The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-14
THE PRESIDENT FAvoRS IT
Senator Morgan Confident of Speedy Action by Senate.
The Questioning of Lampre the Ala bamfan Brings Out Some In- teresting Points-Scheme to Defraud the Old Stock
 holders.

Washington, Jan. 13.-(SpeciaD-It is conceded by Senators and Congressman alike that Senator John T. Morgan's shrewd incarceration of M. Edouard Lam- pre- before the Senate Committee on In- teroceanic Canals has effectually stopped the scheme to sell to the United States the Panama canal concessions and franchises. Lampre Is the man sent to Washington by the Panama Canal Com pany to make the offer to sell their canal for s4O0oo,oOo Senator Morgan made him practically admit that if this government bought the ditch it would buy tremendous law suit along with it, as 1t was clearly shown at the hearing that the present canal company had no clear titles to give with the concessions and franchises.
 The Panama route once eliminated, it goes without saying that the Senate will pass the Hepburn bill. providing for canal across Nicaragua
 Since the meeting of the Senate com mittee Senator Morgan has openly de- clared the bill will pass the higher branch of Congress.
 .T shall report the Hepburn bill favor ably" he said. There will not be an amendment, I believe, and not even line will be changed in the wording.
 As for the Panama route, it came up like a balloon and it went out, whoof! like cloud of smoke.
 The Nicaragua canal is going to be built and work on it is going to start very soon. As a Southerner I am anxious to dig the ashes off some of the South ern Gulf States and let the embers that are hidden there blaze up again, and that is exactly what the building of the canal will do. And we won't interfere piti, the business interests of the Pa- nama Canal Company. either. :" ,s.,
 preaident Roosevelt Is hearti1y in fa- gor of the canal as mapped out in the Hepburn bill for Nicaragua. Within the past few days he has stated to several Senators and Representatives that they had better pass the canal bill and pass 1t quickly unless they wanted to be called to Washington for an extra session in the middle of the summer.
 It is believed the bill will reach the Senate this week and the opposition to it will come from those Senators who fa- vor the Panama route, though they are said to be in the minority now, espe- ciaily since the word pounding Senator Morgan gave the Frenchmah If adVo- cates of the Panama route show any strength at all it is believed the Nicara- qua advocates. led by Senator Morgan. will attack them from legal standpoint. In other words. the Nicaraguans will ar- que that the Panama route cannot be sold to this government legally on &C., count of the number of French and Co., aombian people who are stockholders in the old canal company and who will un- doubtedly make trouble if the sale is made without their consent and this consent has not been given. Aside from this. the Nicaraguan routes advocates argue that the route they present is vastly more economical in the long run than the Panama route, which has al- ready bankrupted the first men of France, not only in money but in char hcter.
 Here are some of the arrows Senator Morgan shot into M. Lampre before the Senate committed:
 You have dug several miles of your trench through swamps and unfavorable country and then you have allowed it to fill up again by natures Tork-a thing that looks to me like sheer neglect. I cannot conceive how, if ever your compauy considered completing the canal, it should neglect the work already done that it should become undone. Tell us plainly. did the Panama Company ever intend to complete the work?''
 Tt did not said NJ Lamprc, whose countenance had begun to show the un- easiness he felt at the boring questions of the Southern Senator .Didn't the company" continued Sena- tor Morgan. think they saw d good thing in the United States government: Didn't the company know that at some time we would build canal. and didn't the Panama Company think 1t saw a chance to sell us the unfinished canal when the time came?"
 To this shaft the Frenchman did not reply.
 How about the stockholders and the bondholders? the Senator relentlessly asked. They have yet, you say. an in- terest of s1$OOO,O0O in the company Why should they want to sell out? Who gets the $4O,OOO,OOo if we buy your ditch? You say yourself the stockholders will get none of 1t.
 The Frenchman was still silent.
 You wouldn't sell that canal for sSO,- OOO, 900 would you?"
 "I would not"
 Nor for twenty. nor for five, nor for one?'
 "No."
 And I wouldn't give you % cents for it" were the exact words of the Sena- tors quick rejoinder. You know, as I know, that the American republic and the French republic have been friends for over one hundred years. France came to our assistance when we were fighting our battle for independence against Great Britains France. in all the years that have followed. has never lev fed tribute nor declared war against us.
 Now. as you yourself indicated, there are five hundred thousand Frenchmen