The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-23
AN ENGINEERS OPINION.

Senator Turpie took the lead in the
opposition to the Morgan bill, which
provides for the construction of an
isthmian canal in the name of and
under the concessions obtained by the
Maritime company.
The senator does not wish to be I'M
derstood as antagonistic to the canal
project, but he is seriously opposed to
the government having anything to do
with the Maritime company.
The Engineering News is of the same
opinion. It does not regard the passage
of the Morgan bill as conducive to the
! speedy construction of a Nicaragua
canal 1t holds that the acquisition of
the Maritime company's concession will
give the United States nothing, either
as respects the Clayton-Bulwer treaty,
or its relations to Nicaragua, that it
cannot better and more quickly attain
by direct diplomatic negotiation
through its own accredited agents.
| 1t describes the situation under the
Morgan bill as follows:
The United States is asked to pay
! S., 100000 more or less, for a franchise,
/ validated on its face by transfer to
! the government, and which, in the Sec
/ ond place, has been declared by the
/ state that granted it to be forfeited by
! its own limitation at date only nine
months distant. The present holders
| of the franchise claim, indeed, that for
1 various technical reasons, which we
cannot take space to enumerate, they
/ have right to an extension Of the
/ time allowed for construction; but
! they have not obtained such an extern
/ sion.
Suppose congress passes the Nor
gan bill and the United States pur-
chases this concession. Shall this great
and powerful nation then compel Near
aqua, by force or by threat, to reverse
its formal action terminating the Mar
! thine Canal company's concession? OF
! course, we can do this if we choose, but
! it would be an act for which every
self-respecting American would blush
with shame. Nicaragua is an independ-
| ent state, insignificant it is true, but
nevertheless entitled to the same just
/ treatment at our hands as any other
! friendly power. 1t is not long ago that
we raped England over the knuckles
to remind her that might did not make
right. We then established the princi-
| pie that a stronger power may not die
| tate to a weaker, when the latter Of
| fers to submit its case to arbitration
by disinterested parties. Shall we use
compulsion in Nicaragua, when we
compelled England to refrain from
compulsion in Venezuela?
We believe that there can be but
one answer to this question in the mind
of any intelligent American. If we
| purchase the franchise which Nicara-
! qua has declared forfeited, we owe it
to ourselves to treat her claims with
/ the same respect that we would if they
were made by France, or Germany or
( Russia. If Nicaragua appeals to arbi-
tration to decide whether her annul-
ment of the Maritime Canal company's
! franchise was warranted, to arbitra
ton it must go. In other words, this
! government must take up the dispute
of the Maritime Canal company before
some international tribunal, and must
go into all the petty details of the va
rious negotiations between Nicaragua
and the canal company, extending over
a period of a dozen years. The result
! of such an arbitration must at best be
| doubtful, for, as we have seen above,
| Nicaragua had, it is extremely proba-
bic, a legal right to terminate the Mari
] time company'S charter. The time such
an arbitration would occupy can be eS-
timated by recalling the fact that the
arbitration between Great Britain and
! Venezuela has not yet reached an end.
Surely, then, the passage of the Nor
] gan bill is not the way to hasten actual
! construction of the canal. On the con-
trary, the purchase of the Maritime
Canal company's charter can only land
| us in q maze of complications, of which
no man can discern the outcome. The
excuse which has been given for push
/ ing the Morgan bill before congress in
4 advance even Of the report of the en-
cheering commission is that haste is
| demanded in the work of actual con-
struction. The flimsy nature of this
excuse is now apparent.
And it winds up with an observation
that the quicker congress makes clear
that it is not in the business of bar
gaining with concession mongers, no
matter what their political or financial
backing, the more certainly will the
public confidence in the governments
ability to handle the many grave prob
lens now pressing. upon its attention be
confirmed.