The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 15, February 18, 1897

Various

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 15, February 18, 1897 / A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

Vol. 1 February 18, 1897. No. 15

There is a new cause for supposing that the Treaty with Great Britain will either be defeated in the Senate, or else delayed for some time to come.

This new trouble concerns the building of the Nicaragua Canal.

It seems a remote cause, does it not? but it only shows how closely the affairs of one nation are bound up with those of all the others. No matter what our speech, our climate, or our color, we are all a portion of the great human family, and the good of one is the good of all.

The Nicaragua Canal is a water-way that will cross the narrow neck of land that makes Central America. It will connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.

With the help of such a canal, ships in going to the western coast of North or South America will not need to make the long and dangerous voyage around Cape Horn.

Cape Horn, you will see if you look on your map, is the extreme southerly point of South America.

There are so many storms and fogs there, that the Horn, as it is called, is much dreaded by sailors.

Since the invention of steam, all the steamships go through the Straits of Magellan, and save the passage round the Horn; but there is not enough wind for sailing vessels in the rocky and narrow straits, so they still have to take the outside passage.

The Straits of Magellan divide the main continent of South America from a group of islands, called Tierra del Fuego, and Cape Horn is the most southerly point of this archipelago.

The journey down the coast of South America on the east, and up again on the west, takes such a long time, that the desire for a canal across the narrow neck of land which joins North and South America has been in men's minds for many years.

A railway was built across the Isthmus of Panama to shorten the distance, and save taking the passage round the Horn. Travellers left their ship at one side of the Isthmus, and took the train over to the other, where they went on board another ship, which would take them the rest of their journey.

This plan greatly increased the expense of the journey, and the canal was still so much wanted, that at last the Panama Canal was begun.

You have all heard about the Panama Canal, which was to do the same work that the Nicaragua Canal is to do, that is, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. You have probably heard how much time, labor, and human life was wasted over it, and how much trouble its failure caused in France.

This Canal was to cut across the Isthmus at its very narrowest point. It was worked on for years, every one believing that it would be opened to ships before very long. Many of the maps and geographies that were printed in the eighties said that the Panama Canal would be opened in 1888, or at latest in 1889.

No one expected what afterward happened. In 1889 the works were stopped for want of money; the affairs of the Canal were looked into; it was found that there had been dishonesty and fraud, and in 1892 the great Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, who built the Suez Canal, and a number of other prominent Frenchmen, were arrested for dealing dishonestly with the money subscribed for the Canal.

There was a dreadful scandal; many of the high French officials had to give up their positions, and run away for fear of arrest.

When the whole matter was understood, it was found that, for months before the work was stopped, the men who had charge of the Canal had decided that the work would cost such an enormous sum of money that it would be almost an impossibility to complete it.

They did not have the honesty to let this be known, but allowed people to go on subscribing money, a part of which they put in their own pockets, and spent the rest in bribing the French newspapers not to tell the truth about the Canal.

The worst of it was, that the money which had been subscribed was not from rich people, who would feel its loss very little, but from poor people, who put their savings, and the money they were storing away for their old age, into the Canal; and when they lost it, it meant misery and poverty to them.

So the Panama Canal failed.

But the project of making a canal was not given up. Two years before the idea of digging at Panama had been thought of, the ground where the Nicaragua Canal is being built had been surveyed, and thought better suited to the purpose than Panama.

The reason for this was, that at Panama a long and deep cut had to be made through the mountains. This had to be done by blasting, in much the same way that the rocks are cleared away to build houses. This is a long and tedious work.

The Nicaragua Canal will be 159 miles long, while the Panama, if it is ever completed, will be only 59 miles; but of these 159 miles, 117 are through the Nicaragua Lake and the San Juan River—water-ways already made by nature. For the remaining distance, there are other river-beds that will be used, and only 21 miles will actually have to be cut through.

The main objection to this route for the Canal is, that there is a volcano on an island in the Nicaragua Lake, and there are always fears of eruptions and earthquakes in the neighborhood of volcanoes. A great eruption of the volcano might change the course of a river, or alter the face of the country so much, that the Canal might have to be largely remade.

The building of this Canal will cost hundreds of millions of dollars—two hundred millions, it is said.

Nicaragua is not a rich-enough country to be able to pay for this, and it is here that the subject touches the closest interests of other countries, and is serious enough to overthrow a much-desired treaty.

If the Canal is to be built, it must be built by a country rich enough to pay for it.

The country which builds the Canal will have the right to collect a toll from every vessel passing through, and also to defend it, and prevent the ships of an enemy from using it.

The United States is naturally anxious to be the country that controls the Canal. But England does not appear to want us to have entire control.

