THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NICARAGUA CANAL 
lO 
for aiding the construction of this canal, has carefully considered 
the whole subject, including the operations of the cor[>orations 
mentioned above. Three favorable reports have Ijeen made — two 
by iNlr Sherman, No. 1944, Fifty-first Congress, Second Session, 
and No. 1142, Fifty-first Congress, Second Session. The last, by 
INlr IMorgan, No. 331, Fifty-second Congress, Second Session, on 
April 14. 1894, adopts and reprints the first two reports. It 
appears that the INIaritime Canal Company expended between 
October 5, 1889, and October 7, 1890, S3,099,971,and that the total 
expenditures of the construction compan}^ aggregate $4,451,508. 
The total length of the canal is to be 169.45 miles, of which 
26.78 miles will be excavated canal and 142.67 free navigation, 
and there will be three locks on each side of Lake Nicaragua. 
The cost of the canal, equipped for full service and extending to 
deep water in both oceans through completed harbors, was esti- 
mated by Chief Engineer A. G. Menocal at $65,084,176, includ- 
ing 25 per cent for contingencies. These estimates were increased 
l)V a revisionary board of five distinguished engineers — J. Bogart, 
E. T. D. Myers, A. i\I. Wellington, H. A. Hitchcock, and C. T. 
Harvey — to $73,166,308, which amount other special contingen- 
cies augmented to $87,799,570; interest charges would raise the 
grand total to $100,000,000. The Senate committee states, how- 
ever, that all work done has fallen within ]\Ir Menocal ’s estimates. 
The reports dwell upon the value of this interoceanic waterway 
to the United States, strategically, politically, and also econom- 
ically. The committee })laced the outside limit of the cost of the 
Nicaragua canal at $100,000,000, and it therefore recommended 
that the United States guarantee $70,000,000 of 3 per cent bonds, 
which would vest the United States with the ownership of 70 
})er cent of the entire capital stock. 
The final outcome of this report was the authorization by Con- 
gre.ss of the ai>pointment of a commission of engineers to examine 
and report upon the route and surve3's of the Nicaragua canal. 
This commission, consisting of Col. \\h P. Ludlow, U. S. Arm}' ; 
M. T. E ndicott, U. S. Navy, and Alfred Noble, in the summer of 
1895 examined the route and such of the work as had been done, 
ami submitted its report to the President, by whom it will be 
transmitted to the ])resent Congress. 44ic character and sub- 
stance of the report have not been odiciall}' made public. 
fi'he New York Herald of November 25, 1895, put forth de- 
tailed accounts of the ri“])ort, which lack ollieial eonlirmation. 
'I'he salient le'atures of this article set forth that the commission 
