The Loup City northwestern. [volume], December 20, 1906, Image 6

About The Loup City northwestern. [volume] (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917

Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE

                
PRESIDENT ON PANAMA
Sends Special Message to Congress Giving Re
sults of His Observations in Canal Zone
Rep ies to Critics and Makes
Recommendations.
The following is the text of President
Hooseveit's special message to congress
on the subject of the Panama canal:
To the Senate and House of Representa
tives:
In the month of November 1 visited the
Isthmus of Panama, going over the
Canal Zone with considerable care; and
also visited the cities of Panama and
Colon, which are not in the zone or
under the United Stales flag, but as to
wiiich the United Stales government,
through its agents, exercises control for
certain sanitary purposes. 1 chose the
month of November for my visit partly
because it is the rainest month of the
year, the month in which the work goes
forward at tile greatest disadvantage.
Rnd one of the two months which the
medical department of the French Canal
company found most unhealthy.
Following the introduction to the mes
sage the president gives a resume of liis
programme during the days lie was on
the isthmus, and then says;
At the outset 1 wish to pay tribute
to the amount of work done by the
French Canal company under very diffi
cult circumstances. Many of the build
ings they put up were excellent and
are still in use, though, naturally, the
houses are now getting out of repair and
are being used as dwellings only until
other houses can be built, and much of
the work they did in the Culebra cut.
and some of the work they did in dig
ging has been of direct.and real benefit.
This country has never made a better
investment than the SIU.OOO.OCO which it
paid to the French company for work
and betterments, including especially the j
Panama railroad.
An inspection on the ground at the ;
height of the rainy season served to con
vince me of the wisdom of congress in
refusing to adopt either a high-level or
a sea-level canal. There seems to be a
universal agreement among all people
competent to judge that the Panama
route, the one actually chosen, is much
superior to both the Nicaragua and
loarien routes.
Preliminary Work Being Done.
The wisdom of the canal management
has been shown in nothing more clearly
than in the way in which the founda
tions of the work have been laid! To
have yielded to the natural impatience
of ill-informed outsiders and begun all
kinds of experiments in work prior to a
thorough sanitation of the isthmus, and
to a fairly satisfactory working out of
the problem of getting and keeping a
sufficient lubor supply, would have been
disastrous. The various preliminary
measures had to Ik- taken first; and
these could not be taken so as to allow
us to begin the real work of construc
tion prior to January 1 of the present
year, it then became necessary to have
the type of the canal decided, and the
only delay tias been the necessary delay
until the 2S)th day of June, the date
when the congress definitely and wisely
settled that we should have an So-foot
level canal. Immediately after that the
work began in hard earnest and has
been continued with increasing vigor
ever since; and it will continue so~ to
progress in the future. When the con
tracts are let the conditions will be such
us to insure a constantly increasing
amount of performance.
Successful Sanitation.
i ue nrst great problem to be solved i
upon the solution of which the success of
the rest of tho work depended, was the
problem of sanitation. This was from
the outset under the direction of Dr
AV. C. Gorgas, who is to be made a full
member of the commission. It must be
remembered that his work was not mere
sanitation as the term is understood in
our ordinary municipal work. Through
out the zone and in the two cities of
Panama and Colon, in addition to the
sanitation work proper, he lias had to
do all the work liiut the Marine hospital
servico does as regards the nation, that
the health department ofthers do in the
various states and cities, and that Co!
AVaring did in New York when he
cleaned Its streets. The results have
been astounding. The isthmus had been
a byword for deadly unhealthfulness
Now, after two years of our occupation
the conditions as regards sickness and
the death rate compere favorably with
reasonably healthy localities in the
United States. Especial- care has been
unvoted to minimizing tho risk due to the
presence of those sr»ecies of mosquitoes
which have been found to propagate
malarial and yellow fevers. In ail the
settlements, the little temporary towns
or edies comp of the white and black '
employe#, which grow up here ar.d
there in the tropic jungle as the needs
of the work dictate, the utmost care i3
exercised to keep the conditions healthy.
Everywhere are to be seen the drainage
ditches which in removing the water
liave removed the breeding places of the
mosquitoes, while the whole jungle is
cut away for a considerable space around
the habitations, thus destroying the
places in which the mosquKoss take shel
ter. These drainage ditches and clearings
. are in evidence in every settlement, and,
together with the invariable presence of
mosquito screens around the piazzas, and
of mosquito doors to the houses, not to
apeak of the careful fumigation that has
gone on in all infected houses, doubtless
explain the extraordinary absence of
mosquitoes. As a matter of fact, but
a single mosquito, and this not of the
dangerous species, was seen by any
member of our party during my three
days on the isthmus. Equal care is
taken by the inspectors of the health de
partment to secure cleanliness in the
houses and proper hygienic conditions of
every kind. I inspected between 20 and
St) water-closets, both those used by the
white employes and those used by the
colored laborers. In almost every case I
found the conditions perfect. In but one
case did I find them really bad. In this
case, affecting a settlement of unmar
ried white employes. I found them very
had indeed, but the buildings were all
Inherited from the French company and
were being used temporarily while other
buildings were in the course of construc
tion; and right near the defective water
closet a new and excellent closet with a
good sewer pipe was in process of con
struction and nearly finished. Neverthe
less this did not excuse the fact that the
bad condition had been allowed to pre
vail. Temporary accommodations, even
If only such as soldiers use when camped
In the field, should have been provided.
