Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-01-17
Babel on the Isfhmus.

sepS' men thrust the first spade into
that swaIupy soil continues. swells and
is ever augmented 10y the uprising OF
new differences and difficulties. says
the New York Times. The quarrels
and the tumults are now beginning TO
strike upon the ears Of the American
| people a. they struck upon the ears of
the French people during the time
when De Lesseps was pouring 500
OUU.UO0 OF their money into the ditch.
S3O0. 10000 Of it being absolutely stol-
ell or squandered.
What We hear now is that the mem
bers Of the commission canpot get on
| with each other or with the president
There are ruHors in Washington that
an attempt will be- made to amend the
Spooner act in such a way as To lcgis-
late out of existence the commission
which was appointed in March last and
appears TO have accomplished very lit
tie The president, il is said. will
build the canal himself - that is.
through the secretary Of war he will
I dSruIIt lht WI n.
unlia mpered 10y wranglinS commission
crs.
That would lie all very We'll If the
act amended as proposed would not Ice
altogether futile. Mr.. Roosevelt may
lie able to build the canal. lie can do
almost anything. But Ire cannot with
out the best professional advice deter
Iuine what Kind OF canal To- build
That he must now clearly see * the
first thing TO be done.
We have gone ahead in this Panama
e~capadc very blindly, at times with
GREATNESS haste. and from the begin
ming there has never been Il man In
the country who ~ any moment has
been able to say positively. giving
good foundation reasons for his opin-
iou. whether we could build upon this
route any canal at all or could tell
within hundreds Of millions what the
work would cost. Talk about getting
ut work OH the canal il premature.
We first want To- know whether We
can build canal with locks. what IL
will cost and how long time Will he
required. IL canal with locks can
not be built we want To know how
much money and time will bc required
for a sea level canal.
II i perfectly evident that the
French estimates and plans and all
plans aud estimates 80 far made 10y
American commissioners are worth
less. They are not safe guides. lf
the present commission cannot put he
fore III. president findings and opin-
ions sufficiently accurate aud trust
worthy to- warrant his beginning the
work. then lie would be quite justified
in getting rid OF IL But IL II for such
findings and opinions that lie must
first OF all call upon them.
Our suspicion that Chief Engineer
waIIace's conversion TO the project OF
sea level canal was the result of his
conviction that n canal with locks
could not he built and maintained aS
planned by the commission * confirm
ell I'm measure 10y the statements
made 10y George W. crichicld. whose
article on The Panama Canal From
Contractors Standpoint in The cur
rent North American Review * Of
great value Mr.. Crichficld frankly
coufcsSes to n fear that the cost of the
engineering works demanded 10y the
lock plan aud the difficulties iii the
way OF their execution have been
greatly underestimate" Like En-
gineer Wallace. he is an advocate OF
sea level construction. Ii il evident
that the close study Of actual condi-
tionS on the isthmus has gravely mod
itied pTe-existing opinions a. 10 the
practicability Of the Kind Of canal we
supposed We Were going To build when
Senator Hanna so successfully per
suaded the senate To- send the Nicarl-
qua project To the rear and give pref
erencc To- Il canal az Panama. Prcsi-
dent Roosevelt further committed US
TO the choice OF Panama when he took
the seeding cabal under the protec-
tlon 81 this government and set up the
new republic. IL Is a grave question
whether NJ that time obedience 10 the
law did not require of him the adop-
ton 81 the Nicaragua route.
However that may have been. both
the law and the Will OF the people will
now l.Insnd that before involving the
country in further expenditure he lay
before IL definite and trustworthy In
formation concerning the nature and
cost OF the undertaking IN which we
are prepared to engage. IL - our
opinion that IL the cost Of a sea level
canal IL TO IT, SJoo.Oo.uoo. which is
very probable. the American people viii
refuse To undertake IL.
Such a contingency and such a re
, fusal Senator Hanna may have had In
mind when he turned the country's at
tention from the Nicaragua route
where the construction OF canal was
real and imminent probability. The
trznscontinental railroads were well
pleased with the senator's work Their
hopes would come to fruition IL IL
should prove that the cost Of Panama
canal is prohibitory. The cost OF the
Nicaragua canal we know Is not pro-
hibitory. The difficulties there are not
serious. are perfectly measurable. and
the estimates are Trustworthy within
snnaanable Limits Of variation