England owns the greater part of the Suez Canal, which joins the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. This Canal, you will see by looking at the map, makes a short cut to Asia, and saves ships the long journey round Africa and the Cape of Good Hope.

England finds this Canal very useful; it makes a great deal of money for her, and she would like to have just as large a share of the Nicaragua Canal That is at least what the Senators say.

When the Treaty was mentioned in the Senate, Senator Morgan at once demanded that his Nicaragua Canal Bill should be acted upon.

His bill provides that the United States Government shall furnish the money for the Canal, and in return shall own nearly the whole of it, and have the right to say who shall have charge of its affairs.

No sooner had his request been made in the Senate, than a protest came from Mr. Rodriguez, the Minister for the Greater Republic of South America, who was received by President Cleveland a week or two ago.

He said that Nicaragua would not consent to any such arrangement, and would not allow the United States to have so much control of the Canal. He added that if Senator Morgan's bill were passed, Nicaragua would not allow the building of the Canal to go on without entirely new arrangements.

The Senators are very angry about this. They think that Nicaragua has been told to say this by England, to prevent the matter of the Canal being settled before the Arbitration Treaty is made with England.

They say if the Treaty is accepted in its present form, and ratified before the Nicaragua Canal Bill is passed, England will have the right to take a hand in the Canal question.

An interest in the Nicaragua Canal would give England a right to use both the short water-ways of the world, and, with her great navy, it would give her rights that might be very dangerous to us.

The excitement about the Canal has taken away all hope of the Treaty being acted upon by Congress this session. When it does come up, the Senators intend to have it so worded that the Nicaraguan affairs cannot be interfered with by England.

The idea of the Treaty seemed a splendid thing for us, and all lovers of peace will grieve if some satisfactory understanding is not arrived at; but we must not neglect our own best interests.

There is a good deal being said about King Oscar of Sweden and Norway being chosen as the umpire, in case the members of the Arbitration Committee are unable to agree.

Many people are saying that King Oscar would not make a fair umpire, and that he would lean to the side of England in every matter that came up.

A treaty was made in Stockholm, in 1855, between Sweden and Norway, and France and England, which they say binds King Oscar to agree with England.

This treaty said that the King of Sweden agreed not to sell to Russia, or allow her to use, any portion of his kingdom; and that if Russia made any offers for land, the King of Sweden was to tell England and France at once.

England and France, in return for this, promised to help Sweden with men and ships in case of any trouble with Russia.

This treaty is not binding any longer. France has put it aside, and has made friends with Russia on her own account. It would not be possible for her to keep to her agreement if she wished to.

The old agreement being broken, England and Sweden will have to make a new one, to bind them together again.

Nothing has been heard of such a treaty, so it is to be supposed that none exists.

In this case, there is no reason why Oscar of Sweden should not be the umpire chosen.

It would, of course, be more agreeable to us if the umpire were not a European ruler. England would be sure to object to an American umpire, and neither Asia nor Africa could give us a person capable of filling the office, so it looks very much as though the only person to be found, who understands diplomacy well enough to be of use, would be a European sovereign.

If the umpire must be such a person, King Oscar of Sweden is the most desirable of them all.

He is, besides, almost the only European ruler who is free to accept the office.

The royal families of Germany, Russia, Denmark, and Greece are all related to England, and therefore could not be chosen. Austria and Italy are too hemmed in by other countries, and too much bound by treaties, to be free to give any decision that might offend Europe.

Sweden and Norway are cut off from the rest of Europe by the Baltic Sea, and for this reason have not needed to burden themselves with as many ties as the other powers of the Continent.

King Oscar is moreover a quiet, sensible man, who would be likely to help the Committee to arrive at wise and just conclusions.

There is another advantage in choosing King Oscar. The royal family of Sweden is only eighty years old, and has not those centuries of traditions behind it, which make other royal houses so difficult to deal with.

Oscar II., the present King, is the grandson of the famous French Marshal, Bernadotte, for whom Napoleon secured the throne of Sweden and Norway.

He is a man who loves learning, and encourages clever people, and is very simple in his ways.

His eldest son, Prince Oscar, wished to marry one of the ladies of his mother's household, Lady Ebba Munck, but she was not a person of sufficient rank to marry the heir to a throne.

A prince, you know, cannot marry any one he chooses. There are very strict laws about this, and the marriage of a prince is not considered a marriage at all, unless his wife is of royal blood.

King Oscar told his son that the marriage was impossible, but when Prince Oscar said he would rather give up his right to the throne than the lady he loved, King Oscar permitted him to do so, and made a special decree, allowing the marriage of his son with Lady Ebba.

