The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-21
A Statement OF Minister COrca's TX
aminel.


The Nicaro guar Minister to the United
States, SeIor Don Luis F. CoREA is now
| in PARIS cable despatch Yesterday
reported him az saving on Wednesday:
Therefore. the statement that the United states
Is not litclv 10 turn TO Nicaragua because OF the
notorious ln'criori'y Of It's physical conditions
ia contrary all the highest oric!al authority"
! As the phrase quoted bv DR.. CoREA on
, Wednesday is precisely in the words used
bv The Sun on Tuesday, and doubtless
photographed that day 10 Paris, We sup
pose the statement he denies with
therefore is our statement
The Nicaraguan Minister'S reason for
denying our statement that the l'IysiCal
conditions Of the Nicaragua route are
VIGOROUSLY inferior is exhibited in the
passage OF his reported remarks that
Immediately pTecedes the there fore"
1t should be fully undo rstood that the last two
Isthman canal commissions pronounced the Mica
ragun route 10 be superior the only reason for a
conclusion favorable to Panama being the difference
OF about So. 900 600 in the item OF cost
DR. CoREA must be unsupported, or his
utterancos must have suffered in trans
mission by cable We cannot imagine
| what he means if. in fact, he is telling
; people in Paris that proof Of the ST.
periority of the physical conditions of
| the Nicaragua route may be found in the
circumstance that the last two Isthmian
| canal commissions" have so pronounced
and that Panama was finally preferred
only because of comparatively insignif-
cant advantage in the matter Of esti-
mated cost.
Everybody knows here, and probably
all well-informed persons in Paris know
| likewise, that the statement attributed
TO DR.. COREA il nonse nscal
The last two Isthman canal commits
sions were that known as the Nicaragua
Canal Commission, appointed under the
act Of June T. 1897, and that known as the
lsthmian Canal Commission, under the
act of March 3, 1899
The first of these two commissions GER
tainly did not pronounce the Nicaragua
route to be superior Its final report,
on May 0, 1890 discussed that general
route only, and therefore made no COM
parison whatever with physical condi-
tions at Panama. The only comparisons
it made concerned several variants of
| Nicaragua route.
| The second of the two commissions
made three reports, at different times
and under different circumstances. On
Nov 30, 1900, it submitted preliminary
report in favor Of Nicaragua, not because
the physical conditions Of that route
were superior, but for the specifically
explained reason that no satisfactory
arrangement for the acquisition Of the
Panama property and franchises seemed
practicable. On Nov 10, 1901, after the
New Panama company had offered to
sell out to us for 500 ,000, 900, nearly three
times the commissions estimate of the
value Of the goods, in view Of that fact
only and not at all in declaration Of SUI
perior physical conditions at Nicaragua,
| the commission preferred Nicaragua to
Panama Two months later, on Jan. 1s,
1902, after the French company had come
down to SAC, 900, 900, the commission s own
estimate OF the value of the property
and franchises, the final report of the
commission reconsidered and reversed
its former recommendation, saying:
The unreasonable sum asked for the property
| and rights OF the New Panama Canal Company
when the commission reached It's former conclusion
ovrrbnlanced the advantages OF that route. hut
nor mn me estimates bp me fwo routes hare been
nearly sQudtsrd the commission can form It's Judg-
| ment By ws'ghRo The advantages Of zach and de.
termInlng which Is the more practicable and feast
bic"
The advantages Of each, the physical
conditions concerning each route, were