62 
THE PANAMA CANAL ROUTE 
construction of the Nicaragua route will be can never be told 
until the actual work is well under way. 
9. It is nautically the most important route, being more cen- 
trally situated relatively to the two continents. Its Carilibean 
terminus is as near by sailing and steaming routes both to the 
North Atlantic and European ports as is Greytown, while its 
Pacific terminus is far more convenient to the South American 
trade. 
10. Politically it is the only route at present possessing treaty 
rights under guaranteed neutrality with any isthmian country by 
which canal construction can be i^ermitted. The region through 
which it passes is American in interest and practically under our 
protectorate, and a neutral canal across it, even though the French 
construct it, would give us all the privileges now apparently to 
l)e obtained via Nicaragua under the Bulwer-Clayton treaty. 
The foregoing are the salient facts concerning the Panama 
route. An ini])ortant point to remember is that underground 
conditions, l)oth favorable and unfavoraI)le, and which were not 
antici])ated from the preliminary surveys, have Iieen encountered 
in the course of construction. For instance, the 25 kilometers of 
the canal on the Caril)hean side were contracted for and paid for 
as rock-cutting, when the material ]>roved to be, for the most part, 
the easiest kind of earth excavation. On the other hand, an 
utterly unlooked-for obstacle developed in the creeiDing of the 
clays for al)out a mile along the Culebra summit. These are 
geological considerations with regard to which we have alisolutely 
no information along the Nicaragua line, and it is urgently 
needed. 
Although not essentially pertinent to the subject of feasibility, 
a few words concerning the actual present status of the canal con- 
struction may he of interest. The com})any has passed through 
the ordeal of experimentation and financial fiiilure and its affairs 
are now in the French courts, under whose direction accurate re- 
searches have been ])rosecuted during the past year to ascertain 
the exact expenditures of the late company and to determine 
what steps are necessary to complete the work. Upon the report 
of the commission will depend the completion of the canal. The 
French people have put too much money into the enterprise not 
to complete it, and Americans need not deceive themselves with 
the expectation that the work is abandoned or that the company 
is utterly bankrupt. Almost the entire plant, including dredges. 
