Our friend starts with the assumption that the canal is _to be constructed for the purpose of making money_. This I deny _in toto_. The United States Government will build a canal on a broader and more beneficent basis, for the _political_ and _military safety_ of our country, for the _development of its commerce and industries_ and to secure a _short cheap water_ route to and from our Pacific Ocean possessions. The Suez Canal which cost ninety-four millions was built to make money and earns 17 to 20 per cent. annually on a toll of about $1.85 per ton, whereas our Government should not charge over one dollar per ton when the Nicaragua Canal is opened and when its traffic increases, probably half a dollar per ton will pay cost of maintenance and leave a small percentage for a sinking fund. Secondly, he states "the Canal will have no business when first opened." Why not? Will freight continue to prefer ten thousand miles greater distance around Cape Horn or higher Panama Railway Route and overland railway charges? The business of the Canal will come from new interests which it will develop and from other routes which cannot compete with it in rates. Third. He asserts that it will cost no less than $150,000,000.00. How much the Canal will cost depends upon its capacity and its honest construction. Since the Maritime Canal Company figured on $80,084,176.00 for a 28-feet canal, the majority report of the United States Commission has increased the _possible_ cost, including a 20 per cent. contingency to $118,113,790 for a canal two feet deeper and much wider, with duplicate locks of increased size. But experts who have investigated the question have no fear of financial results even at the cost of one hundred and fifty millions.