The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1902-07-22
The Isthmian Canal.
Continued from Ist page.)

u|sIdke altogether 100 much upon the
dam at Bohio.
There are other uncertainties along
the Panama route. The Culebra cut
Is a question of doubt, with its land
slides and creeping clays. and its in
durated clay that melts in water.
There is doubt as to whether a dam
at Alhajeula is necessary to control
the floods in the Charges, and to sup
ply the canal with water impounded
there in reserve for the dry season.
Whether the Charges will repeat the
floods of 1879, and whether in such
an event it can be shut out from the
canal, is matter of doubt. Whether
any dam can stand such territorialfloods
and escape the fate of Johnstown and
Austin ere questions that only the
Charges River will settle in the course
Of time. A safe harbor at Colon, and
the safe passage of ships through a
submerged channel three and one half
miles long, when the wind rises and
the tide is at ebb, are matters Of doubt.
The abandoned anchors in the bay of
Colon, left there by vessels that could
not wait long enough to set them
aboard when northers drove heavy
seas into the shallow Lay, are mute
witnesses to the reasons for such
doubts,
All these doubts and many others
that relate to the cost of maintenance
and the time of transit of ships from
our Atlantic to our Pacific ports are
resolved in the opinions of a great
number of engineers against the Pa
mama route These doubts cannot be
removed nor compensated for by any
sum of money saved in the estimates
for canal Especially is the sum of
$5,630,704 insignificant when compar-
ed with these uncertainties. The Unit
ed States cannot afford to take such
large risks for a supposition gain of
SO small sum.
The health of the Panama route
cannot be classed with the matters
Of doubt. 1t is a fixed condition that
is in constant warfare with human
life. 1t depends upon natural condl-
tions that are beyond remedy, and
AS Il fatal impeachment to successful
gateway for the world it is beyond
doubt. 1t has been suggested that
when the natural causes are removed
Panama can be made as immune from
yellow fever as Hama and Santiago
de Cuba appear to be. But the causes
are immovable. The tides at the coast
CT Cuba rise to the height of from
twenty to thirty-six inches, and leave
very small margins of sea-bottom
when they ebb. But at Panama the
| tides rise eighteen to twenty-one feet,
and when they go out they leave
naked and vast inclined plane of many
square miles, covered with mud and
ooze and sea-slime, in which shellhsh
and sea animals abound, to die and de-
cay under a hot sun. The average
width of this exposed area around the
Bay and Gulf OF Panama is not less
than two miles, and the poisoned air
infects all the coasts. The true his
! tory of the death-rate at Panama was
never written. 1t has been suppress
ed But we know that for centuries
plague has existed there, claiming It's
victims by the thousands 4eliow ie-
yer is indigenous at Panama and al
ways must be. Along the Nicaragua
line no such conditions obtain. 1t Is
a salubrous and healthful country.
| Our own commission has reported
most emphatically upon this point. The
myriads of people of coming genera
tons that will pass through canal
piercing the American isthmus Will
have the right to reproach us II we
choose for them q route that antnre
has made free from such dangers.
Among the many and controlling
advantages which the Nicaragua route
Possesses over the Panama route is
the shorter coast line which the form
er gives us. Official figures prepared
by the Navy department show that II
the Oregon on West had been able TO
use the Panama Canal she would have
beep seYed forty-nine days tlmei put
| IL she had been able to use the Nlcara-
qua Canal she would have saved fifty
one days time. The difference in cost