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I THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE 4 Vat. Gives Results of His Obser- ON PANAMA CANAL r't Af ian m -v t vwons vvniie on lour ot Inspection to Congress. THE WORK IS BEING PUSHED Perfection of Sanitary Conditions in Canal Zone Has Taken Much Time. f Ht Found But Little around for Com- ' y piainte ana nerutea statemente of CrltlceCalla Soma Wrltara "lan derere and Liara" Approval af Type and Routa of Canal. Tha fnllnwln tm tha tt r,0 .M.-t Roosevelt'! special mnan to conarass ? the subject of the Panama canal: o the Senate and House of Representa tives: In t hp month nf WnMmhii- f , I -1 . A tk 'Isthmus of Panama, going over the yanai wmi wun consiaeraDie care: and also visited the cities of Panama and Colon, which are not In the son or under the United States flag, but as to which the United States government, through Its aaents, exercises control for certain sanitary purposes. I chose the Gonth of November for my visit partly icause It Is the ralnest month of the rear, the month In which the work goes forward at the srraataat ftlaaitvantacn. - and one of the two months which the meaicai department ot the French canal company found most unhealthy. Following the Introduction to the mes- y aaae the nresldent srlves a resume af hla , 'Jorosranime durlnr the days he was an the Isthmus, and then says: At the outset I wish to nay tribute V'1 to the amount of work done by the rrencn uanai commnr unaer very aim cult circumstances. Many nf the build lings they put up were excellent and are still In use. thouirh. naturally, the ti houses are now getting nut of repair and Lr are oeing usea as uwenings oniy until We other houses can be built, and much of th wnrlr thev illri In tho l-olalim rut. Fitfana some ot tne worx tney uni m aig Paging has been of direct and real benefit. E7- This country has never made a better I'S' Invaatmant than tha Ilo.OOO.OnO which It Bald to tho French comnany for work t!,l"end betterments. Including especially the , ranama raiiroau. 1 Ah Inspection on the ground at the height of the rainy season served to con vince me of the wisdom of congress In : rafusln to adont either a blah-level or m eaa-ievei iniiai. i urre minn iu in (competent to Judge that the Panama route, the one actually chosen, Is much superior to both the Nicaragua and i vanen routes. Preliminary Work Being Dona. The wisdom of tho canal management "i has been shown In nothing more clearly t than In the way In which the founda- . tlons of the work have been laldl To nave yieiaeu 10 inn natural impatience of Ill-Informed outsiders and busun all t kinds of experiments In work prior to a .jV thorough sanitation of the Isthmus, and to a rainy satisfactory woraing out or -y the problem nf getting and keeping a sufficient labor supply, would nnve been J disastrous. The various Drellinlnary 1 measures hail to be taken first; and these could not be taken so as to allow us to begin the real work or construc tion prior to January I of the present yesr. It then became necessary to have the type of the canal decided, and the only delay has been the necessary delay until the th day of June, the date when the congress definitely and wisely settled that we should have an 86-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 Firogress In the future. When the con racts are let the conditions will be such aa to Insure a constantly Increasing amount of performance. . tuccaaaful Sanitation. I All; iirai i.-l i uuidiii mvj rvi.bu. upon the solution of which the success of the rest of the work denentt'd. waa tha r problem of sanitation. This was from ine outset unucr ina direction 01 ur. yf. c. aorgas, 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 sone and In the two cities of Panama and Colon, In addition to the -jattltatlnn umrlr nrnimr. h tiaa hajt In do all the work that the Marine hospital aervlce does as regards the nation, that tha health department, officers do in the ravin, ! tflt.. ann fltlB inH that f-nl sv. Waring did In New York when he . - eihiivu na airoaia. a uv rvauua iit Eum 1 1 navuuiiuiiis ii iiimua iiac ucni a byword for deadly unneaitnruiness. Now, after two years of our occupation the conditions as regards sickness and the death rata compare favorably with reasonably healthy localities In the United States. Especial care has been devoted to minimising the risk due to the (' presence of those species of mosquitoes waicn nave oven lounu lo propagate malarial and yellow fevers. In all the settlements, the little temporary towns or cities composed of the white and black employes, which grow up here and there In the tropic Jungle as the needs of the work dictate, the utmost care la xorclsed to keep the conditions healthy. Everywhere are to be seen the. drainage ditches which In removing tha water have removed the breading places of the mosquitoes, while the whole Jungle Is cut away for a considerable space around the habitations, thus destroying the pieces In which the mosquitoes take shel- tar, These drainage ditches and clearings, are in evidence in every settlement, aaa, together with the Invariable presence of maanutta screens around tha Dlassas. and af mosquito doors to the houses, not to of tha careful fumigation that has . 