The times., 1899-01-20
The Nicaragua =annI.

movement, ana. unfortunately, us enemies
/ are strong and willing 10 spend money
lavishly to defeat it, must and does admit
| that there is not project of a national
! character upon which the american peo-
/ pie are more united and determined. The
Nicaragua Canal question is one which re
I quires no argument at large. 1t tells its
] own story and presents its own argument
( with simple and unanswerable logic, SO
/ that any man intellectually capable of un-
derstanding the first outline map in a
: geography primer can understand it. All
of the opposition TO this great American
enterprise and necessity is now organized
J ami is being carried out upon the basis of
this knowledge
/ A few years ago the agents of the trans
/ continental railways in the Senate held
! ground with regard 10 the canal very diff
/ ferent 10 that they occupy today. Then
/ they lauded the purpose, admitted its glo
rious possibilities and conceded the domi-
mating control it would give the United
I States over the commerce of the world, if
once successfully constructed. They only
! regretted-for public contemplation-tha
/ the magnificent idea was but IA Utopian
dream. because the San Juan River never
! could be induced to stay within its banks,
and. if it could, tropical syndicate COM
posed of revolutions. fevers, and boa con-
strictors would for all time prevent prac
( teal engineering. digging and damming
/ Driven from that position by the incon-
/ trovortible evidence of succession of sci
! entit'c Investigations and surveys, they
now acknowledge the feasibility of the
work but take refuge behind a pretence
! of wanting some new kind-any kind-of
arrangement differing from that involved
in the Morgan bill, and they suddenly de-
! velop Il most strange respect for that ru-
ined monument OF American official cor
rupton and treachery. the Clayton -Bulwer
treaty-all in the interest of delay.
The country is not full enough of fools to
be al all confused by these self-evident
! efforts in behalf of influences inimical TO
the greater good of the Republic and
the imperial expansion OF its commerce.
! Whether the Obstructionists pretend friend
ship and clamor for Government construc-
tion and ownership pure and simple, but
to be preceded by long negotiations with
! England for the abrogation of the Clayton
! Bulwer treaty, and with Nicaragua and
! Costa Rica for the cession of territory or
whether they dig up the decomposcd re-
I mains of the Panama Canal and offer them
as foreign alternative TO an American
waterway, there is never the slightest
doubt concerning what these attorneys AMI
agents are aiming at which is, to prevent
the existence of any water connection be-
cause such an avenue of trade might de-
stroy The monopoly of transcontinental
trade now enjoyed b. the Canadian Pacific
Railway and its cross country allies.
Educated to patience and disappointment,
1t is possible for United States Senators to
I listen 10 arguments the dishonesty and
! market value of which are notorious TO
them. without any exhibition of personal
resentment It is not necessarily the
same with the plain people outside who
are quite able to deduce individual motives.
and facts of venality from the actions of
those who are doing their best TO strangle
the future of great commercial and in
dustrial empire, for the benefit of their
owners and for their own political or Pc
cuniary gain.
The American people demand and will
have the Nicaragua Canal. On the logical
ground that its construction and operation
AT the earliest possible moment will
amount 10 the greatest good 10 the great
est number" they will have it even if
that should temporarily depIess the in
terests of single line flag stations in the
Central West or, for time. cut the earn
.F .E-bn
are multi millionaires through their in
dustry in assimilating the bounty OF the
! nation.
To the public at large it does not ma
terially matter just how the Nicaragua
Canal is to be built, or who builds II. SC
long as il shall be when completed. an
American ditch. protected by the United
States and its guns. We have referred
repeatedly TO the Clayton Bulwer treaty
as an exploded instrument: thing deat
and buried by the operation OF its oNr
clear terms and provisions: but supposins
it TO be as fully alive and yenomous =,
on the day it was signed and paid fol
with cheerful British contempt, the Nor.
gan bill would not interfere with its sane.
Iity or create the necessity for even al
! explanation to the British foreign Office
= The treaty. if in force would prevent hi:
Government from asserting exclusive con.
troll over the canal. The Morgan bill
avoids that issue altogether by providin.
5 that the great work shall be undertaken
r by an American corporation. under condi
: tions giving the Government absolute Sc
curity for the money il is proposed j
} shall advance as a matter of wise pfIbli,
r policy and state economy, and adequat,
/ control over contracts and expenditures
e The Morgan bill has stood the fire of al
the forces arrayed against the Nicaragu.
: Canal, until its propositions have becom,
SO firm and crystallized that the home mo
= nopolies and foreign lobby in oppositi iol
/ no longer break their teeth on them, bu
in desperation seek refuge only in trans
parent subterfuges Its provisions NOS
, appear so plainly honest and equitable
that more than two-thirds of the Senat,
favor them, Notwithstanding all o. thr
Influences and temptations that have beer
! brought to bear to defeat them.
II is, therefore, reasonable that III
, country. as it does should conclude thi
the Morgan bill ought to pass and be
| come a law, the Immediately practica
: bic means of accomplishing the desire o
this people. That such solution woul'
Az,