THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL PROBLEM 97 



to prosecute the work, when the proper time should come, 

 as a purely national undertaking. 



The Grace Company also encountered numerous diffi- 

 culties. According to the provisions of its very liberal con- 

 cession, it was to begin its corporate existence on October 

 9, 1899. Six months from that day, i.e. April 9, 1900, it 

 was expected to be fully organized and equipped for work, 

 and four months from the date of its complete organization 

 it was expected to pay to Nicaragua the balance of the 

 $500,000 deposit. The members of this syndicate felt secure 

 in their rights and reasonably satisfied with the outlook. 

 They awaited judgment upon the Maritime Company case, 

 confident that their rivals would be forever silenced by decree 

 of the improvised court. They asserted perfect organization as 

 a company, and their ability to furnish the funds necessary to 

 complete the construction of the canal; and they declared 

 themselves to be ready to pay the sum of $400,000 still due 

 to Nicaragua, the moment a demand should be made for it. 

 Incidentally they considered their franchise worth 15,000,000. 



On the other hand, the syndicate was embarrassed by nu- 

 merous difficulties. The good will of Nicaragua herself, 

 an essential to success, was apparently lost. A decided 

 coolness toward the company on the part of the conces- 

 sionary government developed into outspoken disfavor. 

 Nicaragua maintained that she blundered into granting the 

 Cragin-Eyre franchise through a false belief that the syndi- 

 cate represented a governmental project, and that it had the 

 support of the President and the Congress of the United 

 States. To-day Nicaragua expresses her desire to deal with 

 the United States directly and to rid herself of private 

 companies, in all of which she has lost faith. In the second 

 place, the Grace Syndicate never won the support, nor even 

 the confidence, of the men in the United States Congress 

 who control the canal committees. Indeed, Congress was 

 disposed to regard the syndicate as a speculative concern 

 whose claims might be safely and properly ignored, should 

 Congress decide to build the canal as a government work. 

 The growing conviction of Congress that the government 



