Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-26
Continued From Third Page.)


great oceans, as viSualized by the early
explorers, remained dormant-with one
exception. That exception was the dis
astrouS Darien scheme Of Paterson.
While this was not movement for the
construction Of o canal, but plan to
establish q colony Of Scotsmen In the
Darien region, had 1t been successful
the British government almost inevt-
tably would have interested itself In
building canal, and probably would
States started cutting through the
Isthmus
Work Begun In 1880.
Though the Spanish government in
the days of Philip II refused to take
eminent of that nation In It'll did be-
come interested. 1t ordered o survey
for canal at Tehuantepec and later
at Nicaragua. Through the nineteenth
century interest in the canal grew. The
discovery of gold in California and the
resulting rush of Americans from the
East to the West Coast, many Of them
via the Isthmus, gave chief impetus to
the idea. The Panama Railroad was
built between 1850 and 1865. Finally,
at the urging Of De LeSSepS, the French
company was formed and construction
of the canal at Panama was begun in
1880. Partly through the rayages Of
disease, partly through bad manage
ment and failure to comprehend the
magnitude of the project, the attempt
was failure even more colossal than
the failure of the Darien colony which
Paterson had sought to establish nearly
two centuries earlier.
Then followed the successful enter
prise of the United States, beginning
during the Roosevelt administration
and ending In 1914. The canal had
been completed at last, and one more
marvel Of engineering and executive
achievement had been added to the
In the days Of the Panaman revolution
and the recognition Of the Panama Re
public by this Government, that Roose-
welt was the target of bitter criticism
and endless fault finding for what he
did to further the canal project.
That era Of criticism has long passed
by. The canal with each passing year
Is more and more justifying itself. Be-
fore many years It's capacity probably
will have been reached and another
canal will be constructed via the Mica
ragua route, but the Panama waterway
will stand out through all history as
the greatest monument to the President
whose vision and courage and energy
made 1t reality instead of a dream.
William Paterson, who organized the
movement for the Scotch colony at
Dar1ere saw the possibilities of the
Isthmus more clearly than most men OF
his time. He understood them quite Is
clearly as did the early Spanish ex-
plorers and conquerors. and far more
clearly than most Of his own country
men. He believed that control of the
1sthnuS would make the British ma
ton the greatest power in the world
and expressed this view on various &C.
casions. On the other hand, the men
who had pushed the East India Co. to
q high point Of success appreciated
what the development Of Darien and
the establishment of trade and trade
routes in that region would mean. Fol
that reason they treated the Darier
company which Paterson had organized
as competitor and looked on the men
back Of 1t as enemies Of the East India
Co.'S projects in the fabulously rich
areas Of the Orient. They succeeded In
directing the III will OF the British
Government against the Darien COM
pany, and this was one Of the chief
reasons for its failure.
Paterson visioned Great Colony.
The son of o Scotch farmer, Paterson
was born In Dumfriesshire in 1868,
about the time when Cromwell was ct
the height Of his power. He went to
the West Indies in his younger days
and somehow gained a wide knowledge
Of trade and other conditions in the
Caribbean region. A man OF extraordi-
nary ability and imaginative power, he
foresaw that a great Scotch colony on