The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-19
THE PANAMA CANAL
rhe Work That Has Been Done
Upon 1t.
By MERRILL A. TEAGUE.
Special Correspondent Of the Morning News


pleted.
The other great preliminary task
performed by the French companies
was IN providing a railway feeder
for the entire canal work, and in ac-
tually constructing the canals to di-
vert the flow of the Mindi and Gatun
rivers. The latter is of little ac-
count in its present condition, for it
runs through such low land that it
has been almost entirely filled with
silt and will have to be almost Who'll
ly re-dredged. The line of it exists
however, flowing from a point near the
confluence of the Gatun and the canal
proper to the Bay of Manzailla. he
tween the site of Colon and the main
land, and, under American direction.
the dredges can quickly make it eff
ticiently serviceable. The railroad
feeder it, however, of the first i'm
portance.
The Railway Feeder.
The grant of the canal concession to
Wyse raised a conflict with the rail-
way franchise, for it overlapped the
railroads monopoly of transit across
the isthmus. One of De Lesseps' first
acts was to reconcile that conflict by
buying for the French Canal Com
pany majority of the stock of the
railroad company.
This gives to those who may acquire
the canal rights possession of this
railroad, with it's docks and terminals
at either side of the isthmus, rolling
stock and all the facilities for deliver
ing wherever needed all the imple-
ments, machinery and supplies need
ed for canal construction purposes.
The railroad practically parallels the
entire route of the canal, and from it,
into each section of the canal where
there is surface excavations, run
spurs. The rails on these spurs have
rusted and worn until they will all
have to be relaid, as will the cross
ties; but the roadbed is in a fair state
of preservation, so that with a correc-
tion of that deterioration which time
has caused steam shovels can go into
the various cuttings and begin with
little delay the real task of construct
ing the canal.
Adding to these details of the pre-
liminary work done by the French the
fact that the line is dotted with hun
dreds of houses which, after disinfec-
tion and the introduction of sanitary
conditions and regulations, can be
used to shelter the canal laborers; that
there are on the ground immense
stores of machinery that can be turn
ed to account, it will be seen that the
French, with all their thieving and
general rascality, did a work of para
mount Importance. This work, even
though it is but one-fifth of the
whole, is of a character too important
to be lightly regarded in measuring
the relative merits of the Panama and
Nicaragua routes. In Nicaragua there
is not in existence one item of what l
rfeAt Do,
In Nicaragua we should have to begin
lust where the French began on the
isthmus more than a score of years
ago. All of that enormous task of
clearing the jungle and removing the
| OVERLAPPING mold of decayed vegeta-
tion-at a cost of countless lives
which the French have already done
| here we should have to do in Nicara-
qua. Beside this we should have to
build at Nicaragua the railway feed
er; safe harbors at either end, and de-
liver to the work every foot and every
| pound of timber, supplies and ma
chinery needed.
Cost Offsets Gain.
If Is true that we are to pay the New
Panama Company, present owners OF
| the concession here, $40, 100000 in hard
cash for the franchise. and an addi-
| tional $lO,OOO,UVO 10 lhe hepupiiC VI " on :
anna for the transfer to the United
States of the concession; but that $50,
900 900 is a fair estimate of the value
of what we shall secure is most amply
attested. The amount to be paid to
the French concern is the amount fixed
| by the Walker Commission. In return
| for IT we shall secure, beside the
French rights on the isthmus. a canal
one-fifth completed. that one-fifth rep
resenting the most deadly of all the
work to be done: a revenue producing
railroad, and an almost inestimable
amount of machinery. The latter we
get practically without payment, for
| the Walker Commission refused to ac-
cord it any value, holding that it will
cost as much to overhaul. modernize
and make it serviceable as 1t is worth.
The item of machinery on the ground