The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-01
THE sUEz CANAL.
Mount2

/ THE SUEE CANAL
In recent magazine article, the late
! Adlace Walker offered well-knit argu-
ment to prove that the proposed Near
| aguan canal would be q financial failure.
His argument was based upon the cost
of transportation across the continent,
or in doubling Cape Horn, compared with
the estimated tariff charges Of 81 per
| ton through the canal
The article of Mr. Walker was In the
| nature Of a refutation Of the reasoning
used by the canal commission in its pre-
| liminary report to congress In which 1t
was contended that the canal from the
! date of Its completion, estimated at 1910,
would pay 5 per cent interest on the
cost of construction. 1t seems that tho
commission used the experience Of the
! Suez canal as a basis for It's conclusions
wholly the competitive feature of rall
! transportation, which exists In America
and which is wholly absent in the Suez
case.
Between the far East and Europe there
is 10 rail connection. The vast COM
merce of India, China and Australia with
Europe, must double the Cape of Good
Hope or pay the tolls of the Suez canal.
Yet, Notwithstanding the vast distance
necessary to cover in this circumnaviga-
ton of Africa, the low grade freighters
now take it, rather than pay the SIPS
per gross ton demanded by lthe canal.
The probabilities are that with the
numerous transcontinental railroad lines
now in operation and the constant i'm
provements in the use of power and the
reduction Of grades, the proposed
isthmian canal will be q financial fail
ure; especially so If It be maintained
as a purely American institution.
In anticipation Of the discussion that
is bound to come up in congress and the
press within the next few months, over
the canal question, few facts relative
to the Suez canal will be of interest.
Rameses. the great, constructed the
first Sue1 canal from the Nile to tae
Red sea, but that was filed up with the
desert sands, thousand years before
the Christian era Necho H., 600 B. q.
proposed to join the Red sea with tho
Mediterranean, but his pet oracle warn
ed him against the enterprise as being
dangerous to the nation. This fellow was
no common fakir, as his warning came
true two and one-half centuries later.
The canal was built, but 1t ruined
Egypt.
The canal project was favorite theme
for European statesmen for centuries
but Egypt hearkening to the oracular
warning withstood all temptations until
De Lesseps held forth the glittering
prize Of wealth to the impecunious Khe-
dive. A per cent of the tolls and vaIu-
able water privileges was the price Of
the concessions to the French company
The cost of the canal was 500, COX, 900, but
only IS per cent Of that was expended in
the actual construction. The engineering
problem was comparatively slmple-the
removal of 100000 cubic yards of sand.
The canal is 100 miles long and p feet
wide at the bottom, with am average
depth of 26 feet.
The toll charged at first was 81 per
gross ton and 50 for every passenger.
The work was begun in 1858 and COM
pleted in 1862 In 1870 it was opened to
the traffic of the world and 4S6 vessels
with a tonnage of 4S66O9 went through
the ditch, In five years this tonnage in
creased to 2OO9,9S4 In 1880 it amounted
to 3,037, 421. In 1890 the figures jumped to
6SS5, 1853 In 1890 it exceeded 100000,
with total money toll of over SIS, 900 900.
In 1885 the rate of toll was reduced from
81 to $l.25, where it now remains
The financial difficulties Of the original
company brought about a change of
ownership through the purchase Of a
majority of the shares by Great Britain
at 119 per share. The stock is now
quoted at $50. From this enterprise dated
English dominance in Egypt 1t was a
bad day for the government Of Egypt
but happy enc for the country While
the opening of the canal destroyed many
Egyptian cities which lay in the line of
caravan trade, it unlocked British enter
prise, which now bids fair to not only
redeem Egypt from the corrupt rule of
the sultan, but also to redeem it from
the encroachment of the desert.
1t was from the statistics of the Suez
canal that the American canal commits
sion drew it's information regarding the
probable traffic of the Nicaraguan canal
While making due allowance for the in
crease of ocean trade during the decade
that it VIII take to complete canal
across the isthmus, the present condi-
lions and the prospects Of transporta-
lion in the future do not warrant so san
guine position as that taken by the
report of Admiral Walker.