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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1907)
THE SUNDAY OREG0NIAX, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 20, 1907. WELL THE 10 i.. ' L .1.1.111.1 -111 IIII.II.IU -I I ' Mil I.IJISJM I I 1 MlWmmw lfff; N rM h . . f . f V&fflfX. . AfM'X B I ?... "... .i ' . -ir tt.xi f .ft II I ! 1 ? ' - I 8 4 tfwl" I . , - . gi. ,,:.sMI Port Tewfilc, at the BT FHAVK G. CARPENTER. WILL TUB Panama Canal pay? My investigations at Port Said and Suez show that it will, and that Uncle Sam will some day find It his most profitable investment. I have just come through the Suez Canal, and am now on a jfrman ateamer anchored in Port Tewfik, not far from its southern mouth. Our trip from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of S'lez tok just 18 hours, and it cost the ship a toll of $400 per hour. For the privilege of passing through it had to pay 17600. and, in addition, $2 for every man, woman and child on board. All the canal company did in this case was to reach out its hand and take in the money. The ship had to furnish its own coal and team its way through, and this money was merely for the privilege of passing. But this ship is comparatively small. Its tonnage is only 5000, and many of the vessels now going through are much larger. Nearly every day steamers pay 110.000 eacn for their passage, and tolls of $15,000 and J20.000 are not uncommon. TVhen an army transport passes the men on board are charged J2 a head, and this adds enormously to the canal receipts. Indeed, a war which knocks down all other stocks sends that of the Suez Canal ky high. ( What) the Suez Canal Pays. If Panama should pay proportionately with Suez, the. United Statea Government will realize from it something like 14 per cent every year out of it. The money actually Invested In the canal of Suez was tlOO.000.000. and its -eceipts last year were ever J22.000.000. After paying all Its run ning expenses it has more han $14,000,000 left for dividends and other purposes, and Its stock Is now worth more on the mar ket than that of the Standard Oil Com pany. Within the past year or so the rates of toll have been considerably reduced, but they are still $1.50 per ton on every ship which passes through. The tonnage now amounts to between 13,000,000 and 14.000,000 per year, and it grows right along. It has almost doubled since 1S94, and the ratio of Increase Is such, as estimated ty T. P. Shonts, the formep head of the Panama Canal, that if It continues the receipts will bo quadrupled by the be ginning of the next century. At that time It will be over 40,000.000 tons, and for ton nage alone, not including the charges for passengers, it will then bring in the enor mous sum of $75,000,000 per annum. Mr. Shonts thinks the Panama Canal will be open to traffic in 1914, and that 5,000.000 tons of shipping will pass through the first year. The rate will be higher than that now paid at Suez. It will probably be $2 per ton. and at that Panama will Siave for its first year a gross Income of $10,000,000. not counting the passenger tollz. Asplylng the same ratio of increase which the Suez Canal has developed since Its beginning, the volume of the Panama Canal at the close of the century will mount to more than S2.0U0.000 tons, and, at the then reduced rate of $1.60 per ton, Its Income should be $48,000,000 per annum. Mr. Shonts has estimated that if we make the sea-level canal it will cost us $272, W0.000, and that the lock canal can be built for about half that sum. With such dividend prospects In view, the question of the Initial expense does not matter. John Bull's Big Bargain in Canal Shares. The Suez Canal is now controlled by the British. It was originated by a Frenchman, financed by French bankers and engineered by French brains, but the bulk of the profits go to John Bull. When Ferdinand Oe Lessens proposed to build the canal the English sneered at the sug gestion. When he got a concession from the Khedive, Said Pasha, they actually opposed Its construction, and they did everything they could to clog the work. ' fl iIK:;r lunN Presents awfijr i -1 a attiv .-- - south. end .of the canal The French received no help from any other nation, but nevertheless they went on. They began digging in 1SS9, and it was Just about ten years later that the waters of the Mediterranean were al lowed to flow through Into the Red Sea. The canal was opened In November, 1869. and In the following year about 500.000 tons of shipping went through it. In less than five years this had Increased to more than 2,000,000 tons, and the gross Income to almost $5,000,000 per annum. The British then saw that it was a good 'thing and cast about to find some method of getting control. They suc ceeded through Ismail Pasha, who was then on the throne of Egypt. Old Ismail was one of the most extravagant tyrants who has ever squeezed money out of an oppressed people. He had aided the French in building the canal, and had spent something like $20,000,000 on the ceremonies by which it was opened. He had borrowed money at 30 and 40 per cent interest, and was head over heels in debt. In-the allotment of shares 17G.O0O out of the 400,000 had gone to the Egyp tian government, and when the Khedive became hard up he concluded to put them on the market. The English Cabinet