Evening star., 1898-11-08
THE PANAMA CANAL.
New French Corporation Organized
to Complete the Work

! rom the Engineering News.
As some Of our readers NAV recall after
the Panama bubble burst in 1870. and work
on the canal came 20 a standstill the COM
panys affairs were placed by the courts in
the hands Of a ''liquidator' or receiver rs
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. According to in
formation from official sources, this new
company was organized by leading bankers
and financiers of France who had no con-
nection whatever with the old company
and by them working capital of 81. 800 oo
was subscribed. In taking over the old
company no cash was paid for its assets:
but the holders of stock in the ola corn-
pany are entitled to receive a certain mart
OF the reSiduary profits Of the new cnn-
pany from the working Of the canal. should
there be such profits, after tho charges on
the securities 10 be issued by the new com
pany have been provided for
From all We can learn, this new tconpany
mas devoted itself almost entirely % the
task of Investigating the engineering prob
lens at Panama and determining in the
most thorough manner the best solution OF
these problems. De Lessons propositiop
for a sea-level canal was abandoned IL will
he remembered even before the collapse of
the old company. but the details of a new
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 of the new
company.
The detailed plans thus prepared were
submitted first TO a board of French con-
sulting engineers, which included represen
tattves Of the receiver of the old company.
After this board had further elaborated
the project and approved it in detail an In
ternational engineering commission was
appointed which again went over the en-
tire project, visiting and inspecting TIE
works on the Isthmus. and examining the
engineering problems involved.
Gen. Abbott's paper in this issue OF En-
gineering News is the first publication 10
be made anywhere respecting the work of
this commission and the conclusions which
they reached. According to this paper. a
satisfactory plan has been developed for
the control of the Chagres, and the water
supply of the summit level. Additional
work at the Culebra cut has shown that
the sliding of its SIDES can be successfully
controlled. The work actually done by he
old company is estimated to have been
equivalent to an expenditure Of about Sla5.-
0OoooO, and the cost of the work remaining
to be done to complete the canal ready for
traffic is set at 800 O.O00up0 The time re-
quired to complete the canal is apparently
fixed by the excavation remaining 10 be
done or the great Culebra cut. and is set
a ten years. The interest charges the
companys securities during the period are
apparently not included in the above $780,
o00Oo0, and will increase the actual cost OF
the canal by one-fourth or more.
Gen. Abbots paper makes little or no al
lusion to the financial status. prospects or
plans of the new company. which is the
question of greatest practical interest just
now: and the company's representatives In
this country are not authorized to mako
any statement as to its future policy. ex-
oept to say that no governmental aid will
be asked from any source.
From all the information that we can
CLEAN. however we believe that a few
months hence, when the complete report of
the international engineering commission
is made public, effort will be made to
raise funds for the completion of the work;
and it seems quite probable that the pro-
ject will be placed in so favorable light
before European financiers that the re-
quired amount may be obtained.
This report of the engineering commits
son we are informed. will probably be
ready for publication before the close of
the year. ard will be accompanied by re-
ports prepared by eminent French s.atis-
ticians (among them NJ. Leroy -Beaulieu)
upon the probable traffic and earning power
of the canal. This is matter which has
been heretofore lightly passed over, both
by De Lesseps and the Nicaragua canal
promoters, and the results OF a careful sta
tistieal investigation will be awaited with