Orders to this effect were Issued. I ap
pend the report of Dr. Gorgas on the In
cident. I was struck, however, by the
fact that In this instance, as in almost
every other where a complaint was made
which proved to have any justification
whatever, it appeared that steps had al
ready been taken to remedy the evil
complained of, and that the trouble was
mainly due to the extreme difficulty, and
often Impossibility, of providing in every
place for the constant increase in the
numbers of employes. Generally the pro
vision is made in advance, but it is not
possible that this should always be the
case; when Jt is not there ensues a
period of time during which the condi
tions are unsatisfactory, until a remedy
can be provided; but I never found a
ease where the remedy was not being
provided as speedily as possible.
Improvements in Cities.
The sanitation work in the cities of
Panama and Colon has been Just as
Important as In the zone itself, and in
many respects much more difficult, be
cause It was necessary to deal with
the already existing population, which
naturally had scant sympathy with
revolutionary changes, the value of
which they were tor a long time not
able to perceive. In Colon the popula
tion consists largely of colored labor
ers who. having come over from the
West Indies to work on the canal,
abandon the work and cither take to
the brush or lie idle in Colon itself;
thus peopling Colon with the least de
iirable among the imported laborers.
From stereograph, copyright, by Underwood * Underwood, N. Y.
At Pedro Miguel, Culebra Cut, President Roosevelt was photographed
seated on one of the immense steam shovels used in the work of excavating.
< i me Kinu neing it* ieet auovo low
tide. The slight undulations furnish
shallow, natural reservoirs or fresh
water breeding places for every varie
ty of mosquito, and the ground tends
to be lowest in the middle. When the
town was originally built no attempt
was made to fill the low ground, either
in the streets or on the building sites,
so that the entire surface was prao
tinniiv n nunsrmtrA: when the cniaa
mire became Impassable certain of the
streets were crudely imDroved by fill
ing especially bad mud holes with soft
rock or other material. In September.
1!*03. a systematic effort was begun to
formulate a general plan for the prop
er sanitation of the city; in February
last temporary relief measures were
taken, while in Ju y the prosecution of
the work was bci~an in good earnest.
The results are already visible in the
•sewering, draining, guttering and pav
ing of the streets. Some four months
will be required before the work of
sewerage and street improvement will
he completed, but the progress already
made is very marked. Ditches have
been dug through the town, connecting
the salt water on both sides, and into
these the ponds, which have served as
breeding places for the mosquitoes, are
drained. These ditches have answered
their purpose, for they are probably
the chief cause of the astonishing
diminution of mosquitoes. More ditches
of the kind are being constructed.
Colon Water Supply.
It was not practicable. with the i
force at the commission's disposal, and !
in view of tile need that the force
should be used ir. the larger town of
Panama, to begin this work before
early last winter. Water mains were
then laid in the town and water was
furnished to the people early in March
from a temporary reservoir. This
reservoir proved to be of insufficient
capacity before t.ho end of the dry
season and the shortage was made up (
by hauling water over the Panama
railroad, so that there was at all times
nn n.mrde sunnly ef the vqrv best
water. "Since that time the new" reser
voir back of Mount Hope has been
practically completed. I visited this
reservoir. It Is a lake over a mile
long and half n mile broad. It now
carries some 500.000.000 gallons of
first-class water. 1 forward herewith
a photograph of this lake, together
with certain other photographs of
what I saw while I was on the isth
mus. Nothing hut a cataclysm will
hereafter render it necessary in the
dry season to haul water for the use
of Colon and Cristobal.
Colon Pavements.
I rode through the streets of Colon,
seeing them at the height of the rainy
season after two days of almost un
exampled downpour, when they were
at their very worst. Taken as a
whole they were undoubtedly very
bad; ns bad as Pennsylvania avenue
in Washington before Grant's admin
istration. From; street is already in
thoroughly satisfactory shape. how
ever. Some of the side streets are
also in good condition. In others the
change in the screets is rapidly going
on. Through three-fourths of the
town it is now possible to walk, even
during the period of tremendous rain,
in low shots without wetting one's
feet, owing to the rapidity with which
the surface water is carried away rti
the ditches. In the remaining one
fourth of the streets the mud is very
deep—about as deep as in the ordinary
street of a low-lying prairie river town
of the same size in the United States
during early spring. All men to whom I
spoke were a unit in saying that the
conditions of the Colon streets were
TOO per cent better than a year ago.
