The National tribune., 1902-02-27
NICARAGUA OR PANAMA ?
Senator 'Morgan's Reasons for Preferr:ng tn
Former.


In an interview in the Evening Star,
of this city, Senator Morgan, after saying
that every surveying party sent out by
this Government had preferred the Nj
caragua route, said:
THE question of public morals presents
itself to my mind in this form: The old
Panama Canal Company was put into
liquidation, and in money which had been
obtained by it from bondholders, stock
holders, it represented from 100000 to
100000 Frenchmen, all of whose claims,
so far as l can see, still have legal valid
ity. They must either be paid or they
must be confscated. We are unable to
pay them, as they amount to 100000, 900
francs, with interest thereon, and | am
unwilling to confiscate them for the sake
of driving bargain with a set of men
that will now proceed to describe: They
were men IN trance-a company of men
composed Of bankers, contractors, specu-
lators and others, who had received a very
large part and a very dishonest part Of
S250,OOO,OOO which had been spent or
squandered by the old canal company on
the line of the canal.
when the old company failed these
men were prosecuted civiily and Grimm
ally in the courts OF France. Some 0S
them escaped punishment, and among the
leading men who thus escaped punish
ment was found large majority of the
men who at present own stock in the new
company. The stock of the new com
pany was fixed at 65,000,000 francs, or
$l35OOOOO. Five millions of francs were
given Colombia for an extension of the
concession. A little more than five mill
ions was subscribed by a public subscrip-
ton, and all Of the balance of it was
subscribed by those men against whom the
prosecutions were pending and who sub
scrlbed that stock as a compromise to
these legal proceedings. They took the
stock rather than submit to punishment
Of this stock the liquidator of the old
company assumed the right to subscribe
certain assets that remained in his hands,
and which belonged to stockholders and
bondholders of the old company, and he
subscribed of that sum something over
l5,OOO.0O0 francs to make up n deficit of
bJ,OOO,OOO, which was required by the
charter Of the new company.
STRANGE TO AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE.
"If the liquidator had the right to make
that subscription it was under a system
of law that Is entirely strange to Ameri-
can Jurisprudence and American morals
and there is no doubt-none whatever
that the remaining stockholders, except
those few who made public subscriptions
are the men who robbed the old company
were prosecuted for their wrongdoing and
compromised these suits and proceedings
by agreeing to subscribe to the stock Of
the new company. Therefore, in dealing
with them the United States is up against
the men who robbed the French people.
II we must deal with anybody for this
property, | prefer to deal with Colombia.
and let her make us clean title as
Government which we can hold RESPONSE
bic, and to pay to her, if anybody, these
S4O,OOO,OO0 and let her clean up the title
of all these membranes. I am not dis
posed to deal with the new canal com
pGny, in the hands of the men and under
the control of the men who are the prin-
cipal robbers of the old company. That
is enough to say about the moral side of
this question.
ANOTHER REASON AGAINST PANAMA.
Another reason why / see no possibil-
ity of building the canal at Panama for
the use of the whole American people is
that nature fixed a calm belt at Panama
that is practically on 500 miles of latitude
and probably 600 miles OF longitude.
through which calm belt sailing vessels of
any and every kind must beat their way al
the average loss of - days on every voy-
age it makes, no difference from what
point the ship has sailed. This fact ex-
cludes the American sailing ship from any
advantage in this canal at Panama, and in
my opinion it is a loss of more than half
of the value of the canal to our people,
particularly to her producers and traders.
1t makes no difference whether they are
going to the western coast of the United
States or to the Orient, or to any part of
the Pacific Ocean, this calm belt. which is
aS fixed and certain aS the flow of the