The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-01-31
MORGAN

Minneapolis Journal: Cenasor -,lOr-
of objection to the Panama route for
the ~interoceanic canal, has now sig
nified that he will withdraw his OBJ
jections to hat route if the French
government will put up a guarantee
that no old claims CT original stock
holders will be presented. Mr.. Nor
gan claims hat if the United States
purchases the Panama Canal COM
pany's property at the stipulated sum-,
$40, OOO, 1000, it will become liable for
1,4O0, 900, 900 francs $2SO,000, 000)
worth of stock and bonds of the COM
pany; that is, our government will
have to pay the bills for the old De,
Lesseps financial debauch, and Mr..
Morgan asks, with some excitement,
if congress is ready to accept such a
burden.
That is a very important question,
! of course, but the Walker commission
has satisfied itself thai the new Pan
anna Canal company can give a clean
bill of health, as it did not go into the
renewed construction of the De Les
seps prism without shaking off every
possibility of an onslaught by the gen.
tlemen Or their heirs who bought De
Lesseps' $435, 600, 900 Of canal bonds
for $3.50, 600, 900 and found themselves
whistling for their money. Our gov
eminent will not relieve the treasury
Of $40, 900, 900 unless it is absolutely
certain that the goods are delivered
free from any attachments. Mr.. Nor
gan has named his last objection and
it amounts to nothing. Mr.. Hepburn
may as we'll abandon his position that
the commissions report twill not lead
to any abandonment of the efforts in
behalf of the Nicaragua route by the
friends of that measure" Both Hep
burn and Morgan have protested to be
ardently in favor of an interOceanic
canal and a canal to be built imme-
diately. They have the ripe opportun-
ity to get the work started now, but
they have unfortunately argued them
selves into the conviction that there
can be but one route and that via
Nicaragua. They have arrived at the
belief that there is something sac
rosanct about the Nicaragua route and
that it will be sacrilegious to adopt
any other. The sentiment in favor
of Nicaragua is possibly due to the
fact that all the legislation as to
canals submitted to congress, since
the failure of the Frelinghuvsen-Za-
vala treaty, referred to that route
This fact, however, does not make the
building of a canal by that route a
fixed national policy. The idea is
ridiculous. 1t is a business PROPOSE
ton and all the arguments against
the Panama route have been fully dis
posed of by the Walker commission.
which has followed the dictates of
common sense in deciding to recon-
mend a route which is 1874 miles short
err than the Nicaragua route, has few
err locks and less curvature and en-
ables a deep-draught vessel to pass
from ocean to ocean in about one
third the time by the Nicaragua route,
and will cost $500 OO 900 less than a
canal by that route. and cost $780,
900 less a year to operate it than the
Nicaragua canal would cost.
The chief photographer Of the 18th.
milan canal commission, who is good
authority, says that 70 per cent Of the
total traffic would prefer the Panama
route and the traffic to and from the
west coast of South America. about
a third of the whole, naturally pre-
fers the Panama route as some 400
miles of steaniing are saved. The
question of routes appears to have
been decided by the commission from
a purely business standpoint, which
ought to be accepted by all who mean
business. To block the construction
of that canal now after a quarter of a
century of logomachy over routes
would be supreme and unmitigatee
folly.
California has scored first in the