The most superficial examination of
the town shows the progress that has
been mnde and Is being made in ma
cadamizing the streets. Complaint was
made to me by an entirely reputable
man as to the character of some of
the material used for repairing cer
tain streets. On investigation the com
plaint proved well founded, but It also
appeared that the use of the materia!
in question had been abandoned, the
commission after having tried It In one
or two streets finding it not appro
priate. , .. ,
The result of the investigation of
PRESIDENTIAL PARTY LEAVING HOTEL
From stereograph, copyright, by Underwood A Under
Photograph ot the President and
Tivoli hotel at Colon taken during the
chief executive.
work is not in a more advanced condi
tion. while the others complain that it has
been rushed with such haste that there
lias been insufficient preparation for the
hygiene and comfort of the employes.
As a matter of fact neither criticism is
just. It would have been impossible to
go quicker than the commission has
gone, for such quickness would have
meant insufficient preparation. On the
other hand, to refuse to do anything un
til every possible future contingency had
been met would have caused wholly un
warranted delay. The right course to
follow was exactly the course which has
been followed Every reasonable prepara
tion was made in advance, the hygienic
I conditions in especial being made as
nearly perfect as possible; while on the
other hand there has been no timid re
fusal to push forward the work because
of inability to anticipate every possible
emergency, for, of course, many defects
can only be shown by the working of the
system in actual practice.
In addition to attending to the health
of the employes, it is of coarse neces
sity to provide for policing the zone.
This is done by a police force which at
present numbers over 200 men, under
Capt. Shanton. About one-fifth of the
men are white and the others black.
In different places I Questioned some 20
or SO of these men, taking them at ran
dom. They were a fine set, physically
and in discipline. With one exception all
the white men I questioned had served
in the American army, usually in the
he fooled the holdup men.
Intended Victim Oumps His Money Into
Mailbox and Thus Saves It
A West end man had an experience
recently that made his hair stand on
end and had It not been for his quick
St in devising a means of getting out
oftbe di Acuity It might have cost him
4eX. the Duluth New^rlbuna
HC « the treasurer of »
nag vac returning home from * meet
^ ~ -.A\ ■
ing with a considerable amount oi
money in his possession, fortunately
the greater part of which was in cur
rency.
He got oS a car quite a distance out
in the West end and turned off a side
street toward his home, when he no
ticed that he was being followed by
two suspicious looking men. Quick as
a he pulled an envelope out of
his pocket, addressed it to himself,
stamped It, pit the currency inside it
and dropped it in the mail box. Then
he started on a brisk walk.
Suddenly there came a command
from behind him.
"Hands up!”
Up went his hands and the robbers
went through hla pockets. He smiled
grimly as the holdups secured only a
few dollars in silver, and he thought
with pleasure of the money he had
put in the mail box in Uncle Sam's
care. The robbers went away com
plaining of the small amount they se
cured, and the treasurer went home.
Next day the letter containing the
money was delivered safely to his of
fice.
Poor Mother 1
"I saw the doctor at your house
this morning,’’ said Naybor.
"Yes,” replied Popley, "that boy of
mine climbed out on the back roof
when we told him not to—”
“And fell off and broke his—”
"Nary a fall! but my wife tried to
whip him for it, and now she’s a
nervous and physical wreck,”
Frogs March to Winter Quarters.
For the first time in years the resi
dents of northern Chapter county to
day saw a frog parade. Fully 100
frogs of all ages, ranging from frogs
a score of years old to this spring’s
youngsters, left the schoolhouse pond
in Warwick township this morning
and marched along the road to the
falls of French creek, where they took
up their winter quarters.
Migrations of frogs in large bodies
are seldom seen, especially at this sea
son of the year. It is believed by old
residents that the frogs deserted the
pond, which has been their breeding
place for years, because the water is
too low.—Pottstown Correspondence
Philadelphia Press.
In Bad Shape.
“I heard your new stenographer
boasting that he can work the type
writer like lightning."
“That’s about right When he gets
through with the job it looks very
much as if lightning had got Its work
la on it.”
| for the good and steady men of course
continue at tlie work. Vet astonish
ing progress lias been made in both
cities. In Panama 1*0 per cent of the
streets that are to te paved at all are
already paved with an excellent brick
pavement laid in heavy concrete, a few
of the streets being still in process of
paving. The sewer and water services
in the city are of the most modern hy
gienic type, some? of the service hav
ing just been completed.
In Colon the cond tions are peculiar,
and it is as regards Colon that most of
the very bitter complaint has been
made. Colon is built on a low coral
island, covered at mire or less shallow
depths witli vegetable accumulations
or mold, which affords sustenance and
strength to many varieties of low
lying tropical plants. One-half of the
surface of the island is covered with
water at high tide, the average height
(his honest complaint was tvnicfll of
what occurred when I Investigated most
of the other honest complaints made to
me. That is, where the complaints
were not made wantonly or malicious
ly. they almost always proved due to
failure to appreciate the fact that
time was necessary in the creation
and completion of this titanic work in
a tropic wilderness. It is impossible
to avoid some mistakes in building a
giant canal through jungle-covered
mountains and swamps, while at the
same time sanitating tropic cities, and
providing for the feeding and general
I care of from 20.009 to 30,000 workers.
