The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-09
DARK SIDE OF CANAL
F9-e= Err 1T CAN BE MADE TO
PAY
ITS FIRST COST is TOO HEAVY
Expense of Maintenance and Protec-
ton Would More Than Absorb
All the Profits Derived
From Tolls.
Special to The Globe,

has been secured and we are left apSo-
lutely untrammeled by old world connec-
tions to carry out our isthmian canal
project, we commence to look seriously
at a question which we have hither re-
garded only as a little bit of byplay.
First of all we ask ourselves what the
locking up in an enormous ditch of some
three hundred millions of our ready cash
will mean to other enterprises in this
country.
Again we remember that not only have
we the building of the canal to consider,
but the policing of it as we'll and the
protection of it by such Notifications and
ornaments as may be necessary to guar
antee it's safety. In fact, we have agreed
to furnish a vast convenience for the
shipping of the entire world at our own
expense beyond what small amount, pos
sibly not sufficient to pay the interest on
our outlay-we may get back in the shape
of tolls
While according to the rosy dreams of
some enthusiasts, it is estimated that a
canal by the Nicaragua route could be
built for some 5000 000,C00 at standard d.
mansions of depth of So feet and width
at bottom, where sections are straight,
of $50 feet increasing to 800 feet in width
as the curves decrease, this would not
allow the large ships now being ~uilt to
pass each other and would therefore not
answer the purpose required of such a
waterway.
The establishment of a good harbor at
GIeytown would be an absolute necessity
in order to form a suitable terminus for
the canal There was such a harbor
formerly with 30-foot depth of water at
anchorage and about the same depth at
the entrance
ever, been obliterated, probably by one
of the numerous seismic commissions to
which the vicinity is subject, and the
i. harbor is a mere shallow lake, with in
sufficient water to accommodate a steam
er of light draught.
This will all have to be attended to.
The harbor must be re-established by
means of excavation or dredging and it
will be very costly work, as there Will
have to be an extension of jetties and
various other facilities required for the
equipment of a firSt-clasS harbor.
There is in reality, question whether
a permanent dam could be constructed in
SO unstable a location. Nicaragua having
always been the site of seismic con-
vulSionS. A month rarely passes without
one or more being noticed. By one of the
laws of seismic action the center of these
disturbances appears to be always near
the line of the Nicaragua volcanoes.
M. An idea of the enormous extent of these
disturbances at times may be gained from
the fact that the explosion of the vol
cano Coseguina in 1885, lasted forty-four
hours, the noise being heard distance
of 1000 miles and the ashes being carried
as far as l,500 miles out at sea by the
~ winds, while it was estimated that the
mass elected into the air was calculated
to have covered a surface equivalent to
eight times the surface of France; the
volume having been calculated as equal
to fifty cubes, with sides of LOCO yards,
giving for the forty-four hours during
which it lasted every six minutes a vol
ume of stone and ashes equal to the total
volume of the prism of the Nicaragua
canal.
Now for the profits that might be eX-
pected to result from tolls.
We will assume the inclusive cost of
the Nicaragua canal to foot up to $780, O0,-
600.
What amount of revenue may be rea-
sonably expected from tolls? Can we as
sumo that the volume of traffic would be
sufficient to pay even a two per cent
dividend on the capital invested? A COM
parison of the financial prospects of an
Isthmian canal with the results achieved
by the Suez canal will assist US to some
information in this respect. To begin
with we must bear in mind that the
Suez canal has no railroad competition
while the Isthmian canal will have tilir-
petitors. The tolls charged by the Suez
canal authorities are 50 per passenger ard
$3.50 per ton.
Those who are most enthusiastic over
the scheme have figured that the tonnage
passing through the canal will foot up
to the grand total of 100000 tons per an
mum, while others, less sanguine, place
the amount at 100000 and yet others
contend that not over 100000 tons of
traffic per annum will be available for the
first five years after the completion of
the big ditch.
Taking the mean of these estimates at
100000 tons at $1.5O per ton we get d
revenue exclusive of passengers, the in
come of which might go to pay eX-
penses, of $750000. Even assuming that
- this could be stretched to a million dol
lars, it would upon an investment CT
$3O0,000,00O, yield only an interest of one
third of one per cent. Of course figures
In case of this kind are wildly supposit-
itious and serve only the purpose of ar
irving at relative estimates.
In this case, however, we seem to have
lost entire sight of tn money question
and Great Britain may we'll look on with
an air of self-satisfaction at the fact that
we are building a convenient short cut
for her mighty fleets at loss to our
selves-saddling ourselves with the re-
sponsibility of maintaining and defending
TT that she and other nations may ne
afforded an enormous convenience.
1t is quite in order that the British lion
should assume an air of snug complac-
ency under the circumstances.
But we have by no means yet exhausted
the unfortunate impediments which block
the way of this undoubtedly grand out
little considered scheme.
Considering the fact that there is an
active volcano in the very center of Lake
Nicaragua, of which great eruption was
recorded about eighteen years ago and a
half a dozen others which may be relied
upon to let us hear from them OCCASION
ally, the engineering difficulties in the
way of securing the necessary dam or
dams would appear to be well nigh insup-
cradle. 1t would be imperatively neces-
sary to maintain intact a dam $50 feet
high which would be absolutely secure
against the minor seismic shocks and if
possible against such sataclysms as the
great upheaval of 1853.
But would such an engineering feat be
possible? That is a question which al
most anyone outside of the ranks of eX-
pert engineers can decide for them
selves.
Assuming, however, that all these
difficulties have been overcome that the
work OF construction and maintenance
have been so carried out that nothing
need be feared from the inevitable seis-
arrived at the end of the expense con.
nected with the opening of the canal
Although the mere sinking of a coal
barge in mid-channel would at any time
render the canal useless to us, on the
other hand, to secure dominance of the
canal, which treaties would only give us
theoretically we must maintain at either
end fortress as impregnable and as
costly as is Gibraltar. These forts will
cost $2OO00O,00O each for construction be-