COLOMBIA. 



125 





and Germany 16 per cent., leaving 15 per cent, 

 for other countries. The Panama Railroad in 

 1900 carried westward across the isthmus 153,- 

 758 tons of goods, of which 60,518 tons were from 

 New York and 54,905 tons from European ports, 

 and eastward 203,619 tons, of which 118,670 tons 

 were for New York and 77,219 tons for Europe. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at Barranquilla and Sabanilla in 1898 was 266, 

 of 441.673 tons; cleared, 263, of 442,777 tons. The 

 number entered in 1897 at Panama, Colon, Santa 

 Maria, and Cartagena was 923, of 1,213,110 tons; 

 cleared, 919, of 1,210,629 tons. The merchant 

 navy in 1898 consisted of 7 sailing vessels, of 

 1,770 tons, and 1 steamer, of 457 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads in operation in 1901 was 400 

 miles, while 76 miles were unfinished and 330 

 miles were projected. 



The post-office during the two years ending in 

 1898 carried 2,794,069 letters and postal cards, 

 1,233,313 newspapers and circulars, and 161,217 

 packets. 



The telegraph-lines had a length of 8,600 miles 

 in 1898. The number of messages in two years 

 was 1,388,388, besides 9,887 cablegrams. 



The Panama Canal. The company formed 

 by Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1881 to construct a 

 tide-level ship-canal across the Isthmus of Pan- 

 ama from Panama to Colon, 46 miles, raised 772,- 

 545,412 francs before the middle of 1886, but was 

 forced to go into liquidation and suspend the 

 work on March 15, 1889. An extension was ob- 

 tained in March, 1893, to enable a new company 

 to be formed, and in 1894 the company was 

 organized and agreed to complete the canal in 

 ten years. The term was, in 1900, extended for 

 six years longer, till March 31, 1910. It was 

 estimated that the canal might be completed with 

 locks, the tide-water level having been abandoned, 

 at a further cost of 512,000,000 francs. The 

 directors, who at first demanded $109,000,000, 

 when the Isthmian Canal Commission' recom- 

 mended the Nicaraguan route to Congress, esti- 

 mating that the work done on the Panama ex- 

 cavation was not worth over $43,000,000 and 

 that it could not be worked with profit if a 

 higher price were paid, made an offer on Jan. 4, 

 1902, to sell the unfinished canal and all its 

 franchises and rights for $40,000,000. The matter 

 was referred to the Isthmian Canal Commission, 

 which now recommended the purchase and the 

 completion of the Panama Canal in preference 

 to one through Nicaragua, estimating that the 

 canal could be completed in ten years and that 

 it would cost $45,630,700 less to complete it than 

 to construct the projected Nicaragua Canal. The 

 French company excavated for 10 miles on the 

 Atlantic side and 15 miles on the Pacific 

 side, the sections at tide-level. Considerable 

 work was done also in the Culebra cut, the high- 

 est point above tide-water, which will be cut 

 down to something over 100 feet above the 

 sea. There were 2.500 men at work there in 

 1902. The advantages of the Panama over the 

 Nicaragua route are, that although the latter 

 is shorter to ports on the Atlantic and Gulf 

 coasts and those of the Pacific coasts of the 

 United States, the Panama route is the shorter 

 one to South American ports and more direct 

 between Europe and all Pacific ports; that the 

 more tortuous Nicaragua route would probably 

 not be navigable at night and vessels would take 

 thirty-three hours to pass through, whereas they 

 could go through the Panama Canal in twelve 

 hours; that the cost of maintenance of the Pan- 

 ama Canal would be only $2,500,000, a saving of 



$1,000,000 a year over the Nicaragua route, with a 

 saving too of interest on $5,030,700, the difference 

 in the cost of construction. The damming of the 

 San Juan river is a difficult engineering problem 

 on the Panama route, and on the other silt offers 

 difficulties and there is some question of pos- 

 sible volcanic disturbances. Both routes are un- 

 healthful and demand much attention to sanita- 

 tion. Besides the property and franchise of the 

 Panama Canal Company, the title of which is 

 clear, having been transferred to the new com- 

 pany by the receiver of the original company, 

 it was considered necessary to acquire a strip 

 of land 6 miles wide, in order that the canal 

 may be policed and protected from unsanitary 

 conditions. To obtain this it was necessary to 

 have a new concession from the Colombian Gov- 

 ernment. After having concluded a contract 

 with the existing Panama Canal Company to 

 pay $40,000,000 in cash for the surrender of its 

 perpetual lease and all right and title to the 

 canal, all contracts and machinery, and the rail- 

 road running from ocean to ocean, subject to the 

 title being valid and to ratification by the United 

 States Congress, Secretary Hay entered into 

 negotiations with Sefior Concha, the Colombian 

 minister. He agreed in behalf of the United 

 States Government to pay $7,000,000 in cash and 

 an annuity of $600,000 to the Government of 

 Colombia for the absolute surrender to the 

 United States of 3 miles of land on either 

 side of the canal for its entire length and author- 

 ity over 5 leagues of the sea at either en- 

 trance. The United States Government under- 

 took to expend immediately at least $15,000,000 

 to install proper machinery and appliances to 

 complete the canal and to employ an increased 

 force of American laborers to do the work. A 

 great part of the work already done will have to 

 be reconstructed. The plans of the French en- 

 gineers have been much enlarged to provide for 

 a canal accommodating three times as great a 

 tonnage as the Suez Canal carries now. The 

 waterway is to be 47 miles long and to have a 

 depth of 35 feet and a width at bottom of 150 

 feet, instead of 30 feet of depth and 70 feet of 

 width as originally designed. It will be possible 

 for 4 steamships of 30 feet beam to pass one 

 another at any spot without danger. A traffic 

 of 7,000 vessels a year is expected; 12,000 vessels 

 can be taken care of. Between European ports 

 and those of the Orient the saving of distance 

 by the Panama route is 4,000 miles. Between 

 American ports on the Atlantic and the Pacific 

 the voyage can be made, in most cases, in one- 

 fifth of the time now consumed. Experts cal- 

 culate that the canal will return a net profit 

 on the capital expended of 6 per cent. The Pan- 

 ama Railroad, acquired with the canal, is valued 

 at $7,000,000. During the work of construction 

 it will be useful in carrying men and materials, 

 and when the canal is completed in transporting 

 passengers from one port to the other. The total 

 cost of the canal, including the purchase nioiu-v. 

 is estimated at $130,000,000. The Panama Canal 

 Company could not transfer its rights to the 

 United States Government without first obtain- 

 ing the consent of the Colombian Government. In 

 the negotiations with Nicaragua and Costa Rica 

 respecting the Nicaragua Canal. Nicaragua stip- 

 ulated for a payment of $6.000,000 and Costa 

 Rica for $1,000.000, with a nominal rent of $25,- 

 000 a year to Nicaragua and $5,000 to Costa Rica, 

 serving as evidence of their sovereignty over 

 the land traversed by the canal transferred by 

 a perpetual lease to tlie United States. Colombia, 

 for $7,000,000 and an annual rental of $600,000, 