! The complaints brought to me. either
of insufficient provision in caring for
| some of the laborers, or of failure to
: finish the pavements of Colon, or of
i failure to supply water, or of failure
to build wooden sidewalks for the use
; of the laborers in the rainy season,
on investigation proved, almost with
out execution, to he due merely to the
utter inability of the commission to do
everything at once.
Unjust Criticism.
Care and forethought have been exer
cised by the commission, and nothing has
reflected more credit upon them than
their refusal either to go ahead too fast
or to be deterred by the fear of criticism
from not going ahead fast enough. It is
curious to note ttie fact that many of
the most severe critics of the commission
criticise them for precisely opposite rea
sons. some comnlaininv bitterly that the
PRESIDENT ON A STEAM SHOVEL
Philippines, and belonged to the best
type of American soldier. Without ex
ception the black policemen whom I
questioned had served either in the Brit
ish army or In the Jamaica or Barbados
police. They were evidently contented,
and were doing their work well. Where
possible the policemen are used to con
trol people of their own color, but in
any emergency no hesitation is felt In
using them indiscriminately.
Inasmuch as so many both of the white
and colored employes have brought their
families with them, schools have been
established, the school service being un
der Mr. O'Connor. For the white pupils
white American teachers are employed;
for the colored pupils there are also some
white American teachers, one Spanish
teacher, and one colored American teach
er, most of them being colored teachers
from Jamaica, Barbados and St. Lucia.
The schoolrooms were good, and It was
a pleasant thing to see the pride that the
teachers were taking in their work and
their pupils
Care of Employes.
Next m importance to me prooiem oi
sanitation, and indeed now of equal im
portance, is the problem of securing and
caring for the mechanics, laborers and
other employes who actually do the work
on the canal and the railroad. This great
task has been under the control of Mr.
Jackson Smith, and on the whole has
been well done. At present there are
some 6,000 white employes and some
19,000 colored employes on the isthmus.
1 went over the different places where
the different kinds of employes were
working! I think I saw representatives
of every type both at their work and in
their homes; and I conversed with prob
ably a couple of hundred of them all
told, choosing them at random from
every class and Including those who came
especially to present certain grievances
olmost Invariably expressed far greater
content and satisfaction with the con
ditions than did those who called to
make complaint.
Nearly 5,000 of the white employes had
<u>r?ie the United States. No man
can see these young, vigorous men
energetically doing their duty without
a thrill of pride in them a3 Americans.
They represent on the average a high
class. Doubtless to congress the wages
paid them will seem high, but as a mat
ter of fact the only general complaint
which I found had any real basis among
the complaints made to me upon the
isthmus was that, owing to the peculiar
surroundings, the cost of living, and the
distance from home, the wages were
really not as high as they should be. In
fact, almost every man I spoke to felt
that he ought to be receiving more
money—a view, however, which the aver
age man who stays at home in the
United States probablv likewise holds
as regards himself. I append figures of
the wages paid, so that the congress can
judge the matter for itself. Later I shall
confer on the subject with certain repre
sentative labor men here in the United
States, as well as going over with Mr.
Stevens, the comparative wages paid on
the zone ar.d at home; and I may then
communicate my findings to the canal
committees of the two houses.
Chinese and Other Labor.
Of the 19.000 or 20.000 day laborers
employed on the canal a few hundred
are Spaniards. These do excellent
work. Their foreman told me that
they did twice as well as the West
Indian laborers. They keep healthy
and no difficulty is experienced with
them in any way. Some Italian labor
ers are also employed In connection
with the drilling. As might be ex
pected. with labor as high priced as
at present in the United States, it has
not so far proved practicable to get
any ordinary laborers from the United
States. The American wage-workers
on the isthmus are the highly paid
skilled mechanics of the types men
tioned previously. A steady effort is
being made to secure Italians, and es
pecially to procure more Spaniards,
because of the very satisfactory re
sults that have come from their em
ployment and their numbers will be
increased as far as possible. It has
not proved possible, however, to get
them in anything like the numbers
needed for the work, and from present
appearances we shall in the main have
to rely, for the ordinary unskilled
work, partly upon colored laborers
from the West Indies, partly upon
Chinese labor. It certainly ought to
be unnecessary to point out that the
(rood. H. T.
Mrs. Roosevelt and party leaving the
recent Inspection of the canal by the
American workingman In the United
States has no concern whatever in the
question as to whether the rough work
on the isthmus, which is performed by
aliens in any event, is done by aliens
from one country with a black skin
or by aliens from another countrv
with a yellow skin. Our business is
to dig the canal as efficiently and as
quickly as possible; provided always
that nothing is done that Is inhumane
to any laborers, and nothing that in
terferes with the wages of or lowers
the standard of living of our own
workmen. Having' in view this prin
ciple. I have arranged to try several
thousand Chinese laborers. This is de
sirable both because we must try to
find out what laborers are most effi
cient. and. furthermore, because we
should not leave ourselves at the
mercy of any one type of foreign
labor. At present the great bulk of
the unskilled labor on the Isthmus is
done by West India negroes, chiefly
from Jamaica. Barbados, and the other
English possessions. One of the gov
ernors of the lands in question has
shown an unfrledly disposition to our
work and has thrown obstacles in the
way of our getting the labor needed;
ftnrt If I* hfts’Mv tinf|p«irfihlp tr» fptve
any outsiders the impression, however
ill founded, that they are indispensa
ble and can dictate terms to us.