got wind of the matter, and at the same time the French Minister at Cairo telegraphed Paris that unless f'France bought the Egyptian shares tomorrow they would be purchased by England." At that time parliament was not In ses sion, but Lord Beaconsfleld and one or two others took the responsibility of mak ing the trade. They borrowed $20,000,000 from the Rothschilds, and before the world outside had any idea that the bar gain was pending they had the whole of Ismail's stock in the British treasury and John Bull had the control. He had not, it Is true, 51 per cent of the entire capi tal stock, but the other holdings were so scattered that the seven-sixteenths which he owned gave him the whip hand, and that he has held ever since. As it Is now, no large block of the com mon stock appears to be held by any In dividual, corporation or other govern ment. Indeed, at a meeting of some years ago. the largest shareholder, out side of Great Britain, was a Frenchman, who had a little more than 1500 shares. That $20,000,000 was one of the best In vestments John Bull has ever made. At Its present market value his stock is worth $155,000,000, and It has gone up more than $1,000,000 during the past year. He has already received from It more than $60,000,090 in dividends, and by his control of the canal has enormously Increased his power and prestige among the nations of the world. His money gain, however, is not quite as great as that of the origi nal 'stockholders. They paid only about $100 per share, while he paid a little more than $113. If the Panama Canal turns out anything like as well. Uncle Sam will have money to burn. 1 Panama Versus Suez. I know the Panama Canal well. I vis ited It in 1S98. It was In the hands of the French company. I have spent sev eral weeks there since the Americans have been In control. I have gone over it from end to end with our engineers; have watched the new steam shovels gouging the earth out of the Culebra Cut and have traveled in a canoe down that part of it which is to run through the bed of the Chagres River. I have also gone through the Suez Canal at three dif ferent times and have made notes of its construction. The two undertakings are vitally dif ferent. The Suez canal Is little more than a great ditch through the desert, and although It Is just about twice as long as that planned for Panama, it does not compare with the latter In its me chanical difficulties. The ground here is comparatively level. That of the Pan ama route is up hill and down; it goes right across the backbone of the Andes, and we shall have to take out of the eight or ten miles of the Culebra cut as much earth and rock as the Egyptians lifted In their whole 100 miles at 'Suez. The amount excavated here was 100, 000.000 cubic yards, or Just about 100.- 000,000 tons of dead weight. While I was at Panama Mr. Wallace, who was then the chief engineer, told me that the rock taken out of 7ulebra would be 100. 000,000 cubic yafds, and, as I figured It then, it would just equal a ditch three feet wide and three feet deep and long enough to go two times around the 25.000-mlle globe with 10,000 miles of ditch to spare. This great ditch at Guez. however, was so made that the dirt and sand taken out could be thrown on the banks and left there; that of the Culebra cut has to be carried by cars some miles away, and the greater part of the material is rock rather than sand. It is so hard that most of It has to be blasted out, and It re quires heavy machinery to handle It. The Suez canal was excavated almost by hand. Twenty thousand and more of the Egyptian fellahs were employed upon it at a time, and they scooped up much of the dirt In their hands and carried it away in baskets. They were paid from 10 to 15 cents a day at the start, and boys under 12 got only 5 cents. After a time they were not paid at all. The khedlve agreed to furnish them, and they worked for the French under the lash just as the Hebrews did for the Egyp tians in the days of Pharaoh, ages ago. Our steam shovels are estimated to toe each equal to the work of 500 men. We have some which will lift five wagon loads of earth per minute, gouging It out of the hills and dropping It on to the cars. When the canal construction is in full play we shall have 100 such shov els in operation both night and day. They will be equal to a force of 50,000 men, and we shall be able to handle our excavation more cheaply than, the French did that of Suez. This will be so, not withstanding our native labor will be paid from 10 to 30 and more times as much as the French paid the Egyptians. Such Americans as are working at Pan ama are getting more money than they can make In the United States, and the native carpenters, painters and masons are receiving more per hour than the Egyptians received per day. With the present canal-dredging machinery and steam shovels this work at Suez eould probably fee reproduced at one-half its actual cost, and the-, actual cost was probably quadrupled through the money spent in graft, extravagance and high In terest rates by the French and Egyptians In connection with It. When Ismail Pasha was forced from the throne he left Egypt In debt to the amount of $500, 000,000, the most of which was directly or indirectly caused by the canal. What Egypt Gets. One would think that Egypt ought to receive a big