President,
the construction of the canal by the United States was prevented.
Subsequently, in 1887, concessions were made by Nicaragua and Costa
Rica to a private association of citizens of the United States,
which led to the incorporation, by Congress, of the Maritime Canal
Company of Nicaragua.

The interposition of a private corporation between the United States
and Nicaragua has created all the delays and embarrassments that
have followed. Such a corporation can obtain money only be selling
its bonds bearing a high rate of interest, secured by a mortgage
of all its property and concessions, and its stock must accompany
the bonds. Experience has shown that such a work cannot be executed,
especially on foreign soil, without the support and aid of a powerful
government. If such aid is rendered it must be to the full cost
of the work, and all the benefits should inure to the people and
not to the corporation or its stockholders. The experience of the
United States in the construction of the Pacific railroads is an
example of the inevitable result of copartnership. The attempt of
the Maritime Company to construct such a work as the Nicaraguan
canal without the aid of the government will end either in failure
or at a cost, in bonds and stock, the interest of which would be
so great that the cost of the transit of vessels through the canal
would deter their owners from using it, and goods would be, as now,
transferred by rail to and from Panama.

The method of aiding the Maritime Canal Company proposed in the
bill reported by me, and again recently by Senator Morgan, is as
good as any that can be devised, but I greatly prefer the direct
and absolute purchase of the concessions of that company, and the
negotiation of new treaties with Nicaragua and Costa Rica upon the
basis of the former treaty, and the execution of the work under
the supervision of the engineer corps of the United States in the
same manner that internal improvements are made in this country.
The credit of the United States will secure a loan at the lowest
possible rate of interest, and with money thus obtained, and with
the confidence of contractors that they will receive their pay for
work done, the cost will be reduced to the actual sum needed. It
is the interest of the commercial world as well as of the United
States that the tolls charged on the passage of vessels should be
as low as possible, and this will be secured by the construction
of t