Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-02-03
ROUTES COMPARED
Some Interesting Facts with Relation
is the Canal Routes in Panama,
and Nicaragua.
Figures Showing the Elevation, Curv-
ature, Locks and Data 81 the
.s Two Routes.
Difficult Question Presented to Con,
gress to Choose Between the
Two Routes.

Washington, Feb. 1.-The friends
of the two rival canal bills for con-
Meeting the Atlantic with the Pacific
ocean are actively engaged in the pro-
motion of one or the other of the meas
ures now before. congress. Senator
Morgan, "the original Jacobs of the
Nicaragua route, still adheres to his
first love and is untiring in his efforts
on behalf of that enterprise. He has
considerable support and is as hopeful
as ever of ultimate success. But the
proposition recently received from the
directors of the Panama Canal Com
pany has had a tendency to cause a
halt in what promised to be precipi-
tate action.
At present the Nicaragua canal bill
has the best of it. It has been APP
proved by the house by a. vote of 302
to 2. The attempt Of its opponents
to insert a amendment authorizing
the president to negotiate with the
Panama company: for the relinquish-
ment of its rights on the basis of f$$4O,-
100000 for the work already done
failed, and, indeed, was not urgently
pressed. 1t cannot be disputed, how
ever, that the Panama route has its
merits and that the proposition of the
French company is worthy Of consid-
GRAFTON. In the controversy that has
been. going on facts have been twisted
and conditions that actually. exist have
been misrepresented, in more than a
few instances. The offer Of the
French company to dispose OF the Pam
anna canal rights for $4,000, 900, how
ever, bids fair to lead to a thorough
investigation of the two routes and
those acquainted with the Panama
canal and the progress which has been
made upon it feel convinced that such
investigation will open eyes, official
and unofficial all over the country to
the opportunity which has thus been
extended to the United States.
The Isthmian canal commission in
its last report did not favor the Nicar-
ag,uan route at the expense of the
Panama. On the contrary, the mem
bers of the commission considered the
latter to be superior, but the tremen-
dous figure, $1O9,141,50O, which the
Panama company then demanded for
its property rights, was considered so
absurdly excessive that the project, as
far as the United States was concerned,
was abandoned: The commission es-
timated that the cost of building by
the Nicaragua route would be $780,
S64,o42 and by the Panama route
SLAP The Panama figures
were less than the other, but increased
by the padded price which the French
company asked for it's rights. the es-
timated cost to the United States gov
eminent of completing the Panama
route expanded to the colossal sum of
$2~53;374,S5S, between which and the
estimated cost Of the Nicaragua route
there was a difference of 1858, 200. 900.
This was the way matters stood
when the advocates of the Nicaragua
project prepared their bill and sub
mitted it, with able sponsors, to con-
gress. As the situation then existed
the Panama route was considered out
OF the running owing to the %exorbitant
price demanded for it. No n sup
posed that the French company would
come down from its high perch and
name a figure low enough to force the
United States to reconsider, but come
down it did, and a new price Of $40
100000 was the result. When this
rate was named the whole aspect of
considered the sole objection to ac-
the isthmian canal problem underwent
a change. What had previously been
the principal Objection to ac-
curing the Panama route was re-
moved, and what was more to the
point, the price placed upon the canal
by the Panama company was precisely
the valuation fixed by Admiral Walker
and his fellow United States commits
sioners.
There are other considerations which
will AVE weight before congress ulti-
mately. makes a choice, and these con-
siderations, in many instances, will
strengthen the already strong ar
gument in favor of the Panama route.
Chief among them is the big difference
In the cost of maintenance. That this
difference would be, to speak mildly,
very material, may be judged from the
respective lengths Of the two routes.
The length OF the Nicaragua canal is
1873 .66 miles. That OF the Panama
route is 1852. The figures speak for
themselves. This difference in dimen-