Show pica ci ima B 69 rea Y I 1 i A 45 J al 1 gro C P ay by ELMO blott WATSON IN N AU AUGUST 3 1114 1914 the first ocean steamer passed through the lie Palli him lloa canal newly completed tit 11 it 11 cost com it il 2 an anil I 1 hailed balled ns as one of if the alie greatest engineering frits of nil fill akes 8 Sl altin ix teen tin vears eals later inter finds the united states engaged in another vast engineering project which Is to supplement sipplen ml the lie nig big ditch opened in 1011 1014 down in lie he jungles of nicaragua a force of army enga led hv by maj dun dan 1 I sultan 0 S A of oxford miss Is cutting its way irli i the tropical vegetation of that region ind arid surveying a route for a proposed ocean to ocean canal across nicaragua ninny many americans to no doubt rou tit will wonder it if this additional link between the im and tile hie atlantic to n tic means that there s something wrong wron with the e panama canal and that those 00 were vere spent in aan vain As a nitter 0 fail fact it means nothing of the lie kincl the raf ludu industrial expansion of ohp united and tile the greatly increased vol 01 ol ume of f trade with the latin I 1 american republics lieve brought about such an increase of shipping through uli tile the canal that eliat already engineers oil and economists tire beginning ben to fear flint dial in it few drw more moie years it 11 will no longer longar he be able to dote date this hits vast mist volume when it was first ton con strutted ted it was believed bill eved that it would be dent clent for our needs for at least a century now within one sixth of that tine it Is ay iy operant ing ng at about 7 i per cent vp purity nelty so work on tile the chinal canal Is under way in the tintie that it will be available aal lable for use nse hv by the time the canal Is running at ak per cent capacity since tills this latest latell project will ill reduce by three days the time necessary nei esary for a vessel essl to to go from a port on one oal coast to a port on another it seems likely hat flint the construction of this new canal will so far ns as it Is ILIS possible SIble to predict now solve our shipping problem foi all time to ome come there Is another reason for the construction of tile the canal la Is defensive ns as well as economic it will be a n strong link in our national lot iona defense in that it will provide a supple can at which would be available lit in case anything should happen crippen to tile the one through b ian an anin in tills fits age of highly scientific warfare an all airplane pione might drop a single bomb which would render the panama canal useless for months find and this frier interruption of sea between the atlantic and pacific const might easily tiring bring disaster to tile the nation liming two cannis obviously reduces that danger one half As major Sul sultans tons engineers cut ut their wily way through the ju Jui juille ile their expedition Is more than a symbol of the fait fact that tit th united santes under an engineer president Is providing for the future needs of the nation for the nicaraguan looks both forward and backward the llie expedIt expedition Io n Is ia tile the outward sign that flint the year quest for a speedy route to the east cast which inspired columbus to still sail away into the unknown still engages the interests end ef forts of the notion that genoese sailor hns has been cajoled tile the father of this project and balboa cortez and other spanish explorers its god godfathers fathers it constantinople lind had not passed from chris don hands into moslem possession in 1453 clos ing the tie land routes mules to ardin and the orient tile discovery of tile the american cond continent rient night hilgh t have been postponed for centuries since its discovery the search for a shorter route bet between weIn the two great oceans tins has been ceaseless scarcely sann ely a generation erbit on has passed since the lie fourth voyage ol of lumbus when 1 natives allies ol of tile the west vest enaes in formed him lie he was n tiring a bairow place re fe tween theseas that i or another antion hns has not concerned itself with bridgI nj that narrow place of df tile the faily explored lortez cortez sperus to have been tile firs who the fact that the narrow place wits was not the tha strait they had expected to fino find ills plan to construct it canal hv by way of tehuantepec cut chort by b the treachery of ills followers were nere dorried on by ills til cousin alvaro de shoved i C biroc who I pl plans alls by four rodges by wn t darlen darien or canama very ery rob lou er s which receive so much atten tIc lo in the nineteenth century in 1107 phillp 11 1 had a suney made through in spite lit at nn an report he Is said to have pr fir the alie problem to the friars the lars ven en more perplexed thrift tile the icing finally quoted tile the ip tules tul es to allu what god hath joined together eipl no iiii man mail put asunder king philip therefore q 0 4 X X 2241 doca ir decided to abandon all attempts to lo divorce the two BO continents As early us 1825 we find our own country olive to tile lie importance of an canal tills this was aas the lie beginning of tile the urn era of multitudinous projects of lond loin and birnal building within our own jovn borders the hie following year sear the republic or of central america entered into info a contract with aaran it palmer In liner nn an american who unsuccessfully endeavored to organize a 0 company for the purpose of constructing nt HL canal the battle year england sent john ralley to surveys and to negotiate for a concession balley proposed imposed a route through nicaragua from san juan now Or breyton eyton town to lake nicaragua and thence to son san junn del sur on the pacific his negotiations nep for a concession were unsuccessful in president sent a mission to examine previously proposed routes in mccra gun arid and panama with a view to determining the practicability of the different projects the results reported were unsatisfactory and in january 1857 1817 jackson reported to congress that it was ft ns not ant eap exp alent to enter into the necessary necess nry negotiations nt at hiat flint tank the following