revenue for the right of way through her country and the canal which her money and her people prac tically built. By the original concession with Said Pasha she was to receive 15 per cent of th& net profits for the entire term of the concession, which was 99 years. But after Ismail Pasha was de posed the Egyptian government, find ing itself without money or credit, sold this claim on the profits to the credit fonder of France for a little more than $4,000,000, and the only Interest it now has in the canal is in the trade which the ships passing through bring to the country. Had Egypt retained that 15 per cent it would have received last year more than $2.C00.000 out of the tolls, and within a few years it could have re couped itself for all Ismail Pasha's ex travagances. During the term of the concession it could easily have repaid its debt to Turkey, and could have made itself the richest country of the world. As it is, the canal, with all Its property, becomes the possession of Egypt in 1968, when the canal receipts, at the present ratio of increase, will be so enormous as to make this little country with its comparatively small population about the richest of alL the world. I spent all last night on the Suez canal. It was the afternoon when our ship left Port' Said, and .as night fell we were in the heart of the Libyan desert. The air was clearer, and tha the - s 5ailm through th Bitter Lakes. '-TaawiteM.il. . am mag-..;. A 5-tation on the. scenes were weird but beautiful. The stars ot the tropics, brighter by far than our stars at home, made the heav ens resplendent, and a great round moon of burning copper, turned the famous waterway into a stream of molten silver. We could look out over the silent desert as we plowed our j way through and now and' then see a caravan of long ungainly camels, with their ghost-like riders bobbing up and down under the moon. Our own path way was made brighter by the light of) electricity. We had one blazing globe GREAT CHEFS' COOKING Most of Them Prefer French Methods to American Style. WHETHER or not there is a distinct ive American style of cooking Is the question which has been raised in many qaurters since tl.o departure of Albert Neumann, chef to the Crown Prin cess of Germany, who came over to this country especially to learn its mysteries. He went back with many ideas and recipes, but th experts in the art culi nary insist that be did not travel enough to gather sufficient material from which to judge. Stlyes of cooking vary all through the United States, although In the fashion able hotels and restaurants the French standards predominate. From the boiled dinner of New England to the gumbo of New Orleans Is a far cry, and In between are many modes of preparing food. The German chef found much to commend In the homely clam chowder and he had a good word for apple pie, while he dwelt with eloquence, as he stood in the kit chen of the St. Regis, upon the flavor of terrapin cooked In the Baltimore style and praised the American methods of pre paring shellfish. American cooking Ib an art which Is as slow of development as a complete sys tem as Is a distinctive National architect ure, for, although there are numerous styles In vogue In various sections and localities, all of them have not as yet been built into a system of epicureanism which can be branded with an American name. Differentiation in the cookery of the United States is largely dv to certain foods which are not to be obtained in Europe or are obtained there with much difficulty green corn is now being culti vated to a limited extent In France, and In the Paris Herald recently have ap peared advertisements of Frenchmen who have it for sale. The well-known restau rateurs on this side of the water who were asked for their views as to the num ber of distinctively American dishes in variably mentioned sweet corn as first on tht list. "Why should it not be so considered?" said Mr. Oscar, of the Waldorf-Astoria. "Surely maize or corn is indige nous to the soil of this continent, and the Indians, who were the first Ameri cans, cooked It In their own way. It is now being introduced Into France as a food, and several gentlemen are cultivat ing it on their estates. The numerous ways of preparing this vegetable are cer tainly American, from plain boiling to the complicated corn fritter. "Frankly, I do not think that there is any style of American cooking, for in the Frank G. Carpenter a Study of the Suez Canal in the Light of American Big Ditch lilllllfiil canal banlcs at our masthead, fed by a dynamo on deck, and another at our prow. The latter threw Its rays this way and that across the channel .. in front of the steamer, turning the waters to an opa lescent blue, reminding one of the Blue Grotto of Capri. We passed many ships. In the distance they appeared only as two blazing eyes shown by the reflectors which all vessels are re quired -to keep lighted, as they pass through. As the ships came nearer they rose ghost-like up from the wa ter, the masses of hulls and rigging best hotels and -restaurants the French methods prevail. One of the best Ameri can dishes that I know of is chicken fried In the good old Southern way, such as the negro mammy prepares it. That and the corn fritter which goe with it certanily make and excellent dish. Ter rapin Is also peculiarly an