The Topeka state journal., 1908-12-10
Rivals of Panama Canal.

have not heard of anybOdy'S seriously
proposing to send the Lusitania from
ocean to ocean by way OF the MissiS-
tsippi, the Missouri a lock canal over
the Rocky Mountains, and the Colum-
bia river, and while Peru maintains
an Atlantic steamship commerce from
a port on the Maranon there is no
fought, so far as we know, of uniting
that river with the Pacific. Neverthe-
less, the number of transeontinental
transportation routes, by rail or canal,
is steadily being increased, and bids
fair, one of these days, considerably to
surpass the ten of Humboldt's water
ways
The last few weeks have seen two
important new interoceanio routes
completed sufficiently to be put into
practical use, both of which are so
near to our. own shores as to be OF
much practical Importance to our
commerce, and as they both lie be-
| tween our southern borders and the
Isthmus of Panama they must be con-
sidered as in a measure rivals and
competitors of the canal which we are
pressing to completion. One of these
is railroad across Guatemala, a
country which is too often regarded as
a negligible quantity, but which In
| fact is of vast wealth and occupies one
| of the most important strategic po-
| SitionS in the western hemisphere. De-
spite the prejudice which many feel
against Guatemala and President Ca
| brera, this new road is to be reck-
| oned with as an important CONNER
| cial and strategic factor.
| We have hitherto repeatedly called
attention to the Tehuantepec railroad,
| which follows route once marked
out by fernando Cortez for an inter
oceanic canal 1t was a few weeks
| ago opened for freight and passenger
business. 1t is much nearer to our
gulf ports than Is the Guatemala
route, and its Pacific terminus is also
nearer to our Pacific ports, and it is
very accessible to and from the Allan
tic by way of the Bahamas and the
Florida channel.
That these roads will prove to be
important competitors of the Panama
canal is not to be doubted. OF course
they will not and cannot obviate the
need of the canal, for, after all, they
are land routes, and persons and goods
carried by them must debark and re-
embark from and upon ships, with all
the inconvenience involved in those
processes, and, of course, they do not
in any degree facilitate the transfer of
vessels from one ocean to the other.
We should be surprised, however. if |
they did not both secure and hold
much patronage of a character to
which rapidity of transit is supremely
Important, for it will, Of course, al
ways be much quicker to get from the
North Atlantic to the North Pacific by
way Of Tehuantepec or even Guate-
mala than by way of Panama. But
we shall also not expect to see such
rivalry make Panama Improbable.
On the contrary. the increase of traf-
fic which the roads will facilitate will
promote traffic on the canal as well, |
and the world will see the time when
all these and perhaps some additional
interoceanic routes are busy to the |
full extent of their capacity.-New
York Tribune.
Expensive to Be an NJ p.
OF course, the corrupt practices act
has. done much to prevent the SPEND
ing of huge sums of money at the ac- !
tua1 elections. Expenses then are, |
we believe, effectually as well as
nominally controlled; But if the
''short, sharp shock" of heavy dis |
bursement at an election is a thing |
of the past, we understand that new |
kind of disguised bribery has more |
than taken it's place. The demands
upon the pocket of every pliable men, |
Der are unceasing. His annual sub
scriptions and donations amount to |
more, perhaps, than ever before. 1t |
has been said that in some cases it
costs as much to have a constituency
hounds. But even if this an exaggera-
tion it is, we are assured, by no means
uncommon for constituencies to cost
their member between $4,000. and
$4,000 year. In other words, it
used to cost a rich man $4,000 down
to get into parliament. Now it costs
him $4,000 at the election. and $1O,-
900 a year for the five years which
is. the average duration of a parlia-
ment. Naturally, it is not easy to
come at the details. We can hardly
expect members of the house to tell
US what they spend; but 1t is possible
that some past mem bers will be good
enough to state in the public interest
what amount they were compelled to
spend each year in order to secure
their seats.-London Spectator.
The First Turkish Parliament.
The parliament will certainly prove to
be a polyglot affair. and it is quite
possible that in the multiplicity of par
ties or factions formed on racial, relig-
ious, or linguistic lines there will be no
dominant majority, either homogeneous !
course of operations. Even so, the sit
uation may be no worse than that
which has been seen in the Austrian {
reichsrath many time. with Germans
and CzechS hurting epithets and ink
pots at each other. Indeed, if this first t
parliament were to accomplish nothingt
and presently to be dismissed, Turkey l
would not be doing worse than Russia, e
were dismissed in disgrace. The not q
expectation is that Tur-
Key will do little better than that, | a
md that this first parliament will show
tself real and effective legislative /
York Tribune. a
winston ChurchiIPs jest. a
A Joke of Mr.. Winston ChurchilPs at v
he expense of a self-opinionated army il
,fficer has just been recalled. The incl
lent occurred during a dinner in South t
Africa, and Mr. Churchill and the Off
,er were seated side by side. Through l,
,ut the meal the latter was airing his /:
yiews, until at last Churchill could b
,tand it no longer do you know" he r
laid quietly, Il met a man today who il
would gladly forfeit ESQ for the pleas
ire of being able to kick you" i:
ITO kick me, siri" exclaimed the as S
onished soldier. IT must ask you to
ell me his name at once" a
ssOI1 renlfad Winston eft WAS a moor n