The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-10-10

Colon, c. Z.-"The engineers dream of the centuries has been realized ' Everyone who writes of the Panama canal feels bound to use that phrase, and though it is trite, it is no less true.
 Possibly when Balboa first stood on the Peak of Darien" and gazed en- tranced at the waters of what he called the Southern sea the thought of cut ting through the isthmus came to him. Certainly, within three years after his great discovery or in 1516, be- had transported two ships, in pieces, across from the Atlantic to the Pacific and there put them together.
 It could not have been very much later that the idea of an isthmian canal was born. for during the reign of Philip II. of Spain (1556-1598) the Inquisition declared that any such pro ject to alter the face of the earth was impious, and the Spanish ruler forbade it's further discussion. The ban of the church was effective for some time, but in 1899 a Scotchman of the name of Patterson revived the scheme, es- tablished a colony on the shores of
 
 survey of the proposed route. Gale donian bay, on the north shore of Pan- anna, alone preserves the memory of that attempt. French scientists in 1735 advocated a Nicaragua canal, fifty years later the Spanish government or dered a survey of the Darien route, and early in the nineteeth century von Humboldt declared a canal was prac- dcab1e. In 1925, immediately after Latin America had freed itself from Spain. the Central American and United States Atlantic and Pacific Ca nal company was organized, and one of the directors of the concern with the high-sounding name was Dewitt Clinton. Various schemes were start ed and fell through. and in 1885 the United States senate voted for the building of a Nicaragua canal. An ex- petition was sent to that country and reported that the canal could be con structed at cost of $25.00O.00O.
 After the CivaI war there was much negotiating by our government for canal concession, but when the Nica- ragua route seemed to be the favorfte the Bogota government became impa- tient and gave the concession for Panama canal to Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte wyse. a French lieutenant. He made some maps and organized company which sold -out to the finan- ciers with whom Ferdinand de Lesseps had associated himself.
 Albert Edwards in his admirable book on Panama thus describes the beginning of the tragedy of de Les seps and his company:
 "The digging of the Suez canal was the accomplishment of his life. All his vigor and energy had gone into it. He came back to Paris literally carried on the shoulders of his nation. The government made him a 'comte' and the people called him 1e grand Fran cais' But he fell among thieves. The old man tumbled blindly into the trap of speculators, who foresaw a rich har- vest in the drawing together of his great name and the shady concession of Lieutenant Wyse. They set the stage by summoning the scientists of the world to a great congress to dis cuss an 'Atlantic-Pacidc canal. Al though it was called scientific con- gress, most of it's 136 members were and politicians. Only forty two were engineers or geographers. They elected Count de Lesseps, rail- roaded through a resolution that the Panama route was the only practicable one. and formed the Universal Inter- oceanic Canal company by buying the wyse concession for 10,0e0,0o0 francs, before the bona fide members of the congress knew what had happened and in the face of much protest. There can be little doubt that the congress was packed like ward caucus, bue there is no evidence that de Lesseps realized that 1t was.
 "The company was launched with many banquets, florid speeches by la grand Francais, and champagne with ont end. And all the time those who were on the inside were playing the market from both ends, sending She stocks tumbling down the steps of the bourse on a manufactured report that the United States was again waving the Monroe Doctrine, shooting them up again with a misquotatfon from the presidents message to the effect that we were enthusiastic in favor of the French enterprise. A sorrier exhibt- ton of conscienceless finance has sel- dom been seen."
 Old de Lesseps. however, was in earnest. He sent over engineers who discovered that Wyse,s maps were tn- accurate and that yellow fever was deadly. Then in December, 1879. the count himself. with his wife and three children, arrived from France. After receptions and speech-making In Colon he crossed to Panama, and there. on January 1. 1880, the formal opening of the canal was performed with eaab-