THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL PROBLEM 77 



stock ; new contracts were made with the Canal Construc- 

 tion Company, and the digging of the Nicaragua Canal ac- 

 tually began. Hon. Warner Miller of New York was made 

 president of the Construction Company. Having raised 

 funds sufficient to undertake his contract with the Maritime 

 Canal Company, he pressed the work in Nicaragua with 

 great energy. Within one year the stipulated 12,000,000 

 had been expended to the entire satisfaction of an exacting 

 government in Nicaragua. In three years nearly five mill- 

 ions had been spent. Seemingly insurmountable difficul- 

 ties were overcome in building a line of railroad thirteen 

 miles from the coast to the foot-hills across the lagoon, 

 through the tangled masses of swampy jungle that inter- 

 vened. A canal two miles long was dug, breakwaters at 

 Greytown were constructed, the harbor was dredged, and 

 altogether satisfactory progress was being made when the 

 financiaLpjmic of 1893 compelled the Construction Company 

 to suspend all operations. Despite all efforts to stem the 

 tide of adverse fortune, it soon after fell into the hands of a 

 receiver. 



The officers of the Maritime Canal Company constantly 

 exerted themselves to keep fresh the lively public interest 

 which had been exhibited in their project from the beginning, 

 and their efforts were rewarded by many demonstrations of 

 public enthusiasm. In January, 1891, the Senate Committee 

 on Foreign Relations framed a bill authorizing the govern- 

 ment to guarantee an issue of one hundred millions of the ; 

 Maritime Canal Company's bonds and to hold as a pledge a I 

 controlling interest in the stock of the company. Although 

 the measure, which was warmly supported by Senators Sher- 

 man and Morgan, did not becoma_I_aw, this incident of the 

 committee room served to demonstrate the trend of public 

 thought upon the matter of governmental control of any Cen- 

 tral American ship canal that should be built. 



There was one reason in particular why the idea of gov- 

 ernmental aid to the great undertaking continued to grow 

 in popularity. The tragic failure of the Panama Company 

 had made a strong impression upon the minds of investors. 



