The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-05
THE 1srnMIIN CANAL SCHEMES

THE IsTHMTIN CANAL SCHEM MES.
 Need of Accurate Information Concern ing Them.
 ! (E. c. Hungerford in Deep River New
 Era.)
 The Scientific American recently pub lished an article headed-"The Nicara-
 qua Canal Bill--An Alfront to the Ma
 tion. The article states in substance that a bill is being pushed hurriedly
 forward to rthe immediate construction
 of the Nicaragua canal withiut waiting
 to hear the report of an expert commits
 sion which was appointed by the Pres
 ident Unfortunately, the whole Isth-
 milan canal question Is SD technlcal
 and so little understood, that the shame full significance of what is now happen
 ing Is little likely to be realized by the
 mass of the American people. The ar Iticle goes on to state the different schemes to push forward this one route and only this one, and the Walker cona-
 mission has reported that with certain radical changes in the route and i'll the
 construction the Nicaragua Canal can
 be built at a cost of SIS 100000 to $l35,- 0O00OO During the last Congress, how ever there was published a report or
 unimpeacha authority on the pres ent state, and the possibilities of the Panama Canal, a scheme which the American public supposed to be prac- tically dead. This report was drawn up by an internationa commission com ,Dc.t1 1tCti irC h. ed canal and hydraulic engineers in America and Europe, and this report states that the Panama Canal is thor oughly feasible, and that the canal can be completed for $102,000 900. The re- port shows that the Panama Canal is 4e miles long, while the Nicaragua can al will be ITO miles long, and that the danger zone or the length of canal in which ships would be above tide water is only 23 miles by the Panama, against 157 miles by the Nicaragua, and that two good technical harbors now exist at Panama, and none at Nicaragua. It was stated that the Panama company would agree to the United States com pleting the Panama Canal, and holding the controlling interest. and that as this government had already by treaty guar anteed the neutrality of the Panama route, 1t would be folly to construct a second canal During the last Congress a desperate effort was made to rush through a bill authorizing immediate construction of Nicaragua canal, but after exhaustive debate the wise con clusion was reached that it would be better to appoint another commission for the express purpose of examining not merely the Nicaragua and Panama but any other possible route across the Isthmus. The President was empowered to appoint an Isthman Canal commission, and one million dollars was appointed for it's expenses.
 The commission was dispatched on it's and will probably report some time during the coming summer. Ob- vlously the proper course is to await patiently the handing in of this report; but for some reason the friends" of the Nicaragua scheme have undertaken to ignore the President. the commission, and the clearly expressed will of the and to commit this nation to a scheme before the country has been in- formed whether this is the best or any where near the best route The fore going is the substance of the article and it seems to me that it will be an outrage to push this plan through in such haste Within few days we have | been informed by Robert Wilcox, who | Is at Panama, that 1,500 men are at work on the Panama canal and have been there for a long time
 The talk about the great need of the ! one particular canal for military req sons seems to me nonsense. There is | md has all along been altogether tou | much of that talk. We are in great dan | ger of going about with a chip on our | and if we do not show more | wisdom somebody will try and knocks hat chip off. While not competent to judge of the merits of the different | 'outes, the writer has some knowledge ,f the dangers that attend the con- of canal by the Nicaragua oute, having been bonored by the pres mt of maps and plans of the proposed | anal. This is written solely for the pur- pose of asking the people to wait until | he facts, which are now being gathered Ire presented to the people, This nation ,ught not to make a mistake in such | ln important transaction.