King Oscar could have prevented this if he had chosen, and it must have caused him much pain to have his eldest son give up his right to the throne, and to know that, if he and all his other sons died, neither Prince Oscar nor any of his sons could ever come to the throne because of this marriage. But he loved his son better than his pride, and so Prince Oscar married Lady Ebba, and Prince Carl will be King of Sweden and Norway when his father dies.

Oscar of Sweden did a most kind and amiable thing for some of our countrymen last year.

A party of Americans were travelling in Norway, and two of them, Mr. and Mrs. Youmans, of New York, were drowned in one of the lakes. They were driving, and the horses becoming frightened, backed over the bank into the water.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Youmans were much respected and loved, their goodness and charity were unbounded, and much sorrow was felt when the news of their dreadful end was cabled to this country.

King Oscar not only expressed his sorrow for the accident, but ordered that a marble monument should be placed on the spot where they had met their death.

During the twenty-seven years that Oscar has been on the throne, his country has been peaceful and prosperous.

From Cuba, the news comes that another gunboat has been captured.

The story of the capture is that the boat, the Cometa, had been sent to a certain post on the coast to prevent the landing of any filibustering parties.

The Cubans found that the vessel anchored at night, at a spot from which she could easily be attacked from the shore.

One night they opened fire on the vessel, struck her in several places, and damaged her. During the confusion on the ship, several boat-loads of Cubans put off from the shore and boarded the Cometa.

A terrible fight took place. The commander and half the sailors were killed, and the rest surrendered. The Cubans then burned the vessel.

This news comes from the Cuban side.

The Spaniards deny that any such fight took place, and the Admiral of the fleet declares that he will have the Cometa come into Havana harbor, with all her flags flying, to show that she has not been burned.

It is so difficult to get at the truth of these reports.

The news of General Weyler is, that he has left Havana once more, and is marching through the western end of the island, to convince himself, and the authorities in Spain, that the rebellion is over, and the island has been pacified.

He declares that he has not met a single Cuban in all his marches, that there are no insurgents round Havana, and that sugar-grinding will be begun very shortly.

This is what General Weyler says of himself.

The Cubans, on their side, say that it is true that Weyler never sees any of the rebels, for the simple reason that he knows perfectly well where they are, and carefully avoids going anywhere near them.

They had a great plot laid to make him aware of their presence.

They prepared an ambush for him—which means that they set a trap for him. Weyler was walking into it, and in a few minutes would have been surrounded by the Cubans, who had planned to take him prisoner, when unfortunately one of the Cuban guns went off. The Spaniards were instantly warned that they were in danger, made a hasty retreat, and the Cubans lost their prize.

The Cubans are in strong force round Havana; they are further than ever from being pacified; the rebellion is by no means over, and Weyler's telegrams are not deceiving any one any more.

The General is not in favor in Spain, his reports are no longer believed, and he will most likely be ordered home before long, and some one else be sent to Cuba in his stead.

Spain is in a very unhappy state at present. The people are angry at having spent so much money, and wasted so many lives, over the wars in Cuba and the Philippine Islands, without arriving at any result, and they are blaming the Government for not trying to bring about peace.

It is more than likely that a change in the government will soon take place.

The present Government is very angry with Weyler, because it has come to light that many of the marches he has cabled about to Spain have not been made at all. He has taken the train wherever he could, and if he has seen no bands of insurgents from the car windows he has telegraphed that peace was restored, and no more rebels were to be found in the province.

The latest news of all is, that the Spanish Government in Madrid is preparing a paper which will be sent to Cuba very shortly. It offers the Cubans Home Rule, and gives them a great many rights that they do not now possess.

While the Cubans are pleased at this, they have not much faith in the offer, and say that unless the United States promises to see that Spain carries out her promises, they will not consider the offer at all.

The principal Cubans are waiting to see the actual paper before they say much about it.

In the mean while, many of the Spanish soldiers are deserting from their own ranks, and going over to the Cuban side.

The Spaniards have been offering every inducement to get the Cubans to desert, and go over to them, but hardly any have done so—the only person of importance being the infamous Dr. Zertuccha, who betrayed Maceo.

A telegram from Havana says that a major in the Spanish army, with 100 men and 50,000 rounds of ammunition, joined General Gomez the other day. At Puerto Principe, a Spanish colonel, with a whole company of well-armed men, also went over to the Cubans.

The Cubans think this is a very favorable sign for them, and look for a speedy end to the war.

The filibustering steamers Three Friends and Dauntless have been released.

Their owners have had to promise to give them up again whenever they are wanted. They have also had to give the court some money, which they will lose if the ships are not brought back when the court calls for them.

If the cases of piracy and filibustering against them are found to be true, the ships will become the property of the Government, and the owners will lose them altogether.

