The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-20


,,a of the things the French did
abile pretending to build a canal
.oross the isthmus lie striking lessons
- what the United States must care
S,uv avoid doing. That the contrac-.
.,re supervisors, inspectors and adj
r,inistrators under the United States
will not steal 5000, 100000 as did the
french, goes without saying; but
where work is of such magnitude
4 is valuable to know just where lie
+be opportunity for graft, from which
our own country is by no means free.
knowing this, it will be impossible to
avoid the work of the grafters, some
of whom will inevitably appear in
connection with the enterprise under
+ba United States direction.
That we shall not, as did the original
French projectors, plunge into the ac-
+ual task of construction with only
bazv ideas of the real amount of
work to be done is certain. Our plans
will have been definitely formulated,
down to the last detailed requirement,
before a contract is let or a spadeful
nj earth turned. The French wasted
countless millions, without securing
any substantial returns, by starting to
build a sea-level canal, and then
abandoning that scheme for a lock
system. Other millions were wasted
IN projecting the lock system, for it
was proposed at first that the Cha
gres river should be diverted, and a
simple system of locks installed. This
nlan was changed, the third alteration
involving an enormous outlay, in fav-
or of a combined sea-level, artificial
lake and lock system canal. Money
was sunk most recklessly in trying to
arrive at an intelligent plan for con-
structing the waterway, and even when
the French finally settled upon a
scheme they chose the most expensive
and tedious of all the plans consid-
cred.
The French Plan in General.
This final plan contemplated work
of infinitely greater magnitude than
we propose, for from the time we be-
gan to consider the project from the
practical engineering standpoint our
activity has been in the direction OF
simplifcation. Tie French project,
AFTER d HAeu u6lGIIllllldllOll llcio bNCAA
reached, provided for a sea-level chan
mel from Colon to Boldo, at which lat
ter point there should be a monster
dam, with locks, forming an artictclal
lake extending to Bas ObiSpo, dis
tanlce of about fourteen miles. At
Bas ObiSpo there was to be another
dam, with locks, forming level
reaching to Paraiso, six miles away
on the western slope of the Cordilleras
Mountains. At Paradise were to be
other locks, opening the way to lower
level which was to end at Pedro Mi
guel, two miles distant, where there
was to be another set of locks, and a
still lower level extending one mile
to Mirahores, where, with another set
of locks, the sea-level section on the
Pacific would begin.
This meant the construction of five
lock-dams and canal with six distinct
levels, and would have required five
locking operations to pass a ship from
ocean to ocean. AS a necessary aux
1llary, to furnish water supply for the
Bias Obispo Paradise, Paradise Pedro Mi
guel and Pedro Miguel-Mirafiores lev
els, it was proposed to build a supply
canal to the eastward, tapping the
Chagres river at Athejuela, nine miles
away in the higher range of the Cordil-
leraS mountains, with storage reser-
Voirs to insure full supply of water
for those levels during the dry season.
This plan reduced the amount of cut
ting required at Culebra, as under it
ships would have passed through the
mountains artificial gorge on the
highest of all levels-the Bas Obispo-
Paraiso-but this advantage was more
than offset by the enormous cost of
constructing the lock dams at Bias
Obispo, Paraiso and Pedro Miguel, and
of the auxiliary canal and storage res
ervoir to Alhejuela.
Farce Enacted by De Lessons,
1t would, however. have been possi-
BILE for the original French company
TO complete the lock canal for the
amount of money actually thrown into
the enterprise had that plan been
adopted at the beginning and the work
prosecuted earnestly and honestly
Ihls, though, is exactly what was not
zone. Years We're wasted and mill
lions of dollars flung away, and the
FRENCH company was on the verge of
bankruptcy when it finally decided upon
that plan. 1t was then too late for it
10 achieve any definite results. France
was agog with the tales of corruption
IN connection with the work: DeLes-
seps' credit was irretrievably shattered,
ana the end of the string had been
reached. These facts did not feaze the
FRENCH engineer. however, for just
when crushing disaster was breeding he
made triumphal trip to the isthmus,
occupied his palatial residence on Girls
tobal Colon Point for one week, I'M
yelled the Columbus statue which the
Empress Eugene had presented to the
company, and in grandiloquent
speech declared the canal open to nav
igation.
At that moment the canal was open
10 Bohio-Open as a narrow, shallow
ditch. The thing the French had be-
gun in earnest ended right there, hav-
Ing progressed through monumental
tragedy, profligate waste and limitless
crlminality to the farce of De Lesseps
standing at one end of ditch and de-
Caring a ship canal open to commerce.
The great French engineer returned TO
ms native country to be almost imme-
dlaiely carried down under the crash
OF the whole enterprise-to be tried and
sentenced to penal servitude for his
partcipancy in the gigantic crime
which had been perpetrated. 1t is
hardly necessary to say that the
United States will never blunder as
dld that gang of Frenchmen; that when
we begin work we will know exactly
what we are to do, and that when the
canal shall be declared open it Will be
open in fact. so that ships may pass