New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-29
RCSSIA'S DE LESSEPS.

GENERAL ANNENKOTFs FRAUDS 4;
GREAT PUBLIC UNDERTAKINGS
THE GREAT ENGINEER OF THE TRANs-cAsrIAN
AID TRANS SIBERIAN RAILROADS AND
HIS METHODS HOW HE WAS
PROTECTED TILL TIE
CRASH CAME.
Colossal undertakings frequently unfit the
brilliant men to whom belongs the credit OF their
conception end Of their execution for the SOBER
consideration Of financial questions The very
graz deur Of their enterprises serves TO lmOue
them with such a degree Of enthusiasm that
they often become incapable OF conceding inc
requisite amount OF Importance to the ways ana
means for the accomplishment of the work. ana
consequently they become involved in monetary
difficulties Instead of facing the latter boldly
they ar prone to resort to methods that are. 10
say the least. unsavory in order 10 extricate
themselves from their troubles. or at any rate
TO tide them over until the completion Of their
enterprise. when they expect that the mag
rifc,nce of the success viii blind the people to
ANYTHING that there may have been unsatis-
factory in the devices brought into play in or
der TO achieve their ed.
Every one who has taken the pains to &C
ouaint himself with the history 81 tho construc-
ton Of the Suez Canal is aware that in add
ton TO facts which are placed on record and
which are exceedingly unpleasant reading there
are many ugly features IN connection with mat
magnificent undertaking which do not even bear
being put into print There were colossal steals
brides Of fantastic magnitude. and not only
tens Of thousands Of Egyptian feilaheen IVes
sacrificed. but likewise white men put out Oh the
way in order to secure their silence concerning
this or that piece Of villany. So great, however
was the popular enthusiasm aroused through
out the civilized world by the completion anu
opening Of the Suez Canal, which was justly
described as one OF the grandest undertakings
OF the century. that all criticisms as to the
means employed 10 achieve that success were
silenced. Il was the same. though in minor
degree with the Corinth Canal. an undertaking
in which many lost their fortunes. others their
lives. and yet others their regulations
Intoxicated by the adulation which he re-
ceived in connection with the Suez Canal Ola
Ferdinand de Lesseps. despite the entreates OF
his two eldest sons, plunged into the weHhl8h
hopeless enterprise Of cutting through the
Jsthnus OF Panama Emboldened by the i'm
punity which he had enjoyed in connection with
the Suez Canal he resorted TO similar methods
OF obtaining funds and Of binding the authori-
ties as we'll as the public to financial lrregu-
larities. Finally, however the scandal became
SO great that justice was forced TO interfere
with the result that the entire undertaking coll
lapsed. Thousands upon thousands OF stock
holders were ruined, while the corruption po-
litcal. administrative and journalistic which
was revealed was OF such an undreaned Of
-
totter on its foundations. and TO destroy the
confidence Of the people in almost everything
and everybody that had retained their respect
Had De Lesseps been permitted only to complete
his ditch across the sthmus the magnhcence Of
the achievement would doubtless have relegated
10 oblivion all that there was discreditable and
dishonest IN the methods that he had used 10
attain his end and he would have enjoyed the
same immunity as in connection with the SueZ
Canal. But, as it was, he died a disgraced and
ruined man, under indictment for felony and
was preserved from actual imprisonment only
by the chivalry OF his eldest son, Charles, the
most honest OF men, who took upon his own
shoulders the entire responsi bility OF his aged
fathers financial shortcomings and without a
murnur offered himself q scapegOat. and
did time" in the penitentiary in the place OF
him who used at one time 10 be styled lie
Grand Francois" How terrible was the fall Of
the latter may be gathered from the fact that
whereas as just stated. the Suez Canal is glori-
fed as the grandest feat Of engineering Of the
nineteenth century. the very name Of Panama
has become synonymous throughout the civil
lied world for everything that is colossally dis
honest and disastrous in a financial sense.
A RUSSIAN ANALOGUE or DE LEssEPs.
=. 7 refer 70 the character OF old Ferdinand
de Lessons. and to its sad close. # is because