follow ins year the alie mayor inn or ol of new york city aaron dark clark and others congress recommending that negotiations he be opened beaw between en new gra nada now colombia central america Ani erlin and tile aie powers piers of 0 europe I 1 crupe for the purpose ot of entering into a 0 general agreement for th promotion of a canal to connect tile atlantic and tile the pacific resident van burens agent recommended the lie nicaragua agut route na as tile lie most practicable the republic ot of new granada in the some same fear granted a conces concession slun to a french company viiu e report wits so attractive that flint in september 1843 a french officer was sent to im estimate lie recommended a canal from filmon bay to the lie Clia Cl ingres grea river below galun gatun to tile the buy bay of vaca de monte tile estimated cost coat was su so big high that the project was dropped and the concession wits was for forfeited felted the termination of 0 our war with Alex leo ridding california to the union and a settlement of the northwestern boundary bound arv question by which tile the united states came cintr poss possession esdon of oregon together will the discovery of gold in the new territory if hi commercial necessity tor for a canal the dun dan gers and exorbitant cost cosi ol of the lie existing means of 0 transportation arouse aro usei file government to action ratifications of treaty granting grant lag right of transit accost the file isthmus ol of panama Ilin ninn were ere exchanged with new granada in june 1818 A subsequent treaty with hy fly which in ID exchange for nn fin exclusive exclude we were to aid and protect kotec t un in nil fill defensive it rs failed of ratification in congress later a headed by bv cornelius vanderbilt secured tile the exclusive of excavating a ship canal from to any point un on tile col 0 V allds of chief engineer for the company reached a conclusion that a canal by bv tile the nicaraguan route was practicable only by bv following the valley of the sin san juan river to lake un anci anc from tint flint lake a choice of i or northwesterly course ills HIS report in 1812 which has beet tile the basis for till nil subsequent surveys was submitted to tho the engineers ot of the united states army col J J ahert abert und and col IV luni bull reported favorably on oft the plan recommending some changes and modifications the corporation falleti failed to take tahe decisive I 1 and the contract was forfeited toi felted I 1 the civil war var precluded tor for several years any further american attempts toward canal building in resident grants giants first message to congress recommended an american canal can il on amerlan can soil to be constructed by tie american peo 11 pie congress promptly responded by providing for further exploration in 1872 it a commission was appointed consisting of gen A A humphreys chief of engineers united states army C 11 patterson superintendent of tile coat survey nd cre daniel Ani amnier nien fillet of the lureau of of nf le 1 c united strafes nosy navy after a careful st si vey of the previously proposed routes in 1870 they unanimously recommended rn the nicaragua Mcarn gua route A french corporation in which lount count ferdl nand de lesseps wider of tile the suez canal was ivas it a member was organized after extensive extensile veys and considerable dlf ference of opinion the company finally in 1870 1879 decided upon a sea level canal from the lie gulf of union linion to the bay of panama another company was organized in 1881 with de lesseps as its head bead and work was ft us sturt ed unforeseen in the and troubles in financing developed and in 1881 the company passed into the hinds hands of a receiver after having excavated sonic some 5 GOO cubic yards of earth in the meantime 1884 a canal treaty between the united states and nicaragua Mar agun was negotiated while pending ratification in the senate it was withdrawn by tile the president for tile the renson that the proposed perpetual nillance alliance with ft ith nica mca bagua was as contrary to our foreign policy in the project was now extremely active and international in its scope each successive year lear almost witnessed tie making ot of a new treaty tile the granting of a new concession ond and the pursuance of further burthe surveys sur vess in 1894 a new french company was wag organized which offered to sell its rights nod and property to the united states tit ohp american commis commission which had previously recommended the nicaraguan aute ute chiefly because the price of 1001 set sel by the french was consider M t altered their beconi e eom men dallons ni favor 01 04 tile the panama a route e on january 18 1002 1902 at a new figure of the story of the actual construction of the lie panama canal by gen george W V goethals and ills his assistants Is too well pl known to need tion lure here bulky it so say thai flint the ast arst ocean steamer passed through it on august 3 1914 the day that froum und and erman exchanged declara eions of war since blue bl ue then the me HP of traffic a 11 become so grent that interest in a second canni by way of has been actively revival rel vel A treaty with Mr aragun signed by b them in I 1 IN rati ratified fled hv by us in 1910 secured to the called states exclusive rights li if perpetuity for the ron pon ot sinh a canal through ti nicaragua in the fall of to a congressional resolution it 11 batti tilon ol of engineer troops troop of file united santes three comp compa anlis a headquarters and a service sen ice platoon was vas sent to nicaragua in september two tao others one fron bioni the first engineers ill al rort fort Dul lupont lont pela dela a second from the lie twenty ninth engineers at a fort humphreys va u arrived there early in november in rill all there are some men and 25 boffl cers cera on off this fluty their duties consist of bringing th the old surveys up to date and to nuke make such additional surveys arid and scientific invest investigations Igat ions with the two benr period them that flint shou in wr r nt at some future time decide to eget elc else its privilege construction may be started 11 with a um of delay deftly E Q by western bit paver |