The West India laborers are fairly,
but only fairly, satisfactory. Some of
the men do very well Indeed; the bet
ter class, who are to be found as fore
men, as skilled mechanics, as police
men, are good men; and many of the
ordinary dav 'ahorara ara also gO04.
Work of Construction.
But thousands of those who arc
brought over under contract (at our
expense) go oft into the Jungle to live,
or loaf around Colon, or work so bad
ly a ft ar fhA first thraa or four daVS
as to cause a serious diminution of
the amount of labor performed on Fri
day and Saturday of each week. I
questioned many of these Jamaica
laborers as to the conditions of their
W?w .and what, if any changes, they
wished. I received many complaints
from them, but as regards most of
J"complaints they themselves con
tradicted one another. In all cases
where the complaint was as to their
treatment by any individual it proved
on examination that this Individual
was himself a West India man of color,
either a policeman, a storekeeper, or
an assistant storekeeper. Doubtless
there must be many complaints against
Americans; but those to whom I spoke
did not happen to make any such com
plaint to me.
The work is now going on with a
vigor and efficiency pleasant to wit
ness The three big problems of the
canal are the La Boca dams, the Gatun
dam, and the Culebra cut. The Cule
bra cut must be made, anyhow; but
or course changes as to the dams, or
at least as to the locks adjacent to
the dams, may still occur. The La
Boca dams offer no particular prob
lemj the b°«om material being so
good that there is a practical certaln
ty, not merely as to what can be
achieved, but as to the time of achieve
ment. The Gatun dam offers the most
serious problem which we have to
solve; ond yet the ablest men on the
isthmus believe that this problem is
certain of solution along the lines
proposed; although, of course, It ne
cessitates great toil, energy, and in
telligence, and although equally, of
course, there will be some little risk
in connection with the work. The risk
arises from the fact that some of the
material near the bottom is not so
good as could be desired. If the huge
earth dam now contemplated is thrown
across from one foothill to the other
we will have what is practically a
low, broad, mountain ridge 'behind
which will rise the inland lake. This
artificial mountain will probably show
less seepage, that is. will have greater
restraining capacity than the average
natural mountain range. The exact lo
cality of the locks at this dam—as at
the other dams—is now being de
termined. In April next Secretary
Taft, with three of the ablest engin
eers of the country—Messrs. Noble.
Stearns and Ripley—will visit the
isthmus, and the three engineers will
make the final and conclusive exami
nations as to the exact site for each
lock. Meanwhile the work is going
ahead without a break.
The Culebra cut does not offer such
great risks; that is. the damage liable to
occur from occasional land slips will not
represent what may be called major dis
asters. The work will merely call for in
telligence, perseverance, and executive
capacity. It is. however, the work upon
which most labor will have to be spent.
The dams will be composed of the earth
taken out of the cut and very possibly
the building of the locks and dams will
take even longer than the cutting in
Culebra itself.
In Culebra Cut.
The main work is now being done in
the Culebra cut. It was striking and
impressive to see the huge steam shovels
in full play, the dumping trains carrying
away the rock and eartli they dislodged.
The implements of French excavating
machinery, which often stand a little
way from the line of work, though of ex
cellent construction, look like the veriest
toys when compared with these new
steam shovels, just as the French dump
ing cars seem like toy cars when com
pared with tlie long trains of huge cars,
dumped by steam plows, which are now
in use. This represents the enormous
advance tliat has been made in machin
ery during the past quarter of a cen
tury. No doubt a quarter of a century
hence this new machinery, of which we
are now so proud, will similarly seem out
of date, but it is certainly serving its
purpose well now. 1'he old French cars
had to be entirely discarded. We still
have in use a few of the more modern,
but not most modern, cars, which hold
but 12 yards of earth. They can be em
ployed on certain lines with sharp
curves. Eut the recent cars hold from
25 to 30 yards apiece, and instead of the
old clumsy- methods of unloading them,
a steam plow is drawn from end to end
of the whole vestibuled train, thus im
mensely economizing labor. In the rainy
reason the steam shovels can do but
little in dirt, but they work steadily in
rock and in the harder ground. There
were some 25 at work during the time 1
was on the isthmus, and their tremendous
power and efficiency were most impres
sive.
New Records for Excavation.
As soon as the type of canal was de
cided this work began in good earnest.
The rainy season will shortly be over and
then there will be an immense increase in
the amount taken out; but even during
the last three months, in the rainy sea
son, steady progress is shown by the
figures: In August, 242.000 cubic yards;
in September, 221,000 cubic yards, and in
October, 325,000 cubic yards. In October
new records were established lor the
output of Individual shovels as well as
for the tonnage haul of individual loco
motives. I hope to see the growth of a
healthy spirit of emulation between the
different shovel and iocoinolive crews,
just such a spirit as has grown on our
battle ships between the different gun
crews in matters of marksmanship.
