504 



INTEKOCEANIO CANAL. 



study the sum which should reasonably be ap- 

 plied to the construction and maintenance of 

 the canal in view of the possible traffic. 



The Committee on Statistics, in its report, 

 recommended a canal cut down to the level of 

 the sea, and without locks, as the only profit- 

 able plan, as no canal with locks would be able 

 to accommodate a traffic sufficiently great to 

 yield a revenue which would return an ordi- 

 nary rate of dividends to the stockholders. 

 The minimum paying traffic at the toll-tariff 

 proposed of 15 francs per ton was estimated 

 at 6,000,000 tons per annum, or an average 

 traffic of 8 ships of 2,050 tons per diem. This 

 traffic would not be distributed evenly over 

 the year. A traffic of 6,000,000 tons per an- 

 num would correspond to one of perhaps 16 

 ships a day during the commercial season, 

 which during the busiest season, that succeed- 

 ing the Californian wheat-harvest, would in- 

 crease probably to an average of 24 ships 

 daily. The only profitable kind of a canal, 

 therefore, would be one which could allow of 

 the passage of at least 50 vessels a day for 

 many days together. The passage of an ocean- 

 vessel through a lock would occupy probably 

 two hours at the least calculation one hour 

 allowing from half an hour to an hour for the 

 filling and emptying of the lock-chamber, and 

 as much time for the slowing of speed when 

 approaching the lock and the time required in 

 getting under way again after leaving it. A 

 single lock would therefore limit the number 

 of ships which could pass through in a day of 

 24 hours to from 12 to 24. The amount of 

 traffic which would naturally have passed 

 through the canal in 1876, had it been com- 

 pleted, was 4,830,000 tons, 3,500,000 tons 

 from one side and 1,330,000 tons from the 

 other. The increase in the commerce of the 

 countries to whose ports the canal would be 

 the avenue has been 6 per cent, per annum 

 for the past fifteen years. Calculating the fu- 

 ture annual increase at only 5 per cent., the 

 probable traffic of the canal in the year 1887, 

 the date at which the canal might reasonably 

 be expected to be opened, would amount to 

 7,250,000 tons, 5,250,000 tons from one side 

 and 2,000,000 tons from the other. 



The Committee on Economical and Commer- 

 cial Questions dwelt in its report on the short- 

 ening of the distance between the ports of the 

 Atlantic and those on the western side of the 

 American Continent, and between the Atlantic 

 seaboard of the United States and the coun- 

 tries of the Orient and islands of the Pacific. 

 The distance from Liverpool, Havre, or New 

 York to San Francisco by sea is now 18,000 

 miles. Not only would the cocoa, the guano, 

 the copper, the niter, and the wool of South 

 America, and the wheat and other products of 

 California, reach their markets by a much short- 

 er voyage, but the storms of Cape Horn and the 

 calms of the equinox would be avoided. The 

 countries which would most profit by the canal 

 would be the Pacific states of South America 



and the republics of Central America, and their 

 commerce in the above-cited products, as well 

 as in vegetable ivory, cotton, alpaca-fleeces, 

 sugar, cinchona and other barks, and vegetable 

 essences, metals, and tropical food-products. 

 Central America, particularly, would find for 

 the first time a vent for its rich productions 

 a region which is not only the natural home 

 of the most valuable vegetable products, such 

 as cotton and other fibrous materials, coffee, 

 cocoa, sugar, indigo, cochineal, rice, maize, 

 caoutchouc, the finest cabinet and dye woods, 

 and a thousand other choice products, but 

 which contains a great variety of undeveloped 

 mineral resources, iron, copper, lead, 'gold, sil- 

 ver, sulphur, and precious stones, and the other 

 valuable minerals which are known to exist 

 there. The nation, however, which would de- 

 rive the most immediate benefit from the inter- 

 oceanic canal would be the United States. As 

 79 per cent, of the commerce which passes 

 through the Suez Canal is in the hands of the 

 English, so the Americans would monopolize 

 the navigation of the new gateway between 

 the oceans. 



The Committee on Navigation recommended 

 that the canal should have a minimum depth 

 of 8'3 metres, and a breadth of 25 metres at 

 the bottom and of 70 metres at the surface, 

 which could be lessened to 30 metres in the 

 rocky parts. If a canal with locks should be 

 decided upon, these should have a width at the 

 gates of 22 metres and a length of 150 metres. 

 The locks should be so limited in number and 

 so disposed as to allow of the passage through 

 the canal of 50 vessels per diem. If the canal 

 at sea-level should be chosen, the same width 

 should be adopted, as it would be necessary to 

 accommodate sailing vessels as well as steamers. 



The Technical Committee, to which the ex- 

 amination of the various schemes was con- 

 fided, reported in favor of the route between 

 the Gulf of Limon and the Bay of Panama, 

 and recommended the construction of a canal 

 without locks at the tide-level. 



The Committee on "Ways and Means, calculat- 

 ing on the basis of a prime cost of 600,000,000 

 francs, to be expended during a period of con- 

 struction of eight years, and upon a gross reve- 

 nue of 90,000,000 francs per annum from an av- 

 erage traffic of 6,000,000 tons at the rate of 15 

 francs per ton, estimated that there would re- 

 main an annual surplus of 42,000,000 francs after 

 deducting 37,500,000 francs, interest on the to- 

 tal invested capital of 750,000,000 francs at 5 

 per cent., 6,000,000 for the annual cost of main- 

 tenance and operation, and 4,500,000 for the 

 royalty to be paid to* the state granting the 

 right of way, taken at 5 per cent, of the gross 

 revenue. It advised the employment of the 

 negroes of the West Indies and Louisiana in 

 building the canal. It recommended that the 

 rate of toll should not exceed a maximum of 

 15 francs per ton, which is 50 per cent, greater 

 than the tariff of the Suez Canal, and corre- 

 sponds to the greater cost of the present under- 



