654 



NICARAGUA. 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



Edmunds, by direction of the Committee on 

 Foreign Relations, reported favorably, in the 

 United States Congress, a bill to incorporate 

 the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua. 

 The bill creates Frederick Billings, Charles P. 

 Daly, H. L. Hotchkiss, Francis A. Stout, W. 

 B. Franklin, Daniel Ammen, William L. Mer- 

 ry, Horace Davis, Edward F. Beale, James H. 

 McMullin, Sheppard Homans, and their associ- 

 ates and successors, a body corporate, under 

 the name of the Maritime Canal Company of 

 Nicaragua, for the purpose of enjoying all 

 rights contained in any canal concession made 

 to them by Nicaragua or Costa Rica. The 

 committee say : " Looking to the large bene- 

 fits not only to the United States and the Re- 

 public of Nicaragua and her sister republics, 

 but also to the commerce and intercommunica- 

 tion of the whole sisterhood of civilized gov- 

 ernments on this globe, the committee recom- 

 mends the passage of the bill, in the hope that 

 the resources and enterprise of private citizens 

 of our country may be enabled to accomplish 

 this great work, even if our Government itself 

 is not yet ready to undertake it." 



Commander Henry C. Taylor, of the United 

 States Navy, in a lecture delivered before the 

 American Geographical Society, in New York, 

 on Oct. 8, 1886, described the plan of the 

 Nicaragua Canal, and added : " The estimate 

 is about $50,000,000, and $75,000,000 is pro- 

 posed for capital ; but if it cost $200,000,000, 

 we have a tonnage in the beginning which will 

 pay 6 per cent, upon the investment, and the 

 tonnage will increase largely. There can be 

 no doubt that, besides the ships now needing 

 the canal, a great additional commerce will be 

 created by the existence of such transit. The 

 estimate of the amount of tonnage passing 

 through the canal may now with justice be 

 raised to five million tons. Upon this ton- 

 nage, at a rate of $2.50 per ton which is 

 about the rate of toll through the Suez Canal 

 $12,500,000 would be the gross annual rev- 

 enue. In the estimates for a Nicaragua canal, 

 $500,000 has been allowed for the working ex- 

 penses annually, and this would leave a net 

 revenue of $12,000,000 with which to pay the 

 interest upon the cost of construction. Though 

 many able engineers believe that it can be built 

 for much less, I believe that $75,000,000 will 

 represent very closely its total cost. To those 

 who, like myself, are assured of a Nicaragua 

 canal in the future, it may be of interest to 

 consider it with reference to the United States. 

 From a point of view, strategic and political, it 

 may be said that if this canal were the south- 

 ern boundary of the United States, our need to 

 hold it would be overwhelming and unques- 

 tioned. These reasons for our holding the 

 canal would apply in the case of a canal along 

 any practicable route, but much more in the 

 case of a Nicaragua canal, for, if that route be 

 followed, the construction of the canal at once 

 establishes in the lake, in addition to the water 

 transit between the oceans, a grand interior 



fresh-water harbor within a few hours of either 

 ocean. A well-appointed dock-yard would be 

 established on the shores of the lake, or on its 

 lofty island of Ometepec. Hospital-sites and 

 camping-grounds for the crews of vessels would 

 be selected close to the fleet's anchorage, but 

 well above the fever-line, on the mountain- 

 slope, in a bracing and healthful air. Store- 

 houses and hulks, coal-piles and elevators would 

 give facilities for the rapid coaling and pro- 

 visioning of the fleet. Stone dry docks along- 

 shore, and floating docks sent from the United 

 States in sections, to be put together on the 

 lake, would offer opportunities for the quick 

 repairs of damages sustained in battle. Nica- 

 ragua has cordially offered to our Government 

 canal rights of inestimable importance. It is 

 not for us to know what wise reasons caused 

 our Government to decline this offer. Nica- 

 ragua has now and for years offered to certain 

 of our citizens a liberal concession for the con- 

 struction of a canal. These citizens are to-day 

 unable to accept this offer though anxious to 

 do so, because the fatal apathy of our capital- 

 ists and merchants denies to this project the 

 assurance of financial support." 



The saving in distance and time by canal 

 would be as follows : 



NORTH CAROLINA. State Government. The 



following were the State officers during the 

 year : Governor, Alfred M. Scales, Democrat ; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Charles M. Stedman; 

 Secretary of State, William L. Saunders; 

 Treasurer, Donald W. Bain ; Auditor, William 

 P. Roberts; Attorney-General, Theodore F. 

 Davidson; Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Sidney M. Finger ; Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture, Montford McGlehn ; Supreme Court : 

 Chief-Justice, William N. H. Smith ; Associate 

 Justices, Thomas S. Ashe and Augustus S. 

 Merrimon. 



Finances. The public fund is charged and 

 credited with all receipts and disbursements 

 not connected with the educational fund. The 

 receipts of this fund for the two years ending 

 Nov. 30, 1885, were $378,957.62 ; and for Nov. 

 30, 1886, $835,421.03. These receipts are sub- 

 ject to a deduction of certain special funds, 

 not constituting a part of the ordinary revenue. 

 They are as follow : 