Passing through the cut the amount of
new work can be seen at a glance. In
one place the entire side of a hill had
been taken out recently by 27 tons of
dynamite, which were exploded at one
blast. At another place i was given a
presidential salute of 21 charges of dyna
mite. On the top notch of the Culebra
cut the prism is now as wide as it will
be; all told, the canal bed at this point
has now been sunk about 200 feet below
what it originally was. It will have to
be sunk about 130 feet farther. Through
out the cut the drilling, blasting, shovel
ing and hauling are going on with con
stantly increasing energy, the huge
shovels being pressed up. as if they were
mountain howitzers, into the most un
likely looking places, where they eat
their way into the hillsides.
Railway Improvements.
The most advanced methods, not only
in construction, but in railroad manage
ment, have been applied in the zone,
with corresponding economies in time
and cost. This has been shown in the
handling of the tonnage from ships into
ears, and from cars into ships on the
Panama railroad, wltere, thanks largely
to the efficiency of General Manager
Bierd, the saving In time and cost, has
been noteworthy. My examination tend
ed to show that some of the departments
had (doubtless necessarily) become over
developed. and could now be reduced or
subordinated without impairment or effi
ciency and with a saving of cost. The
chairman of the commission. Mr. Shonts.
has all matters of this kind constantly
in view, and is now reorganizing the gov
ernment of the zone, so as to make the
form of administration both more flexible
and less expensive, subordinating every
thing to direct efficiency- with a view to
the work of the canal commission. From
time to time changes of this kind will un
doubtedly have to be made, for it must
be remembered that In this giant work
of construction, it is continually neces
sary to develop departments or bureaus,
which are vital for the time being, but
which soon become useless: just as it will
be continually necessary to put up build
ings, and even to erect towns, which in
ten years will once more give place to
jungle, or will then be at the bottom of
the great lakes at the ends of the canal.
Critics and Doubting Thomases.
It is not only natural, but inevitable,
that a work as gigantic as this which
has been undertaken on the isthmus
should arouse every species of hostility
and criticism. The conditions are so new
and so trying, and the work so vast, that
It would be absolutely out or the ques
tion that mistakes should not be made.
Checks will occur. Unforeseen difficulties
will arise. From lime to time seemingly
well-settled plans will have to be
changed. At present 25,000 men are en
gaged on the task. After awhile the
number will be doubled. In such a mul
titude it is Inevitable that there should
be here and there a scoundrel. Very
many of the poorer class of laborers: lack
the mental development to protect them
selves against either the rascality of
others or their own folly, and it Is not
possible for human wisdom to devise a
plan by which they can Invariably l>e
protected. In a place which has been
for ages a byword for unhealthfulness,
and with so large a congregation ol
strangers suddenly put down and set to
hard work there will now and then b€
outpreak8 of disease. There will now
and then be shortcomings in administra
tion; there will be unlooked-for acci
dents to delay the excavation of the cut
or the building of the dams and locks.
Each such incident will be entirely nat
uJa'- and, even though serious, no one
or them will mean more than a little
extra delay or trouble. Yet each, when
discovered by sensation mongers and re
tailed to timid folk of little faith, will
f^Pve.ua? an e,xcuse for the belief that
e work is being badly managed.
Experiments will continually be tried in
housing, in hygiene, in street repairing.
'r^trex?lns a2d .ln Seeing earth and
vSCk‘ • ,,ow and then an experiment will
be a failure; and among those who hear
Th,;^„a„Perta,,n proportion of doubting
Thomases will at once believe that the
whd’f. wofk is a failure. Doubtless here
S s,?me minor rascality will be
thl? e,r,ed 1 ,bvut M to th's. I have to say
tnat after the most painstaking inquiry
I have been unable to And a single reput
nf •inP.ers°rl wh0 had so muct> as heard
hLiP.,, ,rioas accusations affecting the
r^JlfStyivPf tbe commission or of any
[ette?n Hpir ofhcer under it. I append a
ohirw^h1!18 1 the most serious
,Lhat Sr the ownership of lots in
a wni,it.hw.charge was not advanced by
f bepata,b,e man, and is utterly base
whni»U„is notwto° much to say that the
ln-en Atmosphere of the commission
honesty- as it breathes efficiency
?ad inerPv Above all, the work has
h»t-» kept absolutely clear of politics. I
SDoiis board ever> a suggestion of
spoils politics in connection with it.
brou^h'»efinvestjg'ated every complaint
to Jor which there seemed
two , "y shad°w of foundation. In
°4r cases, all of which I
m!i.'<!ooL1ldlT!lted n tbe course of this
d,ma^P' * came to the conclusion that
waa foundation for the com
and ihat the methods of the
commission in the respect complained
Pfooo *d .*Le bettered. In the other in
f,,?”.®®*. the complaints proved abso
lutely baseless, save in two or three
instances where they referred to mis
takes which the commission had al
ready found out and corrected.
Slanders and Libelers.
