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Show THE ISTHMUS CANAL. When General Grant began to draw his linc3 ' about Vicksburg, he had in mind a plan to reduce the place by siege. After a few days he became i satisfied that the plan was fatally defective, but he was there for a purpose and he never for a moment mo-ment contemplated raising the siege. So he rearranged re-arranged his lines, ordered the gunboats above , the city to run the gauntlet of the shore batteries, that they might co-operate with him below the ( city, and in a day and night changed the whole face of the pitiless environment. It was his in- j. dividual work. His most trusted officers believed the whole thing impractical and impossible, but they were all fighters and were willing if need be B to attempt the impossible. And all of them save J General McClernan had faith in their commander. 1 Those who visit the place today are lost in won- J der that the place was ever captured, and when all the prejudices of the present generation pass j away the verdict of history will be that the capture cap-ture of Vicksburg places the name of Ulysses Grant on a level with all the greatest captains of the ages. Well, the government of the United States has undertaken the task of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a modern canal of sufficient suf-ficient proportions to accommodate the tremen- . dous ships which modern men build. It is a bad place. The earthquakes have set the formation there on edge; to build, support and make the canal safe and effective is a greater work than it ' was before the days of steam and dynamite to . j uplift the great pyramid in the valley of the Nile. We do not say that the work cannot be done. 1 Money and modern engineering may be sufficient to carry through the tremendous achievement. But the government of the United States can plead only military necessity for doing what the boldest capitalists would shrink from, for capital expects interest on its investments, and the Panama Pan-ama canal will never pay interest on its cost. What Senator Scott said on the subject a week ago was full of truth. There is a better route through rock in places with better terminals below be-low Panama, but opening on the Pacific side into Panama bay. It can be completed in one-third the time, at one-third the cost that the present route car be opened, and when finished will never be an a prehension to mariners nor to the government. gov-ernment. General Grant changed his mind at Vicksburg, and by doing so made clear that he was one of the foremost soldiers of all time ; Con- ) gress and the President, before real active work ; is inaugurated on the isthmus, should order a re Jj examination of the southern route, and if the ex- , animation confirms the original survey and report, i should change. ' By that route, the canal can be completed in three years, at a cost which will insure a generous gener-ous interest on the investment for all time; it will ! - - ..- - ,. .1 -Mr..". - pass through a region vastly healthier than the present contemplated route can ever be made; it will make possible a beautiful American city on j tHd Pacific side every interest, either from a 1 sanitary, commercial or financial point of view, seems to urge that the change be made. |