The news & observer., 1905-10-22
A Much Easier Undertak-
ing Than Building 1t.
Discouraging Reports From Two Mem
bers of the Commission Specially
Appointed TO Visit Panama to As.
certain the Progress Made in
Building, mich in Their
Best Judgment is Prac.
ticaliy Nil.
(Charleston News and Courier.)

(Charleston News and Courier)
Washington. Oct. 20.-"Panama is
Il good place to come away from
This opinion was expressed by mem
Der of the commission especially ap-
pointed to visit Panama and ascertain
what progress has been made in the
construction of the canal and to form
some estimate of how long it will take
To put the canal in practical oper-
alton. Also to estimate what the con-
Struct1on and the maintenance of that
great Isthmian waterway will cost
the people of the United States.
4 would not care to live in Pana-
ma. nor would | care to remain there
for a lengthy period continued the
speaker. for the conditions make it
almost impossible for men who have
been accustomed to the simplest and
most ordinary comforts of living to
exist there
What are the actual conditions and
what progress has been made in the
construction of the canal since the
United States bought all the rights
and privileges belonging to the
French Panama Canal Company for
which the Government paid forty mill
lion dollars? ?"
nc Ill
arc wretched. Practically no prog
reSS whatever has been made towards
the building OF the canal. We trav-
eled over considerable territory and
inspected the property which our
Government bought from the French
f., Panama Company. i can hardly adj
scquately express the present condition
. OF that so-calfe1 propertN. I went
TO. Ia astimore after the tremendous fire
. which recently wrecked nearly the en-
tire commercial zone of that great
city, and |, must say in all candor
and with peffcct frankness that the
wreckage left by the fire ficnd at Bal
Gmorei pales into insignificance when
compared with the wreckage along
the route of the proposed canal
How many building have been
erected by tho United states since we
became the purchaser of the Pah-,ma
property p
Il do not believe we have done
much in the buildiHs .i..c -. Panama.
In fact from my observation it ap-
pears that the money we are spend
ing there is being used to rehabili-
tate the remnants of the French Pan
anna buildings which are left stand
ing. i should estimate that there are
probably a thousand or more of these
small buildings which our Govern
mcnt is repairing with the expecta-
ton that they may be occupied by our
laborers when we commence actual
work on the canal.
AT the present the work on the
canal proper has not commenced ana
il may be d long time before we are
prepared to begin digging. We must
mrSt make provision Tor taking care
Of the labor which will nave to exist
there during the construction of the
canal. he sanitation of the Isthmus
f., I'm oil n n l.
ter must be prC-l.led and above all
some practicai arrangement must be
made for furnishing suitable food for
the laborers. At present it is almost
an impoSSibility to obtain health
giving and substantial food such as
skilled laborers require to enable them
to endure the enervating climate and
to combat the many other inconven-
fences to which they will be subjected
while they are on the Isthmus. With
the natives conditions are somewhat
different. They manage to subsst Gn
dwarf bananas which they pick With
their toes. and some other tropical
fruit which seems to grow wild in that
climate.
Preparing to Begin Work.
1T is going to be "a long and tedious
job and we have just reached the stag
where we are preparing to begin
work. We might as we'll let our peo-
pie know that they must be patient
if they expect the canal to be built.
IL is idle and misleading to give the
impression that this great undertake
ing can be accomplished in three,
five or seven or ten years. 1T may
be great deal longer than that ana
after having investigated the subject
carefully while on the 1Sthmus, the
best Judgment of those of us who
talked the matter over on our nome
ward trip is that it may take fifteen
or twenty years. and perhaps longer,
of steady and consistent work.
The Cost Cannot Be Estimated.
AS to the cost, l do not believ2
that any man or that any number OF
men can form an accurate estimate
of what it is going to cost to connect
the two oceans by a sea- level canal
and put the canal in complete, prac-
tical operation. 1t is said by some
that the cost should not exceed one
hundred and thirty millions of dol
lars 1t will probably me shown by
the Forthcoming report of the com
mission. which l understand will oe
ready for inclusion in the Presidents
annual message to Congress- that the
total sum will aggregate something
in the neighborhood of three hundred
millions of dollars
May Take ii Century to Finish
Under existing conditions at III,
big ditch at Panama" said another
Federal official who has just returned
from the Isthmus "the close of In,
present century may witness the com.
plction of this great enterprise.
might be more explicit and say tha
an even hundred years must elapst