The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-19
BY MERRILL A. TEAGUE.

Staff Correspondent or The AdVeruser. Panama, R. P, Dec. T.-That the dream of an artificial waterway. cleaving the Western Hemisphere at its narrow est point--a dream which has been in | the minds of men ever since that day in September, 1513, when Vasco Nunes de Balboa stood on the crest of the Cordil- leras and beheld the expanse of the Pa cific-stands to-day at least a decade from realization Is due to French ras- cality. From a point near Colon, on the northern side of this isthfnian strip, to La Boca, three miles west of this city, runs a scratch in the ground. Scratch is the proper word, for measured by the side of what must be done to construct here a ship canal the work as 1t now stands is nothing more than a scratch. From that same point near Colon, through turgid waters to Bohio. and then through the wilderness of higher ground to other turgid waters beginning near La Boa, is a reach of rusted; rot ting, vine-covered implements of endeav- or. This scratch and these piles of ob- solete age-worn machinery are the mon- uments to that French rascaiity.
 Far out on the extremity of Cristobal Colon Point. at Colon, hard by the north ern entrance to the Panama Canal, stands a magnificent bronze statue, mounted upon a pedestal of soft stone. The statue is of Christopher Columbus. who stands with majestic mien, his right arm encircling the crouching figure of startled, scantily clad native maiden; his left arm outstretched and pointing the amazed gaze of that native to the western passage to aid him in finding which Isabella of Spain pawned her jew els. In the early hours of the morn ing this statue is enveloped in the sha- A<.- -A sk A ace in the wilderness. built by the French during their riot of extravaganza to house the great engineer whose genius was supposed to have created this western passage"
 Monuments to a Tragedy.
 In the scratch, the rusty machinery, the monument and the palace are told all save the sequel of the great tragedy which has been enacted here. For the sequel to that tragedy one must go to tn records of the French criminal courts, and read the story of the accusal, trial. conviction and sentence of Ferdinand de Lesseps, and then to the grave, where lie the remains that were mrcifully de- posted under ground before the sentence of the courts could be executed. No greater tragedy than that which is to be read in these things was ever enacted, for this was tragedy which irrevoca- bly, impeached the probity of nation. To feed 1t during the years. when 1t was dragging its slow length along there were flung the savings of France; it's crown ing works was the production of a race of corruptionists whose equal the fu- ture must reveal, for the. past ,offens nothing to compare with them. . It Is more than twenty years since the first actors in this tragedy moved upon the boards. For fourteen years the work
 they undertook has lain untouched except in the most perfunctory manner. Seven or eight years, then, was the lapse of time from the moment the curtain was rung up until 1t fell. In that short space of time more than S200, GOO, 900 was wrung | out of the rich and poor of France. Ras- cality fed upon credulity to that amount | of hard-earned and closely horded cash; | and here lies the wreck. The sum thus
 taken from the French was more than | would ever have been required to com ! plete the canal and place 1t in operation l had the French effort been an honest l one. Just there was the trouble: just
 there lies the whole secret of France's | attempt to cut a canal. The whole pro- ject was permeated with dishonesty ! dishonesty so fragrant that theft Is the ! only term which properly describes 1t. Stole Instead of Digging.
 The French came here to dig a canal. What they did was to steal upon a scale which put John Laws Mississippi
 bubble in deepest shadow and which
 makes our own Shipyard Trust muddle | look like the work of novices. Of the $260, ,OOO, GOO that were taken out of France
 to feed this gigantic swindle, not more
 than s5o.0OOOOO were expended upon the
 actual work of constructing the canal.
 In other words out of every $6 paid in by the credulous French subscribers nearly | s6 were stolen outright by those actively
 engaged in perpetrating this awful hoax. The canal as 1t is to-day shows only | faintly the result of this $50 900 900 invest ment. for of the actual work necessary 1 to complete it not more than one-fifth, | according to competent engineers, has
 been done. The crime is, in the light of
 these cursory facts, revealed as a mon
 strous one. It means simply this: Af- l ter more than a score of years and the l expenditure of more money than would
 have been required to finish the water way, four-ffths of the necessary work remains to be done, and nearly $20O, ,000 900 remains to be expended in the doing of it. Add to this the fact that for a decade and a half interoceanic commerce has been restricted, it's development re- tarded, the growth of nations stayed, and trade subjected to the most vexa-
 tious and costly delays and one may re- ealize the enormity of it all.
 The world at large little appreciates
 what a riot of graft this strip of desc.
 late. miasmotic land has witnessed.
 Neither letter press descriptions nor pho.
 tographs. can impart an accurate idea of
 it. Seen with the naked eye, gauged by personal observation. however. 1t stands out glaring and indefensible. Upon every hand. from the moment one enters the mouth of the canal at Colon until, after traversing Its route, he emerges at the Pacific entrance, there obtrudes upon the gaze indisputable evidenc of a most wick ed waste of money. The scene is one
 which makes an American proud of his
 people; for corrupt as Americans may be. their corruption is sporadic, and in | every American effort there is some hon. esty. Here there were only grafters,
 and the game of graft was worked con-
 stantly and with unhagging industry.
 The result is an unanswerable indict-
 ment of French honesty, competency and
 capacity for no punishment which could l be devised could fit the crime which l created this enormous wreck. robbed
 France and ruthIessly blackened reputa-
 tions
 A Glimpse at Canal History.
 It is with convictions such as I have
 expressed that every American on the
 spot must contemplate this enterprise True, the ruin of the French undertakine