American dish, and In Baltimore it is prepared In an ex cellent manner. "In fact there are many of these dishes in- various paA of the United States which have their merits, but for the steady diet I think the French style of cooking Is the best. I do not deny that many of the dishes. like fried chicken a la Maryland, are delicious, but one must be a little careful about adopting them as a steady diet. I think that the French will hold their supremacy even In the kitchens ot high-class American hotels and restaurants for some time to come. The . many tripe which . are made to Europe by Americans these days have a tendency to spread the foreign methods of cooking and on their retwrp they de mand the same here which they have had on the other side. "I have observed here, .however, that there Is a tendency to cut down the eight or nine course dinner to three or four, but there Is a corresponding increase in the demand for foods of the very finest qual ity and. cooked In the best of culinary art. It is for the physician to say what Is best in matters of this kind, but the value which one receives from his food Is largely measured by the individual taste." Louis Sherry, who for many years has catered to the epicures of the City of New York, smiled when the subject of a distinctive American art of cooking was mentioned to him. "It is difficult," said he, "to say whether or not there is one. The differ ence between bills of fare served here and abroad may largly be due to the dif ference m materials of which the various dishes are composed. We hear sung the praises of friend chicken and corn frit ters. Distinctively American, no doubt, and palatable enough, no doubt. It takes a strong digestion, howeverl to stand chicken a la Maryland. The American cook does not have the art of frying at his command as the French chef under stands it. The French cook will take a bit of steak and put It In a skillet with butter or fat and toss and turn It about and serve something which Is Juicy and delicately cooked, while an American will fry a steak until it is as hard as a board, and when eaten almost impene trable for the digestive Juices. "The French cooks are far In the lead, and they are likely to keep ahead for ui jlMii uLiiMB iiu..J u mt.wmiT'TZS iY 1 mi inn i rn mm in irn- -i j t -Sa ,,v--v- .v,;- . -, v-sst ! H 'r fea w ikr;: j&! I lf I . , frvt ' IH TIT! VmgL7& A . Suez Canal with the fiery eyes making one think of demons about to attack him. The trip through the canal is slow. The ships are allowed to go only Ave or six miles an hour, and now and then they have to tie up to posts which have been set Into the banks of the canal to allow other steamers to pass. These posts are to be seen everywhere along both sides of the waterway from Port Said to Suez. In most places they are about 100 feet apart, and jars so ar ranged that ships can be made sta tionary as others go by. Farts of the banks are walled with stones to prevent the sand falling In and tilling up the canal, but notwith standing this the dredges have to be kept at work all the year round. Not far from Port Said I saw great pumps operated by steam sucking the sand from the bottom of the channel, and carrying It through pipes far out over the desert. I am told that the process of cleaning and deepening the water way is always going on. The Improvements at Suez. - The Suez canal of 1907 is far dif ferent from that which was opened In 1&69. As originally planned the channel was less than 25 feet deep and so con structed that It could not have accommo dated the shipping which goes through today. It Is now about 30 feet deep, and there are Improvements under way to make its depth 35 feet. Since tKe begin ning of last year ships with a draft of 27 feet have been allowed to pass through, and the day will come when ships of 33 and 34 feet draft will be admitted. The canal has been widened so that Its aver age width at the surface is about 300 feet, and the curves in it have been rounded off so as to shorten the time of transit many years to come, for their skill seems Inborn. That is why they have sway In so many of the restaurants and hotels In the United States. There may not be a distinctive American cooking, but there are foods with delightful natural flavors which add much to the American' table. I read of the preference of the Crown Prince's chef for clam chowder. Clams are unknown in Europe, and I doubt very much If they could be exported with any degree of success. They would be likely to drain off all their liquor In transit, and when they were served would have little of the flavor which they have on this side of the water. Oysters are cooked over here in many ways. In France they are served raw. usually because the French cook does not think they are Improved by cooking. "The nearest approach the French have to preparing the oyster is a la poulette, which consists of little more than warming the raw oyster and dropping it into a cream sauce. Oys ters, as a matter of fact, are not im proved by cooking, although they are fairly good If steamed, provided the process is not carried to the extent of making them leathery. The raw oyster is quickly assimilated, while the cooked oyster is often converted into tough and Indigestible mem branes. Soft clams, however1, may be steamed and they are excellent. "In my