1 geae on In all Infected houses, doubtless : l explain the extraordinary absence of . I mosquitoes. As a matter of fact, but V a single raeequlto, and thla not of the . nangernilS species, waa wmmn vj 'maw daya on the Isthmus. Equal care Is taken by the Inspectors of the health do- ' 'Muses and proper hygienic conditions of very aino. I inspect miwroii -v mu it water-closets, both those used by the white employes and those used by ths eatered laborers. In aUaoet every case I found tho conditions perfect la but mo aiiiM them. really bad, Inthls fled white employee, I found them very bad Indeed, but the-buildings war all Inherited from tho French company and oeing umq temporarily wane other buildings were in the course of .construe tlea; and right aaar the defective water eloset a new and excellent closet with a good , sewer pipe vaa la process of con structlon and nearly finished. Neverthe less this did not excuse the feet that tho bad condition had been allowed to pro vail. Temporary accommodations, even If only such as soldiers use when camped In tho field, should hav been provided. Orders to this effect were Issued. I as pend tho report of Dr. . of or. uorgaa on tar in struck, however, by. the ils Instance, as In almost ciacni. i was fact that In th every other where a complaint was made wnicn proven, to nave any jusiincauon whatever, It appeared that steps had al ready been taken to remedy the avll complained of, and that the trouble was mainly due to the extreme 'dfintfutiy, 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 tho case; when It 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 case where the remedy was not being provided as speedily as possible. Improvamanta in Cltlee. The sanitation work In the cities of Panama and Colon has been Just as Important as In the tone 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 for 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 either take to the brush or lie Idle In Colon Itself; thus peopling Colon with the least de sirable among the Imported laborers, for the good and steady men of course continue at the work. Yet astonish ing progress has been made In both cities. In Panama 90 per cent of tho streets that are to be paved at all are already paved with an excellent brick pavement laid In heavy concrete, a few ot the streets being still In process of paving. The sewer and water services In the city are of the most modern hy- rllenlc type, some of the aervlce hav ng Just been completed. In Colon the conditions are peculiar, and It Is as regards Colon that most of tho very bitter complaint has been made. Colon Is built on a low coral The President ssssssllM II pjpllljjd I t!iey'iHgoaaaaaasaaa I Tha Praaldant and hla party landing at Colon. Praaldant Rooaavalt la tha flrat chlaf axacutlva who ovar eat foot on foreign aoll during hla term of office. Island, covered at more or less shallow depths with vegetable accumulations or mold, which affordM sustenance and strength to many varieties nf low lying tropical plants. One-half of the surface of the Island Is covered with water at hldh tide, the "average height of the land being 1W feet above low tide. The slight undulations furnish shallow, natural reservoirs or fresh water breeding places for every varie ty of mosquito, and the grournl 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 prac tically niiae-mlro; when the. ousg mlre became Impassable certain of the atreets werw crudely Improved bv fill ing especially bad mud holes with soft rock or other material. In September, ltOS, a aystsmatlc 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 July the prosecution of the work was begun In good, earnest. The results are already visible In the sewering, draining, guttering and pav ing ot the atreets. Home four months will be required before the work of sewerage and street Improvement will be 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, vAlch have served aa 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 mosqultcis. More ditches of the kind are being constructed. Unjuet Crltlolam. Care and forethought have been exer cised by the commission, and nothing Tdaa 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 la curious to note the fact that many of the most severe critics of the commlsstcn criticise them for precisely opposite rea sons, some complaining bitterly that the work is not In a more advanced condi tion, while the others cottpla n that It haa been rushsd with such aasu that there haa been Insufficient preaaratlon for the hygiene and comfort orjhe employes. As a matter ot fact neither criticism Is Just. It would have been Impossible to go quicker than the commission has gone, for euch quickness . would have meant Insufficient preparation. On the otter iwad, to retuae to do aarUUaf un UI every poeetble futura contingency had been met would have caused wholly un warranted delay. The right course to follow was exactly tha course which haa been followed Every reasonable prepara tion waa made In advance, the nygienlo condition . In especial being made as nearly perfect as possible while on tha other hand there baa been no timid re fusal to push forward tha work because ot Inability to anticipate every possible emergency, for, of course, many defects can only be shown by tho working of the system In actual practice. . Inasmuch as so many both of tha 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 ?r, most of them being colored teachers rom 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. Cara of Employee Next In Importance to tha problem of sanitation, and Indeed now of equal Im portance, Is the problem of securing and caring tor 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 ot Mr. Jackson Bmlth, and on tha whole has been well done. At present there are same (.000' white employes and some 11,000 colored employes on the Isthmus. I went over the different places where the different kinds of employes were working! I think I saw representatives of every type both at thetr work and In their homes: and I conversed with prob ably a couple ot hundred of them all told, choosing them at random from every class and Includstjg 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 6,000 of the white employes had come from the United States. No man can aea these young, vigorous men energetically doing their duty without a thrill of pride In them as Americans. They represent on the average a high class. Doubtless to congrsss tho wages (Aid 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 avtr age man who stays at homo In the at Panama. united States probably likewise holds as regards himself. I append figures of the wages paid, so that the congress can Judge the matter for Itself. I-ater I shall confer on tho subject with certain repre ssntatlve labor men hern In the United States, as welt as going over .with Mr. Stevens, the comparative wanes paid on the sone and at home; and I may then communicate my nndlngs to the canal committees of the two houses. Chlneaa and Other Labor. Of' the 1M0O or 10.000 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 labpr as high priced aa at present in the United Htates, it has not so far proved practicable to get any ordinary laborers from the United States. The American wage-workers on tho 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 wilt be Inoreased as far as possible. It haa not proved possible, however, to get them In anything like the numbers needed for the work, and fiom present appearances we shall In the main have to rely, for the ordinary unskilled work, partly upon colored laborers from the West Indies, partly uoan Chinese labor. It certainly ought to be unnecessary to point out that the American worklnaman In the United States haa no eoncern whatever in the question as to whether the rough work on the Isthmua, which Is performed by aliens In any event, ia done by aliens from one country with a black skin or by aliens from another country with a yellow skin, Our business is to dig the canal aa efficiently and as quickly as possible; provldsd 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 la de sirable both because we must try to find out what laborers are most effi cient, and, furthermore, because we should set leave auraelvaa at the merer of any one typa of foreign labor. At. present the great bulk of tho unskilled labor on the Isthmus la done by West India negroes, chiefly from Jamaica, Barbados, and the other Rngllsh poasesslons. One of the gov ernora of the lands In question has ahowa an unfrtedly disposition to our work and haa thrown obstacles In the way of our getting the labor needed; una n i nignty unnesirame t.o give any outsiders tho Impression, however III founded, that they are indlspensa- uiv ana can nictate terms to us, . The West India laborers are fairly, but only fairly, satisfactory. Some ot the men do very well Indeed; the bet ter class, who are to be found aa foro men, aa akllled mechanics, aa police men, are good men; and many of the ordinary day Uborers are also good Work of Construction. The work Is now going on with a vigor and efficiency pleasant to wit ness. The three big problems of the canal are the Ia Boca dams, the Qatun dam, and the Culebra cut. The Cule bra cut must be made, anyhow; but of course changes as to the dams, or at least as to the locks adjacent to the dams, may stilt occur. Tho Ia IJoca dams offer no particular prob lem, the bottom material being so good that there Is a practical certain- ij. nut invrcix aa iu wnat can iid achieved, but as to the time nf achieve ment The Qatun dam offers the most serious problem which we have to solve; and 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 toll, 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 tho 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 Itlpley will visit the Isthmus, and the three engineers will make the flnal 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 Tho dams will be composed of the earth taken out of the cut and very possibly tho building ot 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 tho Culebra cut. It was striking nnd Impresslvo to see the huge steam shovels In full play, the dumping trains carrying away the rock and earth they dislodged. Tho 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 tha French dump In ir care seem like toy cars when com pared with the long trains of huge cars, dumped by steam plows, which are now In use. This represents the enormous advance that has been mada 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 wsll now. The old French cerft had to be entirely discarded. We still have In use a few of the morn modern, but not most modern, cars, which hold but 12 yards of earth. They can bo em ployed on certain lines with sharp curves. Hut tho recent cars hold from 24 to JO yards apiece, and Instead of the old clumsy methods of unloudlnr them, a steam plow Is drawn from end to end of the whole vestlbuled train, thus Im mensely economising labor. In tho 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 2t at work during tho time I was on the Isthmus, and their tremendous power and efficiency were most Impres sive. New Recorde for Excavation, As soon as the type of canal was de cided this work beiran in eood earnest. The rainy season will shortly be over und than there will bo an immense Increase In the amount taken out; but even during the last three months, In the rulny seu son, steady progress Is shown by the ngurer: in August, ztz.uw cuuic yarus; In nontomber. 