The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-18
THE TRAGEDY AT PANAMA
The Victims of 1t Were the People of France
BY MERRILL A. TEAGUE
Special Correspondent OF the Morning News


rarrowest point-a dream which has
been in the minds of men ever since
that day in September, 1913, when Vas
co Nunez de Balboa stood on the crest
of the Cordilleras and beheld the ex-
panse of the Pacifc-stands to-day at
least a decade from realization is due
10 French rascality. From a point
near Colon, on the northern side of
this isthmian 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 it now stands is
nothing more than scratch. From
that same point near Colon, through
turgid waters to Bohio, and then
through the wilderness of higher
ground to other turgid waters begin
ming near La Boa, is a reach If rust
ed. rotting, vine implements of
endeavor. This scratch and these piles
{ of obsolete, age-worn machinery are
the monuments to that French rascal
ity
Far out ON the extremity of Girls
tobal Colon point, at Colon, hard by
the northern entrance to the Panama
canal, stands a magnificent bronze
statue, mounted upon a pedestal of
soft stone. The statue is OF Christie
pher Columbus, who stands with ma
jestic mien, his right arm encircling
the crouching figure of a startled,
scantily clad active maiden; his left
arm outstretched and pointing the
amazed gaze of that native to the
western passage" to aid him in find
ing which Isabella of Spain pawned
her jewels. In the early hours of the
morning this statue is enveloped in
the shadow of "the De Lesseps House."
a palace in the wilderness, built by
the French during their riot of ex-
travagance to house the great engi-
neer whose genius was supposed to
have created the western passage"
Monument to IA 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
the records of the French criminal
courts, and read the story of the accu-
sal, conviction and sentence of Ferdi-
nand de Lesseps, and then to the grave,
where lie the remains that were merci-
fully deposited under ground before the
sentence of the courts could be exc
cuted. No greater tragedy than that
which is to be read in these things was
ever enacted, for this was a tragedy
which irrevocably impeached the probi-
ty of nation. TO feed it during the
years when it was dragging its slow
length along there We're flung the saw
lngs OF France; it's GROWING work was
the production of a race of corruption
lists whose equals the future must re-
veal, for the past offers nothing to
compare with them
1t 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 un-
touched except in the most perfunctory
Ihatliler. seven or eight years, then,
was the lapse of time from the moment
the curtain was rung up until it fell. In
mat snort space of time more than
S2eO,OOO,000 was wrllng out of the rich
ana poor of France. Rascality fed upon
credul1ty to that amount of hard-earn-
ed and closely boarded cash; and here
hes the wreck. The sum thus taken
from the French was more than would
ever have been required to complete the
uiiO pldCS IL III operation naQ the
French effort been an honest one. Just
there was the trouble: just there lies
the Whole secret of Frances attempt to
cut a canal The whole project was
perneated with dishonesty-dishon
so flaErant that theft is the only term
which properly describes it.
Stole Instead of Digging.
The French came here to dig a ca
nal What they did was to steal upon
scale which put John Laws Missis-
sippi bubble in deepest shadow, and
which makes our own shipyard trust
muddle look like the work of noyices.
of the $3.50, 100000 that were taken out
OF France to feed this gigantic swim
die not more than $50, 900 were ex-
pended upon the actual work of con-
Structing the canal In other words
out of every IS paid in by the credu-
ious French subscribers nearly SIS were
stolen outright by those actively en-
Saged in perpetrating this awful hoax
Inc canal as it is to-day shows only
1alntly the result of this $50,000,000 in
vestnent for of the actual work nee
essary to complete it not more thar
one-frth, according to competent en-
slneerS, has been done. The crime is.
III the light of these cursory facts, re-
Veaied as monstrous one. 1t means
SIMPLY this After more than a score
VI years ana the expenditures OF more
money than would have been required
10 finish the waterway. four-fifths of
lhe necessary work remains to be
done, and nearly 5000, 600, 900 remains
TO be expended in the doing of it. Add
10 TINS the fact that for decade and
a haif interoceanic commerce has been
restricted, it's development retarded,
the growth of nations stayed. and
trade subjected to the most vexatious
and costly delays, and zone may real
ze the enormity of it all.
The world at large little appreciates
what riot of graft this strip of des-
Olate, miasmotic land has witnessed.
Neither ietter-press descriptions nor
photographs can impart an accurate
ldea of it. Seen with the naked eye,
gagged by personal observation how
ever, it stands out glaring and indie
Iensible. Upon every hand, from the
moment one enters the mouth of the
canal at Colon until after traverslng
us route, he emerges at the PACING
entrance, there obtrudes upon the
gaze indisputable evidence of most
wicked waste of money. The scene
~ one which makes an American
proud of his people; for corrupt as
americans may be, their corruption is
sporadic. and in every American eff
Tort there is some honesty. Here there
we're only grafters, and the game OF
eratt was worked constantly and with
nlllagging Industry. The result is an
P@nswewable indictment of French
honesty, competency and capacity for
no punishment which could be devised
could fit the crime which created this