The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-01-11

friends and votes, too. Since the fight
upon his pet measure came up he de-
ternnined to take the floor and fight for
it as hard as he had done in commit
tee. So he did. and the result, while
it may not be apparent in the matter
of votes for the bill. was at least to
indicate that when he is aroused and
in earnest Hanna can make as force
full an agreement as any member of the
upper house.
But there will be necessary some con-
versions before the bill gets through,
for there are men who dislike the word
Subsidy" so heartily that they will not
be denied the right to vote against any
bill which proposes to give money to
any man or corporation except for ac-
tual service. There is also feeling
among western Coast men that with
the growth of the carrying trade in
that ocean there should be given a
greater proportion of the proposed sub
sidy than is allotted in the bill now be-
fore Congress. OF the $4,000, 600 con-
templated to be distributed by this
measure, the amount which may reach
the Pacific shipowners is about 81, 000-
900. This is deemed insufficient by such
men as Senator Bard of California, who
thinks that there would be, during the
time of the life of the BILL more ship
building for Pacific trade than for the
Atlantic. But this is ony a small mat
ter on the whole, for there would be
practically as much opposition to the
bill with a more equal division Of the
bounties as there is now.
In the case of the Nicaragua canal
there is an element which cannot even
yet be fully weighed. This is the re-
vivified Panama canal scheme. When
a coterie of American capitalists
bought the old French interests, put
ting into the scheme something like
$12 ,000, 900, there was never much belief
on the part of Congress that there
would be any future for the ditch.
There was the Calebra cut the floods
in the river and many other objections
which in the past had made the scheme
come near TO the point of impractical
bilfty But despite this primary feeling
the men who arouse interest in such
affairs went to work, there was money
to spend and the result was that now
there has arisen in the minds of many
what may be called "a reasonable
doubt" to to whether or not there may
not be two canals. should the United
States go ahead and build the Nicar-
aqua ditch.
The latest plan is said to be for an
European corporation to take over a
share of the stock of the American
company, build the canal as a private
enterprise, and it is figured out that
this can be done at a cost of not more
than SIPS, 000, 900, and should there arise
any difficulty, appeal to the powers of
Europe to guarantee the neutrality of
the ditch. 1t is pointed out that there
could not be called into play the Mon
roe doctrine. as any investment made at
first would be by private owners of
stock and not by any government of
ficially. This may be the idle talk of
the men who wish to cry wolf to fright
en- your Uncle Samuel into purchasing
to prevent competition, and again it
may be the earnest work of the capital
lists, who number among them some of
the greatest financiers in the country.
Their men here say, and in this they
are borne out by the Walker commits
sion, that they can complete their ditch
within eight years, while the United
States with a start at Nicaragua could
not go on with actual work for two
years. and then would have ten years
very hard work until the canal was