opinion, the finest flavored lobster in the world comes from the coasts of the United States. The lob sters to be in good condition mttet, of course, be placed aside for about six weeks where they can have nothing but water. In this way they become thoroughly cleaned. The American lobster Is infinitely better than the lobsters found on the coasts of France and Great Britain, and the American method of broiling brings out all its natural flavor. The French have a way of cooking lobster a la Ameri ca! ne, a method which is totally un known in. the United States and is not likely to be popular here. The lob ster Is cooked with red wine and but ter and such things and the natural flavor is completely obscured. "Much praise has been given to the terrapin, and deserves it. Terrapin also should be kept for six weeks on a water diet before it is killed, and then the tough, outer skin should be carefully removed. The negro mammy cannot be excelled in preparing this delicious dish. The natural flavor is so fine that it ought not to be dis guised. The ideal way to cook terra pin is to let it simmer slowly in its own liquor, adding butter, pepper and sal. The connoisseur likes It that way. but usually a style with more seasoning is preferred. Terrapin is and enable ships to pass the more eas ily. Within the past year or so more than 22,000,000 tons of earth, mud and sand have been taken out of it, and the shipping facilities have been greatly im proved both at Port Tewfik and at Port Said. Here at the southern end of the canal they are now dredging out basins which are Intended to accommodate the colliers and tank steamers carrying coal oil, and at Port Said the coaling arrange ments have been so" Improved that the largest steamers can load thousands of tons of coal In a very few hours. Will a New Canal Be Built? ..These improvements have been made on account of the crowded condition of the canal, and the Imperative necessity of deepening It In order to accommodate the big steamers now building. As It is, it Is a question whether 35 feet will long be deep enough, for ships grow bigger and bigger and their draft deeper and deeper from year to year. There has been a de mand for a second canal on account of the crowding, and the steamship owners of the world have complained again and again of the heavy tolls. Not long ago It was stated that the money was ready In London to build a British canal at a cost from $30,000,000 to $35.000.0C0. and it was suggested that such a canal might be constructed from the town of El Arish on the Mediterranean on the borders of Egypt to Akabah on the Red Sea beyond the Egyptian frontier. Such a canal would take advantage of the Gulf of Aka bah. but It would. I am told, be still about twice as long as the Suez Canal. According to the concessions granted to the canal company, any Egyptian canal made parallel to the present one will have to be made by It or with its consent. Port Tewfik, Sept. 15. not appreciated as much abroad as it should be." New York Herald. Meaning of the Cross. Detroit Free Press. What a queer action that was taken by the representatives of the Red Cross So ciety, now assembled at The Hague. The Chinese objected to the cross as the Red Cross emblem because It stands for a religion with which the prevailing be liefs of the Celestial empire are totally out of sympathy. The Western apostles of mercy thereupon assured their Mon golian confreres that the device has noth ing whatever to do with the Christian religion; that It is, in fact, merely the coat-of-arms of the Swiss republic Such a reply is disingenuous, not to use a harsher term, for the cross has, since the days of Constantine, been accepted by the Helvetians as an emblem on their coat-of-arms peculiarly sacred to their re ligion. The evasion for the sake of har mony may be in keeping with the spirit of European diplomacy, but it is not in accordance with the ideals which at pres ent obtain in America. The question at issue is not primarily one of religious or sectarian belief. It Is a matter of simple honesty, Jews, Mohammedans, Buddhists and Confuclan Ists alike are not Ignorant of the fact that the cross Is emphatically the trade mark of Christianity. The wily heathen for reasons of h! " own may urbanely accept the explana. tion, remembering the early days when Dutch merchants trod on the cross for the sake of gain. Slyly biting the end ol his pigtail in order to keep from dis courteously grinning, he may declare himself satisfied. But his respect for Europe and America, which rightly or wrongly represents to his mind the re ligion of Christ, will not be increased. Whatever may be his failings, the China man is true to the gods of his fathers. It Is worthy of note that the Turks, more familiar with Caucasian diplomacy than are their fellow "unbelievers," did not take the trouble to pretend blind ness. They long ago announced that, as for them, they hold to the prophet and that the red crescent, not the red cross, will float over their tents of mercy Mohammedanism is still a vital religion Dots and Dashes. The French word "dot" Has caused a How Of comment ao(l complaint; 8omo say It soes That "dotB" is "dots." And Boro say that it ain't. ' Now t am not On French so "sot" As to regard such trash. What 1 have got 1 call a dot And with It cut a dah. L. S. WATER HOUSE.