So much for honest criticism. There
remains an immense amount of as
reckless slander as has ever been pub
lished. W here the slanderers are of
foreign origin I have no concern with
them. Where they are Americans, I
teel for them the heartiest contempt
and indignation; because, in a spirit
of wanton dishonesty and malice,
they- are trying to interfere with and
hamper the execution of. the greatest
work of the kind ever attempted, and
are seeking to bring to naught the ef
forts of their countrymen to put to
the credit of America one of the giant
feats or the ages. The outrageous
accusations of these slanderers con
stitute a gross libel upon a body of
public servants yvtio, for trained intel
ligence expert ability, high charac
tetr and dey-otion to duty, have never
been excelled anywhere. There is not
a man among those directing the work
on the isthmus who has obtaine,d his
position on any other basis than merit
alone, and not one who has used his
position in any way for his own per
sonal or pecuniary advantage.
nan to Build by Contract.
After most careful consideration we
have decided to let out most of the
work by contract, if we can come to
satisfactory terms with the contract
ors. The whole work Is of a kind
suited to the peculiar genius of our
people; and our people have devel
oped tiie type of contractor best fitted
to grapple with it. It is of course
much better to do the work in large
part by contract than to do it all by
the government, provided it is pos
sible on the one hand to secure to the
contractor a sufficient remnueration
to make it worth while for respon
sible contractors of the best kind to
undertake the work; and provided on
the other hand it can be done on terms
which will not give an excessive profit
to the contractor at the expense of
the government. After much con
sideration the plan already promul
gated by the secretary of war was
adopted. This plan In its essential
features was drafted after careful
and thorough study and consideration,
by the chief engineer. Mr. Stevens,
who. while in the employment of Mr.
Hill, the president of the Great North
ern railroad, had personal experience
of this very typo of contract. Mr.
Stevens then submitted the plan to
the chairman of the commission. Mr.
Shonts. who went carefully over it
with Mr. Rogers, thi4 legal adviser of
the commission, to see that all legal
difficulties were met. He then submit
ted copies of the plan to both Secre
tary Taft and myself. Secretary Taft
submitted it to some of the best coun
sel at the New York bar. and after
wards I went over it very carefully
with Mr. Taft and Mr. Shonts. and we
laid the plan in its general features
before Mr. Root. My conclusion is
that, it combines the maximum of ad
vantage with the minimum of disad
vantage. T'nder it a premium will be
put unon the speedy and economical
construction of the canal, and a pen
alty imposed on delay and waste. The
plan as promulgated is tentative:
doubtless it will have to he changed
in some respects before we can come
to a satisfactory agreement with re
sponsible contractors—perhaps even
after the bids have been received:
and of course it is possible that we
can not come to a agreement, in which
ease the government will do the work
itself. Meanwhile the work on the
isthmus is progressing steadily and
without any let up.
Single Commissioner Desired.
A seven-headed commission is of
course a clumsy executive instrument.
AVe should have but one commission
er. with such heads of departments
and other officers under him as we
may find necessary. AVe should he
expressly permitted to employ the
hest engineers in the country as con
sulting engineers.
I accompany this paper with a map
showing substantially what the canal
will lie like when it is finished. When
the Culebrn out has been made and
the dams built (if they are built as at
present proposed! there will then be
at both the Pacific and Atlantic ends
of the canal two great fresh-water
lakes, connected hv a broad channel
running at the bottom of a ravine,
across the backbone of the Western
Hemisphere. Those hest informed be
lieve that the work will be completed
in about eight years: hut it is never
safe to prophesy about such a work
as this, especially in the tropics.
Confident of Ultimate Success.
Of the success of the enterprise T
am as well convinced as one can be
of any enterprise that is human. Tt
is a Stupendous work upon which our
fellow countrymen are engaged down
there on the iothmus. and while wo
should hold them to a strict accounta
bility for the way in which they per
form it. we should recognize, with
frank generosity, the epic nature of
the task upon which they are engaged
and its world-wide importance. They
are doing something which will re
doud immeasurably to the credit of
America, which will benefit all the
world, and which will last for ages
to come. Under Mr. Shonts and Mr.
Stevens and Dr. Gorgas this work has
started with every omen of good for
tune. They and their worthy associates,
from the highest to the lowest, are
entitled to the same credit that we
would give to th» picked men of a
viVtorinnc nrmv* fnv th|a nftnnni'Rt of
peace will, in its great and far-reaeh
injr pffpPt amnne thp VPTV
greatest conquests, whether of peace
or of war. which have ever been won
by anv of the peoples of mankind. A
badge is to be given to every Ameri
can citizen who for a specfled time
has taken part in this work: for par
ticipation in it will' hereafter be held
to reflect honor upon the man par
ticipating just as It reflects honor upon
a soldier to have belonged to a mighty
armv in a g^eat war for righteous
ness. Our fellow countrymen on the
isthmus are working for our interest
and for the national renown in the
same spirit and with the same effi
ciency that the men of the army and
navy work in time of war. It be
hooves us in our turn to do ail we
can to hold up their hands and to aid
them in every way to bring their
great work to a triumpnant conclu
sion. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
The White House. December 17, 1906.
