Earlier this week, French engineers were forced to abandon their work in Panama after receiving news their privately owned company ran out of money. For the past eight years, France has been trying to construct a canal that would link the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, due planning errors made by the company's president, workers are not financially capable to continue with the construction. A total of 1,174 million francs ($214 million) have been spent …showed first 75 words of 718 total…

…showed last 75 words of 718 total…in jail, where he is allowed out only to visit his father. We are told Lesseps, now 84 years old, "[is] a broken man who [spends] his days staring at the fire, gazing at a three-year-old newspaper, and trying vainly to recognize his son." (Source 2). Bibliography (Source 1) Dolan, Edward F. Panama and the United States: their canal, their stormy years. Moffa Press, Inc. New York: 1990. (Source 2) LaFeber, Walter. The Panama Canal. Oxford University Press. New York: 1989