsnt perore European financiers that tbe reguired amount may be obtained.
 rms report of the engineering commits
 sion, we are informed. will probably he
 .saoy TOT publication before the close of the year, and will be accompauied bv re- ports prepared by eminent French statis- .iciahs among them M. Leroy-Beaulieu) upon the probable traffic and earning power or the canal. This is a mattar which has been heretofore lightly passed over, both by De Lesseps and the Mica ragua canal promoters, and the results of
 care.ui statistical Investigation will he awaited with interest.