211.000 cubic yards, nnd In October, 126,000 cubic yards. In October new records weru established for tho output of Individual shovels as well as for the tonnige haul of Individual loco motives. 1 hope to see the growth of a healthy spirit of emulation between the different shovel and locomotive crews. just such a spirit as has grown on our battle snips ueiwcen tne umerent gun crews In matters nf marksmanshln. Passing through the cut the amount of new work can on seen at a glance, in one nlnco the entlrn side of a hill had been taken out recently by 27 tons of ilvnatnlte. which wero eznloded at one blast. At another place I was given a presidential salute or zi charges or dyna mite. On the top notch of the Culebra cut the prism Is now as wide as It will be; all told, tho canal bed nt this point haa now been sunk about 200 feet below what It originally was. It will have to bo sunk about 130 feet farther. Through out the cut the drilling, blasting, shovel ing and hauling are going on with con stantly Increasing energy, tho huge shovels being pressed up, as If they wero mountain howitzers, Into the most un likely looking places, whero they eat tneir way into tne miisiaes. Crltlea and Doubting Thomaeea, It Is not only natural, but Inevitable, that a work as alaantlo as this which has been undertaken on the Isthmus should arouso every species of hostility and criticism. The conditions are so new and so trying, and the work so vast, that It wouiu l0 BuaiuuiBiy out ui tne iiuoa linn that mistakes should not be made. Checks will occur. Unforeseen difficulties will arise, irrom urns to time seemingly well-settled plans will have to be rhinnd. At nresent 1&.0OD men are en gaged, on the task. After awhile the numoer win oe uoudiiu, in uun a mul titude It Is Inevitable that there should be here ana mere a scoundrel. ver many of tha noorer class af laborers lac the mental development to protect them selves against slther tha rascality of others or their own felly, and It Is not possible for human wisdom to devise a plan by which they can Invariably be protected. In a place which has been for ages a byword for. unhealthfulness. and with so large a congregation , of stransera suddenly nut down and set to hard work there will now and then .be' outbreaks of disease. There win now and then be shortcomings In administra tion? I here will be unlooked-for acci dents to delay the excavation of the cut or tna Duuaing ot tne asms ana iochs. Each such incident will be entirely nat ural, and. even though serious, no. one of 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 serve as aa excuse tor ins oeuct mat the whole work Is being badly managed. Experiments will continually be tried In housing, In hygiene, In street repairing. In dredging, and In diguing earth and , reek. Now and than aa experiment will be a failure: and among those who hear of It, a certain proportion of doubting Thomaeea will at once believe that the whole work la a failure. Doubtless here and there some minor rascality will be uncovered; but aa to this, I have to say that after the most painstaking Inquiry I have been unable to And a single reput able person who had so much aa heard ot any serious accusations affecting the honesty of the commission or of any responsible officer under It 1 append a letter dealing with the most serious charge, that of the ownership of lots In. Colon; the charge was not advanced by a reputable man, and Is utterly base less. It Is not too much to say that the whole atmosphere of the commission breathes honesty as It breathes efficiency and energy. Above all, the work has been kept absolutely clear of politics. I have nevet heard even a suggestion ot spoils politics In connection with It. . I have Investigated every complaint brought to me for which there seemed to be any shadow of foundation. In two or three cases, all of which X have Indicated In tha course ot this message, I came to the conclusion that there was foundation for the com plaint, and that the methods of the commission In the respect complained of could be bettered. In the other In stances the complaints proved abso lutely Baseless, save in two or tnree Instances where rhey referred to mis takes which the commission had al ready found out and corrected. Slandera and Llbelere. So much for honest criticism. There remains an Immense amount ot aa reckless slander as has ever been pub lllshed. Where the slanderers are of roreign origin I have no concern wltn them. Where they are Americans, I feel for them the heartiest contemnt and Indignation: because. In a spirit of wanton dishonesty