The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-18
CANAL OFFER IN SIGHT
BELIEVED THE PANAMA ROUTE WILL BE FORMALLY
 RENDERED.
Is Mission of M. Hutin-President of the New French Company Reach es America-Commissi
 Favors Route.

an offer of sale of the Panama property
 to the government of the United States
 It is the understanding of Admiral
 Walker and his confreres of the isthmian
 canal commission that M. Hutin has come
 to prepare the way for a definite offer
 Of sale. It will be remembered by read CTS Of The Record~Herald that the inten- ton of the Panama stockholders to try
 to dispose of their property to the United states was first pointed out in one of the writer's dispatches from Paris a couple of months ago. That report has never been denied. and was, in fact, based upon the most trustworthy information Private letters have since confirmed It's accuracy.
 l am now able to say, upon most ex- cellant authority, that a majority of the members of the American Canal Con- | mission believe the Panama route to be | superior as an engineering scheme to the Nicaragua route They have excellent l reasons for this belief, chief among them
 being the treacherous shoals and violent l winds of Lake Nicaragua, and the almost | insuperable difficulty of constructing a | safe and permanent channel in the mud | bed of the tortuous, swift, foodswept
 course of the San Juan River. through l which the Nicaraguat Canal is designed
 to run for about forty miles.
 Although this is the private belief of | majority of the members of the com | mission they carefully avoid the express
 sion of any such opinion in their offi cial l rt port, and for obvious reasons. It would | be the height of unwisdom to make such
 a report, extolling the advantages of the | Panama route, In advance of the sub mission of definite and binding proposal 1 of sale by the Panama company. If as
 Is believed, M. IIu!in has come to Ameri-
 ca prepared to clear the way for an offe~ Izf | its appearance in this country in proper
 form, there is little doubt that the com
 mission will amend its rrport and point | out to Congress the advantages of the | Panama route.
 The commission is now prepared to go
 certain length in praise of the advan-
 tages of the Panama project. but it will
 not set a value to exceed S50, ,00D upon
 the property of the French company
 The French have actually spent about
 $50. 00G upon their canal, and have
 wasted about $120 900 more. But the company Is bankrupt. It has tried to raise funds with which to complete the
 work, and has failed. The stockholders
 and bondholders realize that if the
 United States decides in favor of Nica- ragua and actually begins work the Pana- ma property will be worth nil Hence the belief of the members of the Ameri- can commission that the Panama com
 pany will accept fifty or seventy-five mill
 lions in case Congress can be induced to make them such an offer.
 This is sure to be one of the big ques- tions of the coming winter in Congress.
 Owing to the desire of the representa- , tives of the French Company to jockey for position and to secure the best terms
 possible there is a possibility that Con- gross will get tired of waiting on their A-Ir1 AI- A,,lH Exy% !, i horns and go ahead with the Nicaragua proposition.
 f At the present time a large ma ajority , of the members of the lower house be- , lieve in Nicaragua rather than in Pana-
 ma. There is no doubt that public
 opinion. governed largely by sentimental o considerations, also favors the Nicara-
 guan route. The Senate is divided, and Q in that body there is a large contingent
 which does not believe in any isthmian D canal at all. but Is afraid to say SC openly. Being actually friendly to the
 trans-continental railroads, most of
 which are still more or less earnestly opposing the canal, they contrive to hide
 their opposition under other measures
 First they oppose a treaty which clears , the diplomatic field. But as 1t now seems : probable the new treaty will be ratified ! almost without opposition, they must , make a flank movement by favoring Pa | mama if the House favors Nicaragua, and
 if the House chances to favor Panama l the Senate may show increased interest in Nicaragua. Amid all these conditions it is going to be an extremely dit1cult matter to secure action. 9 Senator Morgan, who is chairman of , the interoceanic canal commission and l who has been for many years the lead T ing champion of a canal, is confident of V final legislation this winter, and will in troduce a bill early in the session. ' England no longer dares to oppose the n canal for fear of arousing the antagon- p Ism of the American people" said he ' There are obstacles to overcome-the
 opposition of the transcontinental rail-
 roads, who have been in combination Q with the French owners of the railroad 9 across the Isthmus of Panama and with l those representing the Panama Canal l But the overwhelming vote in the house !. last session was. in fact, popular ex- preston for the undertaking.
 Tt will be very easy to pass bill g this winter" added the Senator cheer fully. He talked further of the impos- 2 siblity of the Panama route. of the 9 utter lack of feasibility of digging a
 canal there. and also of the folly of s purchasing the canal from the French s Government. even should we wish, as
 500,000 stockholders would be aroused to
 present claims, with which the govern
 ment would be inundated. Senator Mor- gan will listen to nothing but Nicaragua. |