Marietta got tired of school. She
was 17 and there was no use that she
could see in going to school forever,
l as she didn't propose to teach. She
declared that she would be anything
rather than a teacher.
“Then you’ll have to do something,”
said Marietta’s pa, firmly. “I can’t
afford to buy clothes for you and fur
nish you with spending money. Your
! mother hasn't had a new suit this
year. She would be willing to wear
her old rags and give the money to
you and you’d be willing—what’s that?
1 You hope you're not selfish?' I never
saw a 17-year-old that wasn’t selfish,
j That's the nature of youth. 'Was I
that way?’ Of course I was. But the
point is that you’ll have to go to
work and earn your keep."
"This was a long speech for Mariet
ta’s pa. He is a quiet and subdued
man, who works fathfully for his
$1,500 a year. He has reached the top
and is expecting within a year or two
to start on the long, downward road
which leads to the shelf. Perhaps this
accounted for his touch of bitterness.
Marietta, who is a good girl as often
. as she happens to remember in time,
promised to go to work.
“I can get a job down at the bindery,
where Mayme works,” she declared.
“She gets so much a thousand—I
think it’s ten cents, for folding books
and papers and things.”
"I’m not going to let you be a bind
ery girl,” said Marietta’s pa, gruffly.
“You’d make $6 a week after you
learned the trade—iiesides—well, that
won’t do.”
He hurried away to work and Ma
rietta began to look around and make
inquiries. That evening she met her
pa at the door, gleefully.
“I've got a place, pa. All I’ve got to
do is to address envelopes and I get
$1.25 a thousand. I am a fast writer
and I can make lots of money. Sadie
works down there and she hardly ever
gets less than $10 a week. They've
got about 50 girls and are needing
more. Sadie's promised to take me
with her in the morning. She knows
I the manager real well.”
“I’m not going to have any girl of
■ mine work in any such place, said
Marietta's pa, frowning, as he took
off his hat and overcoat in the hall.
"What's the matter with that place,
pa?”
"There’s lots the matter with it,”
he said, evasively. "How do we know
but what some of those 50 girls—any
| way that's just like regular factory
work. I'm not going to let you do it.
It’s a back-breaking thing to write
names all day.”
Marietta smiled to herself, but said
nothing more as her pa went into the
dining room. She was beginning to
understand.
After supper, while he was looking
over the paper she got the advertise
ment section and studied it diligently.
Presently she went over ar.d pulled
her pa's paper out of his hand and sat
on his knee.
"Look there, pa,” she exclaimed,
pointing a slim finger at the female
help wanted column. "One depart
ment store is advertising for girls in
the cloak department, and another
wants girls in the notions, and there
are four others all—”
Marietta’s pa, who had thrown his
arm fondly about her waist when she
first came over, now interrupted her
rudely. He pushed the paper away
and made her get up.
"Would you let this little innocent
child go to work in one of those de
partment stores? Would you. I say?”
He glared across th“ table savagely at
Marietta's ma. That good woman
looked at him in astonishment, but be
fore she could reply Marietta's pa got,
up and left the room. They could
hear him slam the front door aa he
went out.
There were tears In ilia's eyes, but.
Marietta laughed as she put her arms
around the woman's neck.
"You needn't thiak pa's gone crazy,
for he hasn’t ma. You just don't un
derstand him.”
“What does the man mean?”
“He was just blutling about wanting
me to go to work,” said Marietta,
laughing again, with a suspicion of*
tears in her voice. “Pa's such a
goose. He thinks I'm too precious to
go out into the cruel world and work.
Bless his heart. He'd like to have me
take a job as princess somewhere If
there was one. open in some good
Christian kingdom where I wouldn’t
be exposed to any giddy temptations.”
The next day Marietta offered to g»
to work in a candy factory and at a.
mail order house and her pa was so
mad that he went to bed right after
supper. Then she pretended to find
a place in a chorus, just to tease hint,
and the poor man nearly died of indig
nation.
"How can I work when you won't
let me, pa?” she asked at 'ast.
"I guess we’ll try to worry through
a little longer,” he said, grinning
sheepishly. “Your ma needs you to
help her, anyway. As long as wo
don't keep a girl the housework's too
hard for her to do alone.”—Chicago
Tribune.
Toad’s Disposal of Overcoat.
The toad sheds its skin at certain
periods, the old one coming off, ami
leaving a new one, which has been
formed underneath, in its stead. It
does not give its cast-off coat away to
any poorer toad, and there are no
toads dealing in second-hand raiment.
Neither does it leave its cast-off
jacket on the ground after the fashion
of the shiftless snake. It swallows its
overcoat at one mouthful, converting
its stomach into a portmanteau.
Please Tell Un.
Standing in line before the money,
order window at the post office yes-,
te»day were two men. One of them
wus “next,” hut as his turn came he
permitted a woman to step in ahead
of him to get an order. When she
egme through the man let another
Woman in ahead of him. This made
(tine other man mad. “Say,” he said
(to the man ahead, “please don't b«t a,
;gentleman at my expense. I'm is a
'harry." Was he right o- not?—Den
ver Post.