and malice. tney are trying to interfere with ana hamper the execution of, the greatest work of the kind ever attemDted. and are seeking to bring to naught the ef forts or tneir countrymen to put to the credit of America one of the giant feats of the asrea. Tha outrae-eal accusations of these slandsrers con stltute a gross libel upon a body of fiubllc servants who, for trained Intel Igence, expert ability, high charae tetr and devotion to duty, nave never been excelled anywhere. There Is not a man among those directing the work on the Isthmua who haa obtained his position on any other basis than merit alone, and not one who has used his position In any way for hla own ner sonal or pecuniary advantage. Plan to Build by contract. After mut (-arafill ponalnarattnll hive decided to let out most of the work by contract, If we can come to natlsfaotory terms with tha contract ors. Ths whole work Is of a kind suited to the necnl sr senilis of our people; and our people have devel oped the type of contractor best fitted to grapple wun it. it is or course much better to do the work In large rart by contract than to do It all by he government, provided It Is pos sible on the one hand to secure to the contractor a sufficient remnueratlon to make It worth while for respon sible contractors of the best kind to undertake the work; and provided on tne otner nana it can ne aone on terms which will not give an excessive profit to the contractor at tho expense of the government. After much con sideration the plan already promul gated by the secretary of war waa adopted. This plan In Its essential features wns drafted after careful and thorough study and consideration. by the chler engineer, sir. mevens, who, while In tho employment of Mr. Hill, the president of the Great North ern railroad, had personal experience of this very typo nf contract. Mr. Htovens then submitted the plan to tho chairman nf the commission, Mr. Hhonts. who went carefully over It with Mr. ItoKcrs. tho legal adviser of the commission, to son that all legal difficulties were met. Ha then submit ted copies of the plnn to both Secre tary Taft and myself. Secretary Taft submitted It to Homo of tha bent coun sel at tho New York bar. and after wards I went over It very carefully with Mr. Taft nnd Mr. Hhonts, und we laid the plan In Its general features before Mr. Hoot. My conclusion Is that It coinlilticH tho maximum nf ad vantage with tVn minimum of dlxad vantaKi'. I 'rider It n premium will he put upon thn xpecdy and. economical construction nf thn canal, and a pen alty ImpoHid on dnlay and wanto. The plan as proniulffntod Ih tnntatlve; doubtless It will have to bo changed In some respects before wo can oomo to a satUfuctory ngreometit with re sponsible contractors perhaps even after the bids havo been received; and nf cour.Hc It Is pohhIIiIo that we can not come to a agreement, In which case the irovrrnmcnt will do tho work itself. Munnwlillo tho work on thn Isthmus Ih progresitlnK steadily and without any let up. Single Commissioner Desired. A seven-headed commlsnlon Is of course a clumsy executive liiNtrument Wc should have but one commission er, with such heads of departments and other officers under him ns we may find necessary. We should be expressly permitted to employ the best engineers In thn country as con sulting engineers. I accompany this pnper with n map showing substantially what tho canal will bo llko when It Is MnlHhed. When thn Culebra cut lion been mado and tho dams built (If they are built ns nt present proposed) there will then bit at both the Pacific and Atlaiilla endrf of tho canal two great .fresh-watn InkeH, connected by a broad channel running at the hottom of a ravine, acroxH the backbone of thn Western Hemisphere. Those best Informed be lieve that tho work will ho completed In about eight years; but 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 I am as well convinced as ono can be of any enterprise that Is human, It Is a stupendouH work upon which our fellow countrymen nro engaged down there on the Isthmus, and whllo we should hold them to a strict accounta bility for the way In which they per form it, wo should recognize, with frank generosity, the epic, nature nf the task upon which they are engaged and Its world-wide Importance. They are doing something Which will ru doud immeasurably to the credit of America, which will benefit nil thn world, and which will last for aires to come. Under Mr. Shouts and Mr. Stevens and Pr. Oorgas this work haa 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 the pinked men ot a vlctnrlnua srmv; for this ennnueat nf peace will, In Its great and far-reaching AVct, atann mm amnny lit very greatest conquests, whether of peace or of war, which have ever been win by any or the peoples of mankind. A badge Is to be given to every Ameri can cltlsen who for a speeded 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 army in a great war for righteous ness. Our fellow countrymen on tha Isthmus are working for our Interest and tor the national renown in the same spirit and with the same effi ciency that the men of the army end navy work la time of .war. It be hooves us In our turn to do alt we can to hold up their hands and to aid them In eery way to bring their great work to a trlumpnant conclu sion. THBODORB ROOHKVlSIr.. The White Houee, December 11.