Show atoa lT k Oa D dpn d M BY ma fill DE PALACE colon 0 C Z the engin engineers cers dream ot of the cent canles ties has haa been realized everyone who writes ot of the panama canal feels bound to uso use that phrase and though it la is trite 11 it II la Is no lesa les q tru V possibly when balboa fifie etoal os ol the peak ot of darlen darien and gated entranced at tats abi waters ot of what he called the southern Sou theril ami tho the thought tho tight of cutting through h the camo to him certainly within throe three years after his great yr in IBIS 1516 lie he had bad transported two ships in pieces across from the atlantic to the pacific and okera put them together it ii could not have been very much later that the icett idea of ali isthmian canal was born barli for during the reign ot of philip 11 II ot of spain 5 1598 the inquisition declared that any such project to alter the face ot of the earth was impious and the spanish ruler tornado its 11 further discussion the lan ban ot of tho the church was effective for somo some time but in 2699 a scotchman Scot ehman of the name of patterson revived the scheme established a colony on the shores abores ct the isthmus and even made a crudo crude survey of the proposed route caledonian bay on the north shore ot of panama alono alone preserves the memory of that attempt french scientists in 1735 advocated a nicaragua canal fifty years later the spanish government ordered a survey ot of tho the darlen darien route and early in tho the century yon humboldt declared a canal was practicable ti in 1825 immediately after latin america had freed itself from spain tho the central american and united states atlantic and pacific canal company was organized and ono one of the directors of the with the be high sounding name wal evaa dewitt clinton various schemes wiro start ed cd and fell through and in 1835 the united states senate voted for the building ot of a nicaragua canal an ex lon was sent bent to that country and reported th thia 1 the canal could be constructed ted at a cost of after the war there was much negotiating by our government for a canal concession conces Blon but when the nicaragua route seemed to be the favorite the bogota government became impatient and gave the concession for a panama canal to lucien napoleon bonaparte wyse a french lieutenant lie he made some maps and organized a company which sold cold out to the finan alers with whom ferdinand do had associated himself albert edwards in his admirable book on panama thus thua describes the beginning of the tragedy of do de lesseps and hla bla company the digging of the suez canal wax was the accomplishment of his life all his vigor and energy had bad gone into it lie he came back to paris literally carried on the shoulders of his nation the government made him a corate and the people called him le ie grand pran fran cat cals dut he tell fell among thieves the old man tumbled blindly into the trap of speculators who foresaw a rich harvest in the drawing together of his bis great name and the shady concession ot of lieutenant wyse they set the stage by summoning the scientists of the world to a great congress to adli cuss CUBS an atlantic pacific canal although it was called a scientific congress most of its members were speculators and politicians only forty two wore were engineers or geographers they elected count do lesseps Lee railroaded through a resolution that the panama route was the only practicable ors on and formed the universal canal company by buying the wyse wy concession tor for francs before tho the bona fide members of the congress knew what had happened and la in the face of much protest there can call be little doubt that the congress was packed like a ward caucus but there Is no evidence that do lesseps realized that it was the company was launched with many banquets florid speeches by le ie grand francala Fran calo and champagne without end and nil all the time those who were on th the inside were playing tho the market from both ends sending the stocks tumbling down the steps of the bourse on a manufactured report that tho the united states was waa again waving the monroe doctrine shooting them up again with a misquotation from the presidents denVa message to the effect that wo we were enthusiastic in favor 0 of the tha french enterprise A sorrier exhibition of conscienceless finance has baa seldom been seen old do lesseps however was in t arnert ile ho sent over engineers who a discovered le covered that cyses wyses maps mapa were in accurate arnd that yellow fever was wan deadly luen in december cember Dc 1878 1879 the count himself with his hia wife and three children arrived from france after receptions and speechmaking speech making in colon bo 0 crossed to panama and there on january 1 1880 the format formal opening of the canal was waa performed with blab ceremony mile F ferdinande Ferdl erdi nande da 46 lesseps struck the first blow ot of a pickax nt at tho the point where tb the canci was to enter the pacific each of the party followed with a blow and there was a vast quantity of applause and chaia bagne from the very first tho the aach french com company was besot with a ath troubles As tho the canal was not a government taking the work had to bo be lets let out to contractors and many of these proved to bo be dishonest they would tako take out the soft dirt collect the stipulated price per cubic yard and theil ga into bankruptcy at do gogola pla tho poll what not fiot brif only exacted the tha usua blacki blackmail tall but annoyed the company with all manner ot of litigation the aa tive courte invariably ruling the taft french worst of all were the yellow fever and malaria which killed off the engineers engl neora and laborers by the thousand in the last three months of 1884 tho the death rate per thousand was nearly and in september 1885 it reached sanitary science had bad not yet learned how to cope copa with these diseases and there to la every reason to believe that their ravages alono alone would have bavo been enough to insure the failure of do lesseps Les sopa enterprise without the gross grosa extravagance and tho the dishonesty that characterized the work the crash camo came in 1888 says mr edwards alter after eight years yeara of as brave a fight as man had eyer mado made against nature the bubble burst it Is estimated that stock had been issued to the value of oc two hundred and fifty million dollars it Is doubtful it half hal this sum bum ever got near enough to panama to bo be expended expanded on actual work acost oot of paper was hold held br french peasants and aad people of mod IT 1 crate means meana they had been led into it by the great name of de lesseps Lee you may bo be sure auro that nono none of the original promoters prom otera were caught with stock 4 t X K N al A 16 ap y Z rat ur S 3 at on their hands handa when the final break came tho the scandal was waa immense many gover government n me nt officials were in evolved the shame of it drove drova the old min man le la grand Fran francais cals insane ht hn died a few years later in an asylum the tha lympany went into the hands bands ot at a who organized the now new french canal company and this concern sold fold all its ita rights and property to the united states in 1903 many of its buildings ranging in size from do de lesseps Les sepa palace la in cristobal to houses for laborers borew la were found worth preserving and have been used by tho the americans the hospital buildings at ancon and colon were nearly all erected by the french when undo sam barn took hold of tho the canal work the jungle all along the route across the isthmus was found full of expensive machinery abandoned to tho the ravages of rust and decay of this was waa recovered and used in tho the earlier years of tho the american regime and even pov french dredges and locomotives como co tivis may mar be seen at work there nearly all the old french equipment however has been sold eold to a chicago wrecking concern which has been piling itne it up la fit orderly heaps and dispoto ing of it as scrap two parts of the actual work don un tho the canal by the tha french hay bava proved of great help to the Aze americans ricans those wor were the th dredging at the tha atlan allan tic tia entrance and the dry to lu the cubra cut |