The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-20


 1 and Emperor of Germany. planned to con- meet the two oceans, by canal between | the Pacific and Lake Nicaragua. More | than a century later, but still two cen | turies before our time. an able and experi- | enced financ.er,, William Paterson, the | principal pr1jector of the Bank of Eng
 land, dreamed of sending across the | Isthmus the commerce between Europe | and the East Indies, Japan and ChiEa. He sent an industrial army of thousands | of Scotchmen and Engllshmen to estab- i fish New Caledonia on the Isthmus. and paid, in the picturesque failure Of that | marvellous Darien enterprise heavy penalty for being several ages ahead of i, his time. One hundred years later still. | Humboldt perhaps the most famous and
 wiseS of all travellers. declared that the | construction of an 1sthmian canal would ''immortalize a government occupied with the true interests of humanity" and ] whether the United States would let the opportunity escape of controlling 1t. Nor is our own statute of 1902 the first govern
 mental decree for the construction of a canal. Spain, ft seems, decreed ft in 1SlA: and the Republic of Nicaragua itself. in
 1925. Under President Adams and Presi- dent Jackson our country made its first investigations. These and other att
 generations are interestingly rehearsed in the reports of the Senate Committee and
 in other modern literature.
 Very certain 1t is that, by the year 1850.
 way had become so probable as to be the subject of international rivalries and di-
 plomacy. Then 1t was that, in q fit of not very far-seeing or genuine magnanimity.
 our government made the Clayton Bulwer treaty with Great Britain. It treated the construction of a ship canal as immi-
 nent even then. It pledged each Govern ment never to obtain or maintain any ex- elusive control over the canal. In general 1t seemed to relate only to the Nicaragua Canal: but each Government further cov- enanted to neither fortify, nor occupy nor colonize. nor exercise any dominion over, any port Of Central America. The ink was hardly dry upon this treaty be- fore it's short-sightedness was obvious. For the Isthmian canal. when construct ed. must, 1t is plain now and 1t ought to | have been plain then, be an appurtenance of the United States, an essential part perhaps military defense. In 1850, 1t Is true, the splendid development of our Pacific Coast could not be fully foreseen. Although the treasures of it's gold dig- gngs had fired the imagination of ven- turesome Americans, no. one. thought or the vastly greater wealth of its agr1cui- ture of it's splendid production Of frufe and grapes and wine and grain ana tim Der. But even then our interest in the canal might easily have been seen to be different in kind from that of England and vastly greater in degree The Clay ton-Bulwer treaty, however patrloticaily intended, was practical unfaithfulncss to the Monroe Doctrine and the obvious des-
 tiny of the American Republic. The nec-
 essary primacy of our country on this continent ought then to have been clear
 as 1t had been to Monroe and Adams ana Clay quarter of century pefofe the
 treaty was signed. It required a half century to free ourselves from the quasi
 partnership established with Great Bri- tain over a truly American interest. After pisraeli had wisely made England the dominant owner of the Suez Canal, we might properly have been more peremp-
 tory in asserting our right to the sole ownership and control of whatever canal
 we should build across the American
 tention on this subject was right from the
 beginning; and in due time England recog-
 niEed the wisdom of expressly freeing us
 from the mistake of the obsolete Clayton
 BuIwer covenant. It is doubtful whether
 that treaty has much delayed the actual
 construction of the canal. After that
 really wonderful Frenchman, De Lesseps,
 had begun bis work at Panama, how
 ever improvidently or unwisely, it was not
 ungracious for us to wait. If he should succeed no one ought to deprive him of the glory or grudee the world the bene- faction, If he and his associates were not then willing upon fit terms to let the canal become American, then it would
 not be difficult for the United States to
 build another canal upon the more north-
 ern route. If he were to fail we should
 righly profit by the experiment. Apart
 from American delay incident to the Brit ish treaty or the French venture, there
 had to be vast deal of popular education
 in our own country before It would con-
 sent to the necessary expenditure. It has
 bee neasier to secure frolA American con
 gresses hundreds of millions for splen-
 did postal and judicial buildings, or for
 battleships. or to clear hundred smaller
 harbofs than for work strictly national
 and of solid and immediate promise
 enormously greater. Besides, the secret,
 though powerful and long prevailing op-
 position of the trans s-continental trans-
 portation interests had to be overcome.
 In looking back at the canal movement
 it would be hard to understand why,
 with such unanimity of lip sentiment
 there should have been such tardiness of
 executive achievement. had not those who
 feared or dislfked cheap ocean freights be- tween the Pacific and our Atlantic and Gulf ports. confused and thwarted public
 sentiment. All the more that such secret opposition had to be overcome does the country owe great debt to Alabama for It's resolute service in Congress.
 WORK TO BEGIN SOON.
 We'll. the difficulties of the long and TO-
 mantle struggle are over. Within Few
 months the President will, with hardly a
 doubt, name the lsthmian Canal Commits
 sioners, and they will begin their work.
 Instead of geographical speculations and
 the industry of pamphleteers, diplomats and statesmen-instead of preliminary
 surveys and estinates-we shall have the
 preparation of details, the award of con-
 tracts, and the firm, precise labors of
 American engineers engaged in actual construction. That vast CuIebra cut through earth and rock, which is to be eight miles long. and at one point to be nearly three hundred feet deep with a
 width of one hundred and fifty feet at the bottom and seven hundred feet at the top; the formation of the two great ter minal harbors; the building of t'tantfc locks-ah these will provide our current interest in the work. We shall be face uses and immediate promise Of the canal. So that, before long we shall have to de- termiBe upon what principles it is to be administered. What, then will the 18th milan Canal do for the world, what for the United States and what for these American commonwealths of yours which front upon the Gulf, and to which the canal will belong more intimately than to any other highly civilized and industriaI community of men.
 First. the canal will establish between our Pacific ports and the ports of our Atlantic and Gulf coasts an exchange of bulky merchandise not possible over two thousand or three thousand or more miles of relatively costly railroad carriage. The American coastwise trade between Port
 land in Maine, Boston Providence, New
 Haven. New York. Philadelphia. BaIti-
 more, Newport News. Norfolk, Whining
 ton. Charleston. Savannah. Jacksonville.
 Key West Mobile. New Orleans and Gal
 weston will be extended to San Francisco.
 Portland in Oregon, Seattle. The Mexi-
 can ports of Acapulco, Manzanillo and