THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1913. THE PANAMA CANAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 27 February 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1913. THE PANAMA CANAL.

An article in a recent issue of iScribner's Magazine, by Mr J. B. Bishop, secretary of the Isthmian Canal. Commission, is of special interest in view of the early completion of the gigantic undertaking. Air Bishop states that when Do Lesseps inaugurated Ms scheme in 1880, yeliovv fever and malaria were the twin scourges,that lpshed the two terminal towns of Colon and Panama, and all the tropical" in-sect-tormented juligle between. Science bad not then discovered that one species of mosquito wa<s the car-' ricr of the yellow fever germ and another distributed malaria. Excavations were started in 1881, . but in March, 1889, they ceased owing to lack of funds. A French syndicate then assumed charge of the property, and continued the works at Culebra, but the operations snowed no indications of finality, and President Roosevei'o persuaded America to take the project up, which it did fin 1902. The death-rate during the' operations of the French company was frightful. During the nine years covered by that period it is estimated that two out of every three Frenchmen who went to Panama '.left their bones there, 1 and tho total number of labourers who perished was 22,000. Never was any great engineering work since the dawn of .history carried out even by slave labour at anything like such an awful •cost in human life. .Nothing more 016c|.uent of the disasters that befel tho French enterprise could be witnessed than the abandoned excavations 'locomotives and cars—mere toys beside the enormous appliances that have -since been installed —which tfit French left on the isthmus in !SBs. and which for -some years .after the. Americans had taken over the task stood by tho wayside, covered with a living growth of vino and palm and foliage. "The record of French, effort and failure at Panama,'' writes Mr Bishop, "with its mingling of folly, absurdity, greed, and heroism of the highest quality, is one of themost pathetic a.s it is one of tho most diverting in the history of 'human endeavour. The project was doomed to failure from the outset, and was fairly rushed to destruction by reckless and rascally management, but itdeserved to succeed because of the rare courage and patriotic devotion of tho men, many of them the very fewer of young France, who did the work in tho field." His saiccess in cnmnleting the Suez' Canal had convinced De Lesseps that no obstacle could bar his progress in digging the canal at I'anamn. And it was to tie a sea-level canal Iko that at Suefc, in spite of

the reports of tho 1 experts Unit a canal of that type wiis impossible. At 75 years of ago. tho enthusiastic oicl fanatic went out to Panama, accompanied by his wife ar.d family, by an international technical Commission, and by a party of American visitors. He devised a'grar.d and impressive ceremony to marl: tho first biow of the pick*at tli 9 Par-ino entrance of t.lio prospective canal. He cbvcerod a small .steamboat to convey tho party to the month of the river, where tliey were to disembark and witness tho ceremony, and a .cargo of provisions and cha in pa erne was also put on hfi-ard. Owihg to the rapid ebb of tho tide in the' Bay of Panama the steamer strcHv fast on a shoal and the party coirld not land. Bub De Lossops was not beaten. He bad: an empty champagne case filled with earth, and the first, bl'-iv of the pick" was delivered noon this hollo-,v mockery of the real thing by his little daughter on board t'n,> ' steamer. afi a r which there was more feasting and oratory. Later en the intr-vp:r|--'onl technical Commission yen-rri-.'d vliat the canal would cost 168.000.000 dollars, and would 4- n ] C o eii'ht- venr-s to construct. Do l/osseps waived their report, aside and nnnounce-l it would cost o-nlv dollars. That was to be Hie cp-nit'il of +V conmany. He went over to X'".v York to ' disown of shares. .->r»d received with flattering att-ent'on. but thevAmerlean :inanwould mt look at his shares, n nd Presiden+ Hives sent, a snecial r.-.eo-sajrp to the Senate a-vowincc the principle that "the-policy of this oonntvv is a canal iinr l "" American control. Baffled in the States, he worst] back to France, made a. tow of the principal c-itie-s, and .spoke with suca eloquence that the wlmle of the "•a.s subscribed for twice over. The French put up their money handsomely, and sent out the flower of their young men to plan and supervise and control the carrying out of tho work. And of all those, who went out two out of every three died of fever or disease, and Do Lessens concealed the fact and -.niggled with the kow>ital .returns so that there was no falling off in tho supply of victims to bis stupendous ambitions. In France De Le-sseps collected more money and still more, and .sent it out to Panama to he, wasted on bribery and corruption, ,hrgo salaries for high officials, and extravagance of every kind. In TBRS. when things were beginning to buik black, De Lessens visited Panama to make a tour of inspection. He wore a ."flowing robe of gorgeous colours like an Eastern .monarch," and he rode a prn"c.ing horse in front . 'fa procession. He was crowned, with i. laurel wrea+h and acclaimed "-s the "genius of the nineteenth century." Tn IRS9 the .crash came. It was found ■ that the French company had received and spent .-£52,000.000, that about one-fourth of the work had 'been dene, i and that 2000 Frenchmen had lost . their lives. Be lesscps was sentenced . to five years' imprisonment at the age of 88. He died soon afterwards.