Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-02-01

thoroughly familiar with the country
and with the proposed route of the
canal and the work that has been done
OF it by the French company.
In my opinion, there is no question
as to the superiority of the Nicaragua
route over the Panama route. 1t is in
finitely preferable. That part of Mic
aragua is a healthy land, where coffee
plantations are numerous and where
the people can live in health and Sc
curity. Where the Panama canal VIII
be I have already tried to tell you; it
is a perfect death trap. At Colon the
buzzards are so thick they interfere
with the people They walk sedately
along the street with the passers, they
sit on the fences. they perch on the
roofs of the houses, anu they are in ev-
idence wherever the eye turns. People
are buried there 20 in a grave. and 1t
is a common practice for the family Of
a deceased person to rent a coffin and
take the dead one 10 the cemetery in
it. and when the funeral is concluded
to return the coffin TO the undertaken.
Panama is better than Colon in some
respects. II is pleasanter there when
the breezes blow, and it is perhaps a
little healthier. At both places all the.
stores close at II o'clock in the morn
ing and remain closed until in the.
afternoon, while the inhabitants take
their siesta. No work is ever done ia.
the middle of the day, and if it is at
ali damp there is none done during the
entire day. To return TO the imme-
diate subject of the canal. l viii say
that parts Of it that are already com
pleted could be made ready for use in
a short time and with little expense
What is done was done in a mastery
manner. There is nothing shOddy
about it; it is a standard construction
IN every respect. But it will require
CT the lowest estimate S100,O0O,000 70
reduce Culebra TO the level of the sea
and cut a passage through its base. /
am not an engineer, but it is apparent
to any sane observer that an enormous
amount of money viii be required to
complete the task so disastrously I'M
dertaken by France.
And l want to say that there was
never such a Belshazzar's feast seen
in the world as went on at the isthmus
during the time work was being car
ried on there. 1t passes human belief
Why, one could scarcely walk upon the
coast near Panama for the broken
fragments of champagne bottles
thrown there by the reckless ana
spendthrift officers who were supposed
to be soberly attending to their duties
as superintendent of the canal con
struction. For hundreds and hundreds
of yards along the beach near the city
the ground is literally covered with
these evidences of wastefulness ana
extravaganza. And that was only "A
grain of sand in the desert, when ali
their orgies are taken into cOnsideTa-
ton. The very dredges that were used
to carry the dirt from the excavation
cut TO be dumped in the sea were fitted
up with cabins on the roofs, and there
under silken awnings the officers Of
the company sat and slipped the-r
wine and enjoyed the breezes in conf
pany with scarlet women especially i'm
ported from Paris for their pleasure
The putting OF the dredge engines was
mingled with the sound of merriment
and drunken laughter, and the invested
savings of a nation we're being squand-
cred by recreant officers in such an
orgy as was never known since the
first man appeared in the garden Of
Eden.
Colon to-day stands upon fOunda-
ton composed in fair part of the splel-
did machinery dumped over the sides
of steamers by these men, in order
that they might purchase more ana
make a profit on it. Directors general
were changed every three months, and
while / was there ] found out why. Il
was done that ali might have a chance
to get rich.