Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-03

Company came IN they offered him 81 .250.-
600 for his property. This he accepted. =
Another American named Duncan has
something Ike 1900 acres near the canal,
including a large rubber plantation, and q
third. Jesse M. Hyatt, has big cocoanut
grove just across. the bay from the town
of Colon. Altogether the property owned
by our people is comparatively small.
The Parasitic Panaman.
It is surprising that the Panamas have
not done more to develop their country.
The truth is, they have been ruined by the
canal. For years they have held much the
same position as the Florida darby who,
when asked how he managed to exist,
said: I'm summer we eats fish, and in de
winter we feeds on de sick Yankees"
The Panamans fed so fat for a decade or
so upon the French that they could not see
the riches of their own country lying I'M
developed about them. Before that they
had grown rich from the building of the
Panama railroad and the crowds OF gold
hunters which it carried across the isthmls.
They now hold somewhat the same amei-
ton as to ourselves, although their hopes
seem to be dwindling. This is shown by a
cartoon published in a Panama newspaper
not long ago. The picture Illustrated the
difference between us and the French. In
1t beautiful woman, labeled La France"
was pouring out stream of money upon the
isthmus from gigantic cornueopia, while
opposite her Uncle Sam was dropping one
silver coin at time and pinching each be-
fore it fell. Indeed, Panama is like the
south of a few years ago when it's sole
crop was cotton. The money crop of the
isthmus has been foreigners, and Panama
has relied upon that crop to pay all its ex-
penses without trying to develop the pos
sibilities under its feet. The independence
of the country and its freedom from revo-
luton, together with the contact which the
people will have with pushing Americans,
will probably change these conditions.
Fat Contracts on the Canal.
There is one class of American money
makers which is sending its representatives
here by every steamer. This is that which
expects to make money out of contracts
for machinery and work on the canal. A
large part Of the $500 600 600 which is to
be spent will go for materials and supplies.
Much of the work will be done by contract,
and many a fortune will be made or lost in
such undertakings.
1t seems to me, however, that the chances
for any one getting a big, fat job on the
isthmus will be limited. The chief engineer
and his subordinates are making careful
tests to the cost of all Kinds of work.
They know, for instance. just how much
money it will take for them to eXcavate
every cubic yard of the Culebra cut, and
they have figured the cost element down
to the oil on the machinery, the wear and
tear or eaCn SnONei, tIe anu tiie
transportation until they know just how
cheaply the excavation can be possibly
DONE It is the same with the dredging of
the Chagres river. They have bored down
to bedrock and prepared sections or the
strata showing just what each cubic yard
of dredging will contain. They know all
about the prices of machinery, and he must
be a shrewd man who can inveigle them
into an Improbable contract.
Indeed, I look for prices to be more close
ont
lie work of our history. a fair profit WILL
of course, have to be allowed, but the man
who bids upon anything connected with this
canal should keep his eyes open and allow
q wide margin for contingencies. I'm
Gle Sam will exact a bond for the carrying
out of such contracts, and the wise man
will keep on the safe side. AS to machinery
and supplies, they should be made and fur-
nished exactly in accordance with the spec
fications and contracts.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.