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pensive building was put up near La Boca. The preparation of the grounds, the building, and the roads thereto, cost upwards of $150,000.

"The way money has been thrown away is simply astonishing. One canal chief had had built a famous pigeon house while I was on the Isthmus lately. It cost the company $1,500. Another man had built a large bath-house on the most approved principles. This cost $40,000. Thousands and tens of thousands have been frittered away in ornamental grounds, for all had to be beau, utility being a second consideration."1

The following figures are taken from the report of Mr. Armero, a Colombian officer, which was made up to June 30, 1886, that is to say about four years after work was actually commenced:

"Excavations of 14,000,000 cubic metres, $28,000,000; material purchased, $22,000,000; combustibles, $3,800,000; explosive material, $1,300,000; purchase of Panama Railroad, $18,685,088; encampments on the line, $9,000,000; Central Hospital of Panama, $5,600,000; Hospital at Colon and ambulances, $1,400,000;

1 Five Years at Panama. Wolfred Nelson, M. D. Out of print.

stables, $600,000; carriages and horses for employees, $215,000; servants for employees, $2,700,000; mules and wagons, $125,000; buildings for offices, private residence for the manager, country seat for the same, grounds, etc., $5,250,000; parlor car for the same, $42,000; sanatarium at Toboga, $465,000; indemnity to commissioners (sent to Panama at the Canal Company's expense to report on the canal), $2,000,000; indemnity to contractors (for company's failure to carry out certain contracts), $2,300,000; wages of employees on the line, $5,000,000; offices at New York, Paris and Panama, $8,400,000; police on the encampments, $2,300,000; pharmaceutical staff, $4,800000; interest at five per cent on capital, $30,000,000. Total, $154,509,088."

The inexpert eye may, without difficulty, see graft sticking out all over these figures. Actual excavation accounts for less than one-fourth of the total expenditure, which considerably exceeds De Lesseps' estimate for the complete work. The essential expenses amount to a comparatively small proportion of the whole. Wages of employes on the line amount to less than two-thirds of the sum expended on the offices

Briefly stated, De Lesseps proposed a canal at sea level with a uniform depth of 272 feet. Its length was to be 451⁄2 miles, extending from Colon to Panama. A large tidal basin was to be constructed at the Pacific end to counteract the effect of the difference between the tidal oscillations in the two oceans. This waterway was to be finished in eight years from the time of the organization of the Company.

With a permanent staff of engineers upon the ground, reliable information regarding the undertaking began to accumulate, and it all pointed to the conclusion that the task was very much greater than the promoters had imagined it to be. Nevertheless, De Lesseps adhered to his original estimates until 1885, two years after the inception of the construction. At a meeting of the shareholders in that year, he asked for an extension of the time to July, 1889, and increased his estimate of cost to $120,000,000. But, at this time, barely one-tenth of the required excavation had been made and it needed no great mathematical skill to calculate that at the same rate of progress and expenditure, the work would occupy twenty years and cost a fabulous sum. Moreover, the methods of financing and the extravagant management of affairs had

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