THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL PROBLEM 95 



distinguished engineers, General (then Colonel) Ernst, 

 U.S.A., and Professor E. R. Johnson of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, a noted student of commerce and economics. 

 With the generous sum of a million dollars to defray ex- 

 penses, the new commission organized and proceeded to 

 Central America. 



After this final series of crushing blows, only that hope 

 which springs eternal in the human breast could have in- 

 duced the promoters of the Maritime Company to continue 

 their fight for existence. Their only chance for success 

 had been in the fidelity of Congress to their cause ; now, 

 in their darkest hour of adversity, the Senate had all but 

 deserted them. It was upon the Senate they had chiefly 

 relied, but now that body had passed a Nicaragua canal meas- 

 ure which utterly ignored them, and Congress had adjourned 

 in March with the creation of a new commission whose duty 

 it was to examine and report upon other routes as well as 

 upon their own. Their one course to pursue was to in- 

 duce Nicaragua to extend their privileges beyond the 9th of 

 the following October the fatal day upon which that state 

 had arranged to celebrate the company's obsequies. Now, by 

 the last article in the Maritime Company's concession, it is 

 provided that : 



Any misunderstanding that may arise between the State of 

 Nicaragua and the company in regard to the interpretation of the 

 present stipulations shall be submitted to a court of arbitrators 

 composed of four members, two of which shall be appointed by 

 the State and two by the company. 



These arbitrators shall be designated by each of the parties 

 within the period of four months from the day on which one of 

 the contracting parties shall have informed the other in writing 

 of the want of agreement on the point at issue. Should one of 

 the parties allow the aforesaid term to pass, it shall be considered 

 as assenting to the opinion or claim of the other. 



The company's last hope lay in this clause, and the directors 

 sought to strengthen their position before Nicaragua by press- 

 ing their claims for a hearing through the State Department. 

 The latter assumed the burden with some hesitation, and a 



