Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-12-01
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| Inception of the Panama Canal
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REPRESENTED that s94,20O,O00 had been
extended on construction, whereas
but $4,000. 900 had been actually so
used. The company's application was
refused. however, and then De Lesseps
undertook to negotiate an ordinary
loan for $120,OO0,00O.
Meanwhile the French government
had sent out an engineer to examine
the route, and CONSERVATION was
widespread when he reported that II
was impracticable. But the promoters
chung to their enterprise. Bribery OF
LEGISLATORS was alleged to have been
resorted to on a wholesale scale IN
hope of securing the enactment OF
favorable legislation. In 1888 there
was a second application for lottery
loan, and a plan for lock canal was
presented. The loan was authorized
by the chambers, and in order to float
it prospectuses containing deliberate
misstatements were issued broadcast.
An idea of the way in which money
was dissipated may be gathered from
the fact that a banker received $780,
600 merely for suggesting the second
lottery loan; 100000 went toward OBJ
! tanning publicity and nearly 100000
was placed to the account OF
syndicate expenses" while about
| S3OO,O00 was divided between jour,
nalists and politicians-and all this in
connection with the lottery loan.
/ When the crash came and the gov
eminent appointed an official liquid
ator 1t was found that out of an ex,
penditure of $260,00O,0O0 but $4,000,
900 had been used for constructor ct
which 21,400,O00 had been pa
direct to workmen and sSS,600,000 to
contractors. BY 1892 public clamor
became so insistent that rigid in
authorities, and as a result directors
of the company and members of the
chamber of deputies and of the senate
were brought to trial on charges OF
fraud, bribery and corruption. OF
those convicted Ferdinand de Lesseps,
who was then paralytic unable to
/ appear in court, was sentenced to five
years Imprisonment; his son Charles
received a like sentence, and Gustave
Eiffel, the contractor, was also given
similar punishment. No attempt was
made to enforce the sentence against
the elder De Lesseps, who died in the
course of the following year, broken
hearted man.
Such is the recuperative nature OF
the French people that the very year
De Lesseps died new company was
formed to complete the canal. L,
was definitely determined to abandon
the tidewater scheme and to construct
instead canal 291a feet deep, with
a summit level of 81 feet, a second
level of 6S feet and third of 33 feet
above the sea. 1t was proposed to
control the Chagres river by a dam
at Bohio and to build another dam
farther up the Chagres for the purpose
of supplying water to the summit
level. An international technical com,
mission of engineers examined the
new company's plans and made a
favorable report, the estimated cost
of completing the canal being S1O2,-
100000.
With renewed courage the pro,
moters set to work and with a limited
capital at their disposal made fair
progress for time. Little by little.
however, they began to lose heart, and
when the United States government
made its offer to purchase their
properties on the isthmus and under.
take the completion of the canal they
were only too glad to sell, although
they held out for some time against
accepting the proffered price of s4O.-
100000 The subsequent history OF
the project and of the revolution
which established it is too recent to
require recital