COLOMBIA. 



191 



The Panama Canal. M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, 

 President of the Universal Interoceanic Panama 

 Canal Company, by letter dated Paris, January 

 11, asked the President of the New York Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, James M. Brown, to appoint 

 a delegate or delegates to accompany him on 

 his voyage to Panama, where he intended to 

 begin the period of final execution of the mari- 

 time canal, a similar request having been ad- 

 dressed to the Chambers of Commerce of 

 France. He added that delegates from Eng- 

 land and Germany would join the French rep- 

 resentatives. The invitation was accepted, 

 and John Bigelow, of New York, was appoint- 

 ed as delegate. M. de Lesseps arrived at Colon 

 on February 17. Some months previously he 

 had applied to M. Brisson, then Prime Minis- 

 ter of France, for the .Government sanction, 

 necessary, according to French law, before 

 lottery bonds can be issued by a company. 

 The amount that M. de Lesseps desired to 

 raise in this way was 600,000,000 francs. The 

 Government sent out a commission composed 

 of eminent engineers to make a thorough in- 

 spection of the work, the four gentlemen com- 

 posing ic being M. Armand Rousseau, Special 

 Commissioner, Inspecteur-G6neral des Ponts 

 et Chaussees; Chief-Engineer M. Jaquet; In- 

 genieur Luys, and Major de la Semette. Hav- 

 ing concluded their labors, they arrived at New 

 York on February 20 on their return to France 

 via, Canada. 



Mr. Bigelow accompanied M. de Lesseps and 

 party to La Boca, on the Pacific side, returning 

 to New York early in March, about the time 

 of M. de Lesseps's departure for France. On 

 June 27 the committee elected by the French 

 Chamber of Deputies to report on the bill pro- 

 posed by the Minister of Public Works, author- 

 izing the Panama Canal Company to issue a lot- 

 tery loan of 600,000,000 francs, met and elected 

 M. Germain Casse president of the committee, 

 and M. Compayre, Secretary. Both these gen- 

 tlemen were decidedly averse to the project ; 

 in fact, out of eleven members composing the 

 committee, eight were strongly against the bill, 

 two favorable under certain conditions, and 

 but one unconditionally so. Simultaneously 

 the report of M. Rousseau was distributed to 

 the members of the Chamber. Its conclusions 

 were, that the canal is a possible undertaking; 

 that it is now carried to such a point that its 

 abandonment can not be thought of, as such a 

 course would bring disaster not only to the 

 share-holders of the company, who are nearly 

 all Frenchmen, but also to French influence in 

 America; that it is evident that, if the enter- 

 prise were allowed to fail, it would be imme- 

 diately taken up by a foreign company, which 

 would reap the credit and profit from it. But 



the Government has no control over the plans 

 and contracts of the company, and ought ot 

 give no guarantee of any kind to the company. 

 M. Rousseau concluded the report by declar- 

 ing that the completion of the canal, with the 

 financial means and limit of time calculated by , 

 M. de Lesseps, seems to him more than prob- 

 lematical, unless the company makes important 

 alterations in its present plans. When the com- 

 mittee asked that contracts should be produced 

 in order that it might examine them, M. de Les- 

 seps refused to show them. The Government 

 thereupon withdrew the Panama Canal Lottery 

 Loan bill from the Chamber of Deputies. 



Meanwhile, April 16, Mr. Bigelow had pre- 

 sented to the New York Chamber of Com- 

 merce his report, in which he says : 



All the conditions under which this work is to be 

 conducted are peculiar and exceptional. It is in a 

 foreign state, under a weak and unsettled govern- 

 ment, in one of the most unhealthy regions on the 

 continent, subject to earthquakes, within 450 miles 

 of the equator, and under a tropical sun, where accli- 

 mated laborers only are of any service. Should they 

 not increase the present .average, it will take from ten 

 to fifteen years to finish" their contract, even should 

 they suffer no unforeseen delays or interruptions. It 

 certainly is not progressing at present at a rate which 

 warrants the hope of its completion in 1889. 



On July 29 a meeting of the Panama Canal 

 Company was held at Paris. M. de Lesseps 

 read a voluminous report, in which he said 

 there is not a section of the canal which is not 

 contracted for, and that the sanitary condi- 

 tion is satisfactory. During the past year the 

 mortality was 5 per cent., not more than the 

 average mortality on public works in Europe. 

 The report cited statements of M. Levassseur 

 and the Americans Admiral Davis and Engi- 

 neer Kelly and the Dutch engineer of the 

 Vannehus estates, to prove that the receipts 

 will amply suffice to pay large interest on all 

 the capital probably 6 or 7 per cent, on 

 a capital of two milliard francs or, in other 

 words, do a traffic of 7,250,000 tons, and earn 

 therefrom a revenue of 108,000,000 francs. 



M. de Lesseps pledged himself to open the 

 canal in 1889, within the cost estimated by the 

 Congress of 1879. 



The aggregate expenditure, during the fiscal 

 year 1884-'85, was 141,852,777 francs, and, as in 

 former years, since the incorporation of the 

 company, there had been spent 354,009,199 

 francs, the total amount reached, on June 30, 

 the sum of 495,862,076 francs. But there is 

 to be deducted from it the sum of 24,729,260 

 francs not yet paid, reducing the actual dis- 

 bursements to 471,132,816 francs. Deducting 

 the latter from the share capital of the com- 

 pany, the 250,000 bonds of 1882, the 3 per 

 cent, bonds of 1883, and the 341,292, 4 per 

 cent, bonds of 1884 together, 713,104,368 

 francs there remained on June 30, 1885, the 

 sum of 241,971,552 francs. The new 6 per 

 cent, loan was for the time being limited to 

 225,000,000 francs, and placed on the market 

 during the last week of July by all the French 



