The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-15

from tho time Of the discovery Of tho
fsthmus. II seems that II Is almost
equally obvious on the ground and on
tho map. II was IN 1913 that Balboa
discovered the Pacific. silent upon a
peak In Darien." Even he seems to
have thought of piercing the narrow
neck OF land which he had traversed.
AZ least he built caravels on the shore
OF the ocean which he Identified AZ
The Great South Sea- In 1917 he
was beheaded by the orders Of the
Governor. after the cheerful Spanish
fashion. In 1924 Cortes wrote to Charles
V. from Mexico that ut IL in the mind
Of many pilots that into this bay open
straits Joining with the other sea,
which Is the thing in the world desire
above all others to discover" But
Charles the Fifth's devout successor
Philip H.. regarded as impious any ut
tempt to Join together seas which God
had put asunder, and the obvious no
ton Of cutting through the Isthmus
went to sleep as u practical PROPOSE
ton for about three hundred years.
II was awakened at about the same
time by France and by the United States.
NJ. Bunau-Varilla finds something
Enthusiastically national in the French
CIOlCo OF anu tHc <AIneTlC;til
choice Of Nicaragua and says: THE
French genius, impelled by a desire for
perfection and simplicity, chooses Pan
anna Tho Anglo-Saxo genius. under
the influence OF the desire to obtain
above all q practical result. with the
least possible effort. chooses Nicaragua"
There IL probably nothing in this. A
glance ut the map OF the hemisphere
s.iff}pag IN ha ~
the Isthmus offers the shortest line be-
tween the two oceans. Whether it is
the line of least resistance remains to
lie seen from actual explorations. Tho
American choice OF Nicaragua was not
settled until such explorations had been
made. Lieutenant Strains expedition
TO Darien, OF which our present author
takes no note, had developed the diff
culties with which the actual Isthmus
cutters have had to contend. especially
the deadliness of the local miasma BE
that as II may. II was In ls26 that the
American representative in Nicara qua
was instructed TO procure information
respecting canal through that repub-
lie, ana II was not until 1886 that Il
French company received u concession
Tor the construction of roads. railways
or canals. across the 1sthmus 1t was
. French company which procured. In
1S47. the concession for a railway which
was the next year transferred to Mr.
Aspinwall. and the road was opened in
1855. from what was then Aspinwall and
rs now Colon. across to Panama II
was the transcontinental rush. brought
about by the discovery of gold In Cal
ifornia, which forced the construction
or the railroad, not completed in time
Tor the urgency OF the "Argonauts." but
ever since an indispensable link In the
tfanic between the two oceans but the
canal was still far off
Undoubtedly II was the success OF
Siez that stimulated the revival OF
fahaTna' Down 10 the actual opening
" the cutting which saved the circum
navigation OF Africa the Suez Canal
was poohpoohed. The predictions Of the
pessinists of that time recall the scien-
tihc demonstrations that steamers could
Not cross the Atlantic Ocean and tina,
cars propelled by steam could not proceed
upon railways unless both wheels and
raiis We're cogged. SO late as 1860 Pal
therstoh expressed himself thus against
the project OF the Suez Canal: THE
company IL. as l have often said, one o.
uhe greatest and most remarkable at
'e1hpts AZ delusion that has been prac-
t1sed in modern times. 1t Is n COM
pete failure from beginning to end"
But nothing succeeds like success, and
the opening of the canal ten years later
effectively stimulated the revival OF
the Panama project. One OF President
Grants worthy ambitions, expressed in
his first message to Congress, was:
The construction OF uu American canal
American y1n 4
surveys were again instituted, with the
result that. In 1876 the "Interoccanic
Canal Commission" reported that the
Nicaragua route possesses both for
construction and maintenance Of u canal
greater advantages and offers fewer
difficulties from engineering. CONNER
cial and economic points OF view than
any ono of the other routes" But In
tho same year committee OF the Paris
Geographical Society was appointed to
study the question, and tho president
Of the committee was necessarily Fer
dinand do Lesseps. who was naturally
regarded in France as not only the
first but the only authority on inter-
oceanic canal building. De Lcsseps,
already a septuagensrian. devolved re-
probabilities OF detail upon his son
Charles. but remained master Of
'reclame." He convened In 1879 an I'm
ternational Scientific Congress-" which
considered but two projects. lock
canal at Nicaragua and q sea level
canal across the Isthmus the latter In
fact "the Straits Of Panama." which.
IN spite Of It's admittedly greater cost,
commanded a large majority OF votes.
At once old Do Lesseps opened his
campaign and called upon the French
public to subscribe $4,000, 900. but the
great ''reclamateur'' had overrated his
"reclame" this time and had under
rated the hunger of the daughters OF
the horse leech In the French press.
He refused TO allow anything for lad
Vertisement" His popular subscrip-
ton came TO nothing and his project
fen entirely Nat. NJ. -Varilla
hlames him rather severely for that !:
not being himself an engineer, he did
not take counsel OF engineers and tech
nical men. but only Of cont FACTORS and
practical inen." II seems to have been
rather an excessive reliance upon his
own fame ana "A failure to conciliatc the
ordinary agents OF publicity and pro-
motion that brought his first tentative