[Gutenberg 42603] • San Francisco and the Nicaragua Canal

Your valued favor of August 23d requests me to contest the argument of a mutual friend entitled to our personal esteem, in regard to the Nicaragua Canal, to the construction of which he objects. The admission made by him that his argument is not made on very broad lines would indispose me to reply, as the Nicaragua Canal is a national undertaking, not to be considered from a narrow standpoint. But, confident that even his narrow premises will not stand impartial investigation, I shall contest his arguments first from his restricted platform, and subsequently in the brief manner necessitated by the limits of this paper, on a broader and more patriotic basis.