The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-04

But here is a fact of capital impor-
lance:
The engineering feasibility of the Mica
Sagua canal is not questioned by any
body
Here is another fact of equal imoor-
lance:
The engineering feasibility of the Pa
mama canal is very seriously questioned
A dam at Bohio is the only possible
place for such a structure across the
Chagres River. That is the testimony of
the engineers. And there are natural
conditions which render doubtful the Sc
curity of a. dam at Bohio.
If that dam should fail the Panama
| canal would be useless ditch.
! The Nicaragua canal is not dependent
upon one dam. There are numerous suit
/ able sites for this purpose. If one dam
should fail only the dam would be lost
and not the canal, as at Panama.
| The Panama scheme is clouded in fraud
and scandal Were we to buy the French
company we should in all likelihood pur-
| chase intermindble lawsuits.
We should buy, also, divided govern
| ment control of the contiguous country.
| including the city of Panama, inhabited
| by thirty thousand people as little like
ourselves and as fond of us as are the
Fiipinos
The isthmus and city of Panama. even
under sanitary regulations enforced up
on a hostile people, would still remain
| murderously unhealthy. A human life
paid for every tie that was laid on the
| Panama Railroad.
| Nicaragua and Costa Rica, on the other
| hand, are famed for their healthful eli
| mate Even the wafer of the swamps is
| good enough to drink. In the surveying
and other preliminary work done by the
Maritime Company and the government,
men worked without injury to their
health, some of them in the swamRs up
| to their waists, day after day
There can be no dispute about the
| deddliness of Panama and the salubrity
| &C rts..,V. asrtt md lht Il,
the building of a canal and in its perma-
| nent maintenance great numbers of men
| will have to be employed.
Humanity, therefore, is on the side of
| the Nicaragua route-a consideration
| that may be regarded as negligible by the
| business interests" on wheels that favor
| Panama, but which is of large import
| to people who can think and feel.
A clear title can be obtained at once
| from Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Phere
| is no fear of legal complications.
The Nicaragua route is 5OO miles nearer
to our coast line than Panama. That is
of vast consequence TO domestic COM
merce. By way of Panama Europe would
be brought closer to the Pacific Coast
than to our own Gulf ports.
Senator Morgan mas riddled the loose
| estimates which represent that the cost
of maintenance at Nicaragua would be
much higher than at Panama
| The danger from earthquakes is quite
| as great if not greater. at Panama than
| at Nicaragua-that is the report of the
Isthmian Canal Commission.
| The Martinique cataclysm has set the
| Panama advocates to spouting fire, smoke
| and lava. They wish the people to see
another Pelee in every mountain of Mica
| ragua.
The oceans cannot be united except
through an earthquake country. The dan
ger must be accepted, even as the naVi-
gator must accept the peril OF storms al
sea as a condition of his calling.
But there Is a volcano of which the
obstructing Republican Senate has good
reason to be afraid.
| There is a Mont Pelee that will surely
start into violent eruption If this session
| shall end without canal legiSlaton-the
| Mont Pelee of popular wrath.
| No legitimate excuse is left for delay
ing longer the passage of the 4Iepburr
bill and the building Of the Nicaragua
canal.
The railroads have been deferred te
long enough. Ii they are to be- allowed
to have their way We shall never get &
canal at Nicaragua, Panama, Darien OF
anywhere else.
The American people have not forgotten
the voyage of the Oregon, gentlemen Of
the Senate.
In the approaching Congressional cam
paign the people will not accept explana
tons in lien Of action. Remember that,
| Dig the Nicaragua canal!