Show foreigners AND THE CANAL it Is not thinkable that the american people will consent to allow a group of foreign engineers standing in opposition to our own engineers to establish the conditions under which the esth canal is to bo built assurance from our own engineers ought to be enough and must surely be enough to satisfy both the government and the people just why a group 0 foreigners should have been invited to give judgment upon a question of american policy it is difficult to un der stand the opinions of professional engineers are of course important as related to the practicability of the different methods of canal construction but it is not proper for any body of engineers either foreign or domestic to determine what the policies of the american government shall be the question now to be determined is between two plans of construction both of which from an engineering point of view are authoritatively declared to tie practicable now as to which of these plans Is expedient Is not a question for engineers but a for statesmen we believe that both the president and congress will look at the matter in this light wo decline to believe that they will feel bound to double the appropriation of money and to double allowance of lime for canal construction simply because a half doneso foreign engineers have asserted their preference for a sea level as distinct from a lock canal |