The Washington herald., 1908-07-25

SPECIAL Cousp0ndeuos Tie Washiugton Herald
ARcon, Canal Zone. July 14.-F'rom Colon
10 Panama one may stil see thousand
mute but eloquent reminders Of the mel
aucholy failure Of the French IN their
efforts TO duplicate here their triumph at
Suez. Here a half-mile string OF engines
and cars. there a long row Of steam
cranes. at this place a vast park OF non
descript machinery. and at that big
dredge left high and dry on the banks OF
the mighty Chagres at its food stage Al
Of these are redoleut with memories Of
buried hopes and defeated ambitions EE-
posed TO the ravages Of twenty tropical
summers, decay runs riot. and but for
the scenes Of life and industry being en-
acted by the Americans on the isthmus,
one might feel himself stalking amid the
tombs OF ten thousand departed hopes ana
the burying ground OF the savings OF a
hundred thousand French peasants
The attempt OF the French 70 build the
canal VIII forever stand out as the grand
est iasco IL history. Four hundred nil
lion dollars was raised 10 build the Pan
ana Canal From the gilded palace and
from the PEASANTS humble cottage came
the stream OF gold that was 70 lay low
the barrier that divided the Atlantic ana
the Pacific. Al first they estimated that
they could dig a twenty -nine-foot se2-leFel
canal for $4,000 Oo0. taking seven or eight
years 70 do Il. At the end OF the eight
years they figured that IL would cost
SS5l .039 TO make Il a fifteen-foot lock
canal, and that Il would take twenty
years 10 build It. But after spending ap-
proximately S4ll.00d000. they were farther
from realizing their 1ifteen-f0Ot waterway
than the Americans are today from real
izing q forty-f0ot waterway
Never was money so recldessly used Il
flowed in faster than Il could be spent
even BY the French company. When they
started. they asked for S51,eef.0r9- Double
that amount was offered The seeming
tnexi.austtoility Of the funds led 10 ez-
Jravagauce. eXtravagance led 10 proI-
lgacy, and profigacy 20 graft Ine S-Ot-
000O10 which was subscribed first and last
was all expended IN less than ten years
One-third is said 10 have been spent on
the canal. another third was wasted, and
the remaining third was stolen
Extravagauce ran riot on the isthmus.
where they got only one-third OF the
money. The director general at the
stockholders expense, built himself
house costing 800 90 His summer house
al Ia Boca cost $4,000 He drew $4,000
q year salary. ard 50 extra for each day
he Travelled a mile over the line In his
s1mptuous $4,000 private car Stables
were built which cost more than q half
million dollars The hospitals az Ancon
and Colon cost 5000. CO.. and Office build
ings cost over S5Gll.G55- Where q S51.0l0
building was needed. q 10000 building
was erected. and the canal stockholders
were charged double that amount for IL
Supplies were bought almost wholly
without reference 10 whether they were
needed or not Ten thousand snow show
els were brought 10 the isthmus- Some
1850 tCrchligh1s were carried there 10 be
used in the great celebration AT the com
pietion Of the canal Steamboats,. dredges,
launches. and what not were bought and
Eazled, knocked down. into the interior, 10
await the completion OF the canal There
is even today some machinery left on
Ilc is-EEus by the French whose use no
American has YET been able 20 figure out.
At Taberlaliz there IS machine which
every engineer from Wallace 20 GoeIGals
has examined. but none Of them VIII Yet
venture a prediction a5 20 what use il was
intended % be put II loozs something
like q biz rock crusLer, but II Is not one
one of the things which brought about
the d=fea- OF the French was the mos
quito. yellow ftver and malaria were
prevalent ample provision was made %
take care OF the sick, but 10 effort was
made 70 prevent sickness. IN fact. with
out The knowledge Of the mosquito the
CRY. which has been given 10 the world
since then IL was just about as well thar
they id not make mu-l effort al santa
ton. for thelr efforts could not have been
fruitful Perhaps never before IN the
history Of the world was there such a
high percentage Of deaths among a work
ing force OF men. And certainly there
was never a time when such a large per
ceatage was iucaPacitated for work
The great project OF digging the canal
was -inaugurated' on January !. 1850. On
that date d party Of ladies' and gentlemen.
headed by Count de Lesseps. proceeded
from Panama 70 the mouth Of the Rio
Grande. at Ia Boca- Here his little
daughter turned the first sl0velful OF
earth marking the beginning Of the project
whose end should be the union Of the At
lantic and the Pacific Ten days later
this little girl touched the button which
was to explode the first OF the thousands
OF tons Of dynamite with which Culebra
Mountain was 10 be laid low
During the first three years the com
pany devoted most Of its efforts 10 getting
ready. although at the end Of February,
1SS3. q half-miIli0n cubic meters Of dirt
had been removed and G working force OF
500 men had been established AT the
very beginning, the laborerS struck for
higher wages They had been getting
50 cents silver per day. and wanted s. %
They got Z. and later another increase
10 $50 Per day
On the Isthuaus the people stiH talk in
e reminiscent way about the good times
under the French They VIII tel You
that the Americans are doing vastly more
work, but are not spending half the
noney-where the isthmian FOLK can get
q share Of It. 50 plentiful was gold and
silver n the old days that even the
economical people became spendthrifts.
And when the crash finally came Il caught
everybody Thousands were without q
dollar Jamaican negroes had lived Up
70 the last cent Of their earnings and
they found themselves practically desti-
tUte. The English government bore the
expense OF repatriating some 5000 negroes.
The Chilean government made a bid for
immigration from the isthmus, offeriEE
Loo free passages. For months every
departing passenger steamer carried from
40 to COO ernigTants Of AL classes except
negroes and Chinese.
The report OF the receiver shows that
the Old French Co.ony spent S155500, ,oJl
OF the isthmus. OF which they accounted
$50, coo as having been expended in en-
cheering and construction. The organ
ization OF the new French company, It's