New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-09-06
A HISTORY OF THE CANAL.


Svo, PIP. xvi, $50. Charles Scribner's Sons
Man commander not the morning,
and causeth the dayspring to know
his place; nor knowelh he by what way
is the light parted which scattereth the
east wind upon the earth. But he has
changed for his human purposes the
design of his planet He has unlocked
the doors of two great oceans, united
two seas by gateway, as solid as the
everlasting hills, cut through peak
in Darien. A dream of his four cen
turtles old he has at asst made to come
true. Columbus sought for the hidden
strait which he supposed nature had
supplied in the very region through
which is constructed the Panama
Canal of to-day. The building of this
wonder of the world. in the words of
Mr.. Bryce 1.-The most gigantic effort yet
made by man on this planet to i'm
prove upon Nature" naturally has
called forth luXuriant literature,
much of it picturesque. much Of it
BIASED in temper, and all of it more or
less fragmentary in character. This
is the first authoritative and compre-
hensive story of the canal The
writer's place as secretary to the COM
mission made him for more than seven
years a spectator Of the canals con-
struction. and gave him unique OPP
portunity for acquiring information.
The inside knowledge thus obtained he
has supplemented by careful and
scholarly research into the early his
tory of the Isthmus of Panama. And
his career as a journalist has fitted him
to order his great body of material and
to present it in a manner to bring out
the human interest of his history.
Mr.. Bishop begins his story almost
with the discovery of America, and
recounts in an engaging way the eX-
PLOTS Of those Of the hardy navigators
who followed 1e wake of Columbus.
and Of the intrepid and reckless SOL
diers Of fortune who FASTENED TO the
New World soon after its discovery
with whose deeds begins the history of
the isthmus. He attacks with much
incisiveness the exaggerated stories Of
Old Panama, with which historical
writing about the isthmus has been
disfgured for two hundred and thirty
gears" and traces the source of these
tales to the famous narrative, the true
pirates tale of John Esquemeling.
Briefly he reviews the colorful history
Of three centuries Of Spanish rule, and
records the inception and development
of the idea of a waterway, built by the
hand of man, TO connect the two
oceans. Not. however, until the be-
ginning Of the nineteenth century was
any progress made in the direction of
building such a passage. With the
passing of Spanish dominion in Cen
tral and South America official interest
in the United States was awakened in
the project; and from the very be-
ginning Of its active interest in an
isthmus canal the United States gov
eminent contended that if such wa
terway were TO be opened 1t should be
free TO all nations on equal terms
Mr. Bishop gives abundant citations
from public papers to prove the un-
broken free and equal" policy of the
United States government for three
quarters Of a century.
The real pioneers of an isthmian
canal were the builders of the Panama
Railroad who with American pluck
rarely equalled and never surpassed in
our annals, and with indomitable per-
sistence. cut through pestilential jungle
and morass the pathway which the
canal Of the future was to follow. Mr..
Bishop demolishes several OF the ia
vorite and the most persistent OF the
many historic fakes" connected with
the construction of this railroad not
ably the Dead Chnaman-Matachin"
legend. and that of the "Dead-man-for-
every-tie." A portion Of his narrative,
through which comedy and tragedy
walk hand in hand, is devoted to
French effort and failure on the 18TH
mus, the story Of which endeavor, he
observes, is one Of the most diverting
as we'll as one Of the most pathetic in
human annals. One reads with Devil
derment and wonder the record Of the
proceedings Of Ferdinand de Lesseps
in his second task as the worlds chief
canal builder, presenting a perform
ance of opera bouffe in grisly setting
OF pestilence and death, with the lead
ing actor the all-powerful director of
the entertainment, dancing and pir-
Quoting in the front Of the stage, bliss
fully unconscious, apparently, Of every
thing except his own capers."
Part three OF Mr.. Bishops volume,
covering the period between 1902 and
1904. has its denouement in the grant
in perpetuity to the United States by
the Republic Of Panama Of the Canal
Zone; and part four surveys with the
authors intimate knowledge the pc
riod of construction. The author i'm
presses upon us that the converting Of
a veritable valley Of death into land
of health and comfort takes rank easily
as the supreme achievement in SANTA
ton. not only of the century, but OF
the ages; he tells Of the scientific dis