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The Commoner
1
14
VOLUME 6, NUMBER 49
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and Interoceanic railroads, which it
will thus control, as they are at pres
ent in the control of the National. It
is believed that by a reduction of the
general charges, the elimination of
competition, the economical routing of
freight and by the increased develop
ment of the properties the new com
pany will not only be able to meet its
fixed charges but will earn at an early
date dividends on its first and second
preferred stock.
: The banking houses interested in
the transaction are composed of the
firms of Ladenburg, Thalman &
Co.. of New York, bankers of
great trust evils suffered by the Uni
ted States. lie gave as the two other
chief reasons for the government's
action assertions that the merger
would avoid friction between'the Mex
ican Central and the national lines,
and the prospect of realizing consid
erable economies through the con
solidation. He maintained that the
government was forced to the merger
by the action of certain railway sys
tems in the United States.
Following is a dispatch to the Chi
cago Tribune:
City xt Mexico, Dec. 16. Minister
ti,d Movionn cnnfrni rniiwnvr SnRvo.r I ot Finance Limantour, in a speech re
& Co., of New York, bankers markable for its straightforwardness
..'.. ... - - I lino ninaontar1 rn nnncvooo rlio vnn3rric
of the National lines, ana minn,
Loeb & Co., of New York, who
represent the Mexican Central Secur
1 ities company limited, of London. In
addition, some of the largest bankers
of Paris, Frankfort and London are
interested in the . banking syndicate,
thus forming a combination -of extra
ordinary strength and international
scope. The National Bank of Mexico
will participate in the financial oper
ations. .'"Negotiations were first commenced
by Pablo Martinez del Rio in Feb
ruary with a view of bringing the
Mexican Central in touch with the
Mexican government. The prefect
was subsequently discussed by Minis
vvter Limantour, whilo en route to
fc Europe in May last and also during
Minister Limantour's stay in Europe.
The negotiations in a more definite
form became active while Mr. Liman
tour was in New York on his return
trip from Europe. They were finally
; breach t p an issue in the last 1sw
.days &urig v,tit of Eben Richards,
VVoament of the Mexican Central, and
personal representative of Henry Clay
Pierce and Walter T. Rosen, of the
firm of Ladenburg, Thalman & Co.,
representing the foreign bankers.
Mexico City, Dec. 14, In a speech
" before congress tonight Minister of
Finance Limantour explained the rea
sons for the railroad merger just con-
, summated by the republic. He de-
clared that if this step had not been
1 taken the great railroads of the Uni-
tted States would have absorbed the
- properties. This, he said, would sad-
dleon the Mexican people one of the
has presented to congress the reasons
which prompted the government to
consummate the great merger by
which the republic comes into posses
sion of the two great trunk lines of
the country, together with thousands
of miles of subsidiary lines. With
the control of the National and Cen
tral, together with dependent lines,
the Mexican government practically
owns all of the big operating lines of
the country.
The most remarkable statement in
the minister's speech was that to the
effect that the government was. forced
to go into the railroad business on a
larger scale because of fear of what
he styled the great railroad trusts of
the United States. He said that if
this defensive action had not -been
taken by Mexico some of the great
systems of the United States would
enter the republic and swallow its
transportation facilities.
This he characterized as "a peril
which is alarming the people of the
great northern republic."
In his speech there occurred an im
portant forecast which intimated that
the merger was only the beginning of
a great plan. Minister Limantour de
clared that the Mexican, government
had decided to vigorously enter the
railroad field.
After delivering his speech he pre
sented a bill at the request of Presi
dent Diaz, the speaker said, asking
that the session of ' congress, which
is about to close, be prolonged that
the whole situation might be carefully
considered by the deputies and the
senators.
The President's Message
On Monday, December 17, President
Roosevelt sent to congress a special
message relating to the Panama canal.
The president gives a detailed de
scription of his visit to Panama. He
says he was three days ashore which,
while not a sufficient length of time
to allow of an exhaustive investiga
tion, was enough to enable him to ob
tain a clear idea of the salient features
of the work and of the progress that
nas been made as regards the sanita
tion of the zone. He chose the month
of November for his visit, partly be
cause it is the rainiest month of the
year, the month in which the work
goes forward at the Greatest rtiqarl-
vantage. The president says that each
day from twelve to eighteen hours
were spent "In going over and Inspect
ing all there was to be seen and in
examining various employes."
The president pays a tribute to the
amount of work done by the French
Canal company under very difficult
circumstances and says that this coun
try never made a better investment
this was the first great problem to be
solved, but that it was solved, the
work being done under the direction
of Dr. W. C. Gorgas who, the presi
dent says, "is to be made a full mem
ber of the commission." He pays a
tribute to the management of hos
pitals, and the treatment of white and
black patients.
Just at present the health showing
is remarkably good. During the last
six months there has been a steady
decline in the death rate. In October
there were on the rolls 5,500 white
employes, seven-eighths of them being
Americans. During that month there
were ninety-nine deaths and but two
of these were whites. In October
there were 19,000 negroes on the rolls,
eighty-six of whom died of disease.
The president says that a successful
war is being waged upon the mos
quitoes and adds: "At Corozal there
is a big hotel filled with employes of
the Isthmian Canal Commision, some
of them with their wives and families.
