CONGRESS, (ill) Ni ARAOUA CA 



cress of the Khedive of Egypt, confirmed by the 



,r Mattmte.theMilinn<>( Turkey, 

 The original stock subscription WM 897,488 

 of WO fmnot each. Of this ram the 



Kh-hve of Egypt look 17W* shares, nearly 

 half th cntirr tck. and garr the ri^ht tin- 

 o.mj*in l<> ilnniuiil fnun tin- (iovcrnment the 

 UU>r .-f the f.-ilnhin. .r native laborers, at the 

 nil.> of 1J to? franc* |N r da>. with a rat 

 1 piaster a day. or 4* <vnt m rice, sorgo, dates. 

 MM! onion*. At one lime more than 985,000 of 

 the*e people were at work on the canal. 

 -The British Governim-nl afterward, in No- 

 r. 1878, bought the shares of the Go\ 

 of Egypt for 3^78,582. and now 1,.^ the 

 anil m:. rol of tin- ml in- canal. 



This canal was built under conceal n~ to he 

 Lessens and a company he was authorized to 

 form under a decree of the Khedive, similar to 

 that formed under the laws of the t'nitcd states 

 by the Maritime Canal Companv. but not nearly 

 to well guarded nor so just. The Kln>di\< . in 

 the first concession, retained the power to name 

 the director of the company, in the Egyptian 

 Government, chosen as far as possible from those 

 most interested in the undertaking, and he also 

 reserved to the Egyptian Government, yearly. 15 

 par cent, of the net profits shown in the balance 

 sheet of the company. 



-This concession also provided that on the 

 expiration of the concession at the end of 

 ninety-nine yean the Government (not the Khe- 

 dive) was to succeed to the company, enjoy all 

 iti right*, and enter into full possession of the 

 canal. The same provision is in the concessions 

 of Nicaragua and: Costa Kica. with the option 

 to the canal company to extend the period to 

 aiM-ther term of ninety-nine years. 



-The Egyptian concession* also provided that 

 no alterations could be made in the statutes of 

 the company (its by-laws and regulations) with- 

 out receiving the previous approbation of the 



-The Suez Canal being entirely within Egyp- 

 tain territory, it is difficult to conceive of a case 

 of more complete governmental control than 

 was in that case exercised over the canal in 

 all its stages by the Government f i 

 Then facts correct the as^-rtion. aoOMtUMI 

 made, that governmental control over such en- 

 terprises is not necessary, and has not been exer- 

 cised in the case of the Suez Ca 



- If the Nic-araguan Canal w. re built independ- 

 ently of the I* nited States, with private capital 

 alone, the only legal power left to us to < 

 the conduct of the company is the power re- 

 served to amend or repeal the charter. The 

 eonoessiom made by Nicaragua and Costa lii.-a 

 belong to the Maritime Canal Company, and are 

 not amenable to the power of the I nited States 

 until the consent of the owner is given. That 

 company can *!! these rights to whom they 

 DMtta, except to some government, and the 

 repeal of the charter would <,niv dissociate the 

 United Slates from all control of the canal, and 

 the owners to go elsewhere for the corpo- 

 rate authority contemplated in the concessions, 

 whuh they can now freely do, without any law- 

 ful p^r.wer in Congress to prevent them. 



idently true that unless this canal is 

 built with the aid of a subvention from the 



United States we mn-t abandon the 1; 

 opening this water way until \\< aredtd 



ai-ijujp- from Nicaragua and Co>ta Una MI. h 

 lomiuioii in their terntori. 

 the KrelinghiiVMtn-Zavalii treaty. f..r the i 

 as 1 believe, thai the Senate \va- a|tprehen-i\' 

 that Midi a footing in Nicaragua as we a-Mjuin-d 

 by that treat v was violative (f tlir p: 

 \ion-l';ul\ver treaty. 

 :he future i- li. (!-<! in, tin- pa 



cable, and we inu>t r aliaiid<>M the 



(anal to its fate. 



al.and.-n thN canal now. when the.! 

 its success stands so invitingly <>p< ti. i 

 sponsibility that I am tm willing to assume, 

 a dereliction that I f< -ar our j.e..ple will i 

 ^i\-. The proent situation, tl, 

 coasts on the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean- l.\ 

 15,000 miles of dangerous navigation, \Ou-h <aii 

 be overcome or lessened l.y two thirds l>y the 

 investment, at a profit and without dai 

 loss, of $70,000,000 of our credit, will bea 

 la-tin^' dixTedit to this p-neratimi if we do not 

 at least attempt to alt 



* The shortening of our coastwise line of t raflic 

 between the Atlantic and Pacific States would 

 alone demand the expenditure of such a MIIU 

 without the hope or expectation of nth 

 vantage to come from it. We have taught the 

 Oriental nations the use of naval power in great' 

 steamships of war, and so formidable are they 

 upon the ocean that it becomes us to duplicate 

 our navy in the Pacific Ocean. The trade of 

 that ocean is eagerly sought after l>\ all the 

 great maritime powers, and the completion of 

 the Siberian Railroad, now well advan 

 KusMa. will make our interests in the \\ 

 ini|H>rtant as they are in the Kastern \\ati-r>. 

 We already have more need of fleets in the 

 l*acific than in the Atlantic Ocean. With thin 

 canal we could move our ships of war upon short 

 lines with abundant fuel, and concentrate a 11. .t 

 hi three weeks upon our we.-tern coast that we 

 could not assemble in three months by doubling 

 Cape Horn. 



" In case of war with any transoceanic lK>wer 

 we could certainly occupy the canal or t 

 jacent waters sooner than they could. (| ur 

 proximity to nnd interest in tlie canal would 

 'us amoral power in this hemisphere that 

 would keep the peace in all America n 

 domestic turbulence and foreign assauh 

 just influence in the commerce of the \\ 

 Hemisphere would then >]e. ( |i!y ripen into 

 richer harvests of profitable trade 'than all that 

 we now enjoy. N.-w York would then i 

 the commercial clearing house and marl 

 change at least for American men ham 

 did not find that in it- man h to the w. 

 empire of commerce would establish it- throne 

 in that mctrofiolis. 



Ibre this great subject \\ id. ns uni il it 

 to comprehend the advancement of e\. r\ Amer- 

 ican interest, and to aiou-e the proud h ; 



: ican citizen. The general welfare of 



all America will be advanced with a mi-lity 



-s by this canal. With one accord, in 



quarter they raise their hands in implora- 



tion to Congress, and with united acclaim they 



demand that we shall work while it is yet day 



for this great national blessing. 



