THE PROGRESS OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL. 



By ELIHU THOMSON. 



(Read April 19, igo?-) 



It was the privilege of the writer to be one of a party which 

 visited the Canal Zone, as it is termed, on March i and 2 last. The 

 expedition was organized for an inspection of the conditions and 

 progress of the work there going on. In view of the conflicting 

 accounts which from time to time had been published, plans for a 

 visit and personal inspection of the actual conditions were matured 

 last fall. 



The party was composed of about ninety men, members of the 

 Commercial Clubs of Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis, 

 many of whom are at the head of large enterprises of varied charac- 

 ter in the cities mentioned; often closely connected with public 

 activities. There were presidents and other officers of railway, 

 express, power and other public service corporations, managers of 

 mills and varied manufacturers, heads of commercial enterprises, 

 banking institutions, fire insurance, and a few professional men 

 such as lawyers and engineers. The mayor of the city of St. Louis 

 and ex-Governor Francis, the president of the Louisiana Purchase 

 Exposition were of the party. 



A steamer of the Hamburg-American Line, specially fitted up 

 for travel in the tropics, and chartered for the trip, sailed from New 

 York on February 18 with about twenty passengers, mainly the 

 Boston contingent, and reached Charleston, S. C, two days later, 

 where the members from the western cities embarked. After a 

 direct run to the island of St. Thomas, of the Danish West Indies, 

 and a brief visit to Porto Rico, the ship left the southern port of 

 the island, Ponce, for Colon. During the run about nine hundred 

 miles southwesterly from Porto Rico, much time was given to 

 securing an effective organization of the passengers, so as to obtain 

 as much information as possible in a short time. To this end there 

 were formed eight committees each composed of from ten to twelve 



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