The United States cruiser Montgomery has been ordered to Key West, to prevent filibustering parties going over to Cuba, and the Raleigh, which has been doing this duty, has gone to be repaired.

People who are interested in the comfort of the poor of New York are very glad to know that some dreadful rear tenement houses in Mott Street are to be taken away by order of the Board of Health.

We all read about tenement houses, and we all feel sorry that many of the houses for the poor to live in are not as comfortably built as they might be.

Very few of us know the discomforts that the poor have to endure, who are obliged to live in the old, badly planned tenement-houses.

Poor people must live near their work, because they cannot afford to pay car-fares back and forth every day. So the tenement-houses are generally built in neighborhoods where the work is being done, and people have to take them clean or dirty, well or badly built, because they must make their home in that neighborhood.

In some of the older and poorer tenements, many families live on the same floor; they are crowded together in the most dreadful manner, and instead of having plenty of light, air, and water to help make them endurable, they have little or none of any of these necessary things.

In these houses the want of water is one of the greatest evils. Instead of giving each tenement a nice sink, and a water-boiler at the back of the stove, so that people can have hot and cold water all the time, there is no water put into any of the rooms.

Outside on the landing there is water, and a rough sink, which the tenants of each floor use in common. They have to go into the hall to fetch every drop of water they use, and this is the only place they have to empty the dirty water away.

In some houses the sinks are not on every floor, and in these, the poor women have to drag their heavy buckets of water up and down the stairs.

The tenements are not heated. Each tenant has to keep his own rooms warm.

Every drop of warm water they need for cooking or washing has first to be boiled over the stove, and so the poor are forced to use a great deal more coal than more well-to-do people need.

It is not because they don't pay the landlords enough rent that the poor have no comforts in their homes. So many families can be packed into one floor, that landlords find tenement-houses pay them extremely well.

Many of the tenement-houses have been allowed to get so dilapidated, that the Board of Health has taken the matter in hand, and has been trying to make the landlord have them properly drained, and cleaned, and repaired.

It came to the knowledge of this board that there were some rear tenements in Mott Street, which were in a frightful condition.

They had been built at the back of some houses fronting on Mott Street—in fact, they had been put in the little spot of ground that had been the yard belonging to the front houses.

They came up so close to the front buildings that, by stretching out your arms, you could almost touch the front wall of one house and the back wall of the other. The actual distance apart was a little over seven feet.

This would have been bad enough, but worse was to come. After a time, warehouses were built over the surrounding back yards, and at last these poor tenements had brick walls round their sides and backs, to within eight inches of the windows, and all the light they got was given them by the seven-foot court that divided them from the houses in front.

Just imagine the darkness and the stuffiness of these rooms. Think how awful they must have been in the summer, with not a breath of air reaching them from any quarter. The tenants were obliged to go up to the roof and sleep there, for the rooms were unbearable.

The people who lived on the lower floors paid less rent than those on the top, because when you got up to the top floor there was a faint glimmer of daylight.

The tenants were put to the expense of burning lights all day long, because neither sun nor light could reach them.

When the Board of Health found out about these horrible places, and learned that little children were being born and brought up in them, an order was at once given that the rear tenements should be torn down.

But the owner objected. He tried to pretend that his houses were fit for people to live in, and went to law to prevent the Board of Health from interfering.

This was last September. Ever since then the matter has been in the courts before the judge.

People have still been living in these awful dens, getting sick, and losing their children, and spending more money for doctors and medicine than would have paid their car-fare to healthier and more comfortable homes.

The court has at last decided that these rear tenements are dangerous and unhealthy, and the Board of Health will have them pulled down in a very short time.

Many of our wealthy people wish so sincerely that poor people should have more comforts, that they are spending their money in building beautiful model tenement-houses, which will give the tenants every possible comfort for the same amount of money that they now have to pay for the dark, wretched places they live in.

One gentleman, Mr. D.O. Mills, felt so sorry for the men who had no homes, and were obliged to take board in these wretched tenements, that he is building a model lodging-house for them.

This house is down-town, where the men need it. It is large enough for 1,500 men to sleep in, and for each to have a comfortable room to himself.

The house is to be heated throughout, and there are to be elevators to take the men upstairs. The arrangements for washing and bathing are splendid, there is any amount of hot and cold water, and a laundry, with all the newest arrangements for washing and drying clothes quickly, where the men can go and wash their own clothes, and have them clean for the morning.

There are also comfortable rooms, where the men can read and write and play games. All the books and papers and games will be ready for them in the rooms, for it is Mr. Mills' wish to make the lodging-house a home to the men, so they may find their amusement at home, and not be tempted to go to saloons.