to Nicaragua, is: From Greytown on the Caribbean Sea to the San Juan
River by canal, through this river to the lake, through the lake a
distance of over sixty miles in clear open water, then by the Lajas
River and by canal to the Pacific Coast at Brito. It will be seen that
about seventy-five miles of the course is in the rivers and over sixty
miles in the lake. Of course the waterway of the rivers will have to be
improved, but the cost of this is small compared to making an entirely
new cutting. The engineering expeditions have been over every inch of
the route to be traversed, and have made thorough examination both of
the surface conditions and of the formation of the soil, etc.

All engineers who have investigated the project unite in believing it
thoroughly practical and not subject to any extraordinary difficulties.

It was at first planned that the United States Government should build
and control this canal, but a bill for this purpose was vetoed by
President Cleveland on account of the conditions named by the Government
of Nicaragua.

In 1889 a private company was formed to undertake the work, but this
company has since failed. It is now hoped that bills can be passed and
financial arrangements made which will enable this company to finish the
work and the United States to control the canal. The estimated cost of
this canal is $150,000,000, and, as General Tracy said in his speech,
the saving, etc., will more than compensate the Government for the
outlay.

The importance of having this waterway joining the two great oceans has
long been recognized and is easily seen. The distance from New York to
San Francisco, when vessels have to go all the way around South America,