Yet this healthy and attractive spot
than when it paid $40,000,000 to the was stigmatized as a 'hog wallow' by
French company. He says that con
gress was right in refusing to adopt
either a high level or a sea level canal
and that there seems to be a univer
sal agreement among all people com
petent to judge that no mistake was
made when the Panama route was
chosen. He says that great wisdom
was shown by the canal management
in the preliminary work.
Referring to sanitation he says that
one of the least scrupulous an.d most
foolish of the professional scandal
mongers who from time to time have
written about the commission's work."
The president says that astonishing
progress has been made in the cities
of Panama and Colon with respect to
the sanitation work. He speaks in a
complimentary way of the work of
giving water supply to the city of
Colon and accompanies his message
with a photograph of a lake from
which this water supply is obtained.
He also" sends a number of other
photographs "of what I saw while I
wa3 on the isthmus." In this connec
tion he bitterly criticises what he calls
"an amusing as well as dishonest at
tack" made upon the commission in
connection with the Colon reservoir.
The president says that he drank this
water and found it excellent and he
sends a photograph of this reservoir
also "as I myself saw it and as it has
been in existence ever since the art
icle in question was published." The
president adds: "With typical Amer
ican humor, the engineering corps
still at work at the reservoir have
christened a large boat which is now
used on the reservoir by the name of
the individual who thus denied the
possibility of the reservoir's ex
istence." The president says that he investi
gated many complaints and that al
most without exception they were not
Well founded or the fault was due
"merely to the utter inability of the
commission to do everything at once."
He says that the police force nutn
bers about two hundred men. One
fifth of these are white and the others
black. The black men came largely
from the British army, or from the
Jamaica or Barbados police.
The school service is under Mr.
O'Connor. White American teachers
are employed for white pupils; for
the colored pupils there are also some
white American teachers, one Spanish
teacher and one colored American
teacher, but most of them are colored
teachers from Jamaica, Barbados and
St. Lucia.
The president says there are too
many saloons in the zone and adds
that the new high-license law which
goes into effect January 1, will prob
ably close four-fifths of them.
The president says:
"The cars on -the passenger trains
on the isthmus are divided into first
and second class, the difference be
ing marked in the price of tickets. As
a rule second-class passengers are
colored and first-class passengers
white; but in every train which I
saw there were a number of white
second-class passengers, and on two
of them there were colored first-class
passengers."
He says of the 'nineteen or. twenty
thousand day laborers on the canal
a few are Spaniards, some are Ital
ians, but that in the main we shall
have to rely for the ordinary unskilled
work partly upon colored labor from
the West Indies, partly upon the Chi
nese labor. On this point the presi
dent says. "It certainly ought to be
unnecessary to point out that the
American workingman in the United
States has no concern whatever in
the question as to whether the rough
work on the isthmus, which is per
formed by aliens in any event, is done
by aliens from one country with
a black skin or by aliens from
another country with a yellow skin.
Our business is to dig the canal as
efficiently and as quickly as possible;
provided always that nothing is
done that is inhumane to any labor
ers, and nothing that Interferes with
the wages of or lowers the standard
of. living of our own workmen.
Having in view this principle, I have
arranged to try several thousand Chi
nese laborers. This is desirable both
because we must try to find out what
laborers are most efficient, and, fur
thermore, because we should not leave
ourselves at the mercy of any one type
of foreign labor. At present the great
bulk of the unskilled labor on the
isthmus is done by West India
negroes, chiefly from Jamaica, Barba
dos, and the other English posses
sions. One of the governors of the
lands in question has shown an un
friendly disposition to our work, and
has thrown obstacles in the way of our
getting the labor needed; and it is
highly undesirable to give anv
siders the impression, howler in
founded, that they are indispensable
and can dictate terms to us " uaaui
The president directs special atten
tion to what ho calls the "imperatlvo
necessity of providing ample recrea
tion and amusement," to the canal em
ployes. . Concerning the actual work on the
canal which is under the control of
Chief Engineer Stevens, the president
says great progress has been made.
He minutely describes the work which
he says "is going ahead without a
break." He says that during the last
three months in the rainy season
steady progress is shown by these
figures: In August 242,000 cubic yards
of earth was taken out; September,
291,000; October, 325,000. In one place
the entire side of a hill was taken
out recently by twenty-seven tons of
dynamite, which was exploded at one
blast. At another place the president
was given a salute With twenty-one
charges of dynamite. On the top
tatents! Trademarks!!
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JEFFERSON'S BIBLE
'W
THE
LIFE AND MORALS
OF
I JESUS OF NAZARETH
Extracted Textually from the Gos
pels, together with a comparison of
his doctrines with those of others.
BY
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Jofforson's ralsslou was leadership. With
out un effort on his part expressions from
his lips, that from other mon's would scarce
ly have attracted notlco, becamo thenco
forth nxlomB, creeds, and gathering-cries
of groat massos of his countrymen. licnry
8. Rundull.
Jefferson's Blblo Is a book of 1C8 pagos,
woll printed and substantially bound in
cloth. It was published originally to bo sold
for $1.00 por copy. By purchasing tho book
In largo numbers wo aro able to offor Com
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Address all Ordors to
THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Nebr.
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The Commoner
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