35
Rep
The following Is the text of President
Roosevelts special message to congress
on the subject of the Panama canal
To the Senate and House of Representa
tives
In the month of November I 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 States Hag but as to
which the Inited States government
through Its agents exercises control for
certain sanitary purposes I 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 the greatest disadvantage
and one of the two months which the
medical department of the French Canal
company lound most unhealthy
Following the Introduction to the mes
sage the president gives a resume of his
programme during the days he was on
the isthmus and then says
At the outset I wish to pay tribute
to the amount of work done by the
French Canal company under very dilh
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 10000000 which it
paid to the French company for work
and betterments including especially the
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
uniersal agreement among all people
competent to judge that the Panama
route the one actually chosen is much
superior to both the Nicaragua and
Darien 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 labor supply would have been
disastrous The various preliminary
measures had to be 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
iar It then became necessary to have
tnj type of the canal decided and the
only delay has been the necessary delay
until the 29th day of June the date
when the congress definitely and wisely
Bottled that we should have an STi foot
h vel canal Immediately after that the
v ork began in hard earnest and has
heen 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
as to insure a constantly increasing
amount of performance
Successful Sanitation
The first great problem to be solved
upon the solution of which the success of
the rest of the work depended was the
problem of sanitation This was from
the outset under the direction of Dr
W 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 has had to
do all the work that the Marine hospital
service does as regards the nation that
the health department officers do in the
various states and cities and tiiat Col
Waring 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 compare favorably with
reasonably healthy localities in the
United States Especial care has been
devoted to minimizing the risk due to the
presence of those species of mosquitoes
which have been found to 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 is
exercised to keep the conditions healthy
Everywhere are to be seen the drainage
ditches which in removing the water
have 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 mosquitoes 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
6peak 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-
to secure cleanliness in the
Eartment proper hygienic conditions of
every kind I inspected between 20 and
20 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
bad 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 witu 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 anu
often impossibility of providing in every
place for the constant increase in the
numbers of employes Generally the pro
ictnn i mndo in advance but it is not
nnodhin thnt tliis should always be
rnip when it is not there
period of time during which
tions are unsatisfactory
can be provided but I
case where the remedy
the
ensues a
the
until a remedy
never found a
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
difficult because
jnany respects much more
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
aMe 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
Blrable amone the imported laborers
PRESDENT
for the good and
continue at the
Sends Special Message to Corgress Giving Re
sults of His Observations in CanaL Zone
ries to Critics and Makes
Recommendations N
steady
work
ing progress has been
cities In Panama 10
streets that are to be
imn of course
Yet nstonish
made in both
per cent of the
paved at till 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 conditions 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
ihiland covered at more or less shallow
depths with 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
Mils Imnoat nnmnlnnt wnc tvnlcil 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 tin- 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 cat the
same time sanitating tropic cities and
providing for the feeding and general
care of from 20000 to 0000 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
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 IVPPiitinn to ho 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 lias
rellected 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 the fact that many of
the most severe critics of the commission
criticise them for precisely opposite rea
sons some complaining bitterly that the
PRESIDENT ON A STEAM SHOVEL
h 0 s2 - JSiim4
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
of the land being l1 feet above 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 prac
tieallv n nun jrmie when the
mire became impassable certiin of the
streets were erndelv improved bv fill
ing especially bad mud holes with soft
rock or other material In September
190a 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 July the prosecution of
the work was begun 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
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 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
force at the commissions disposal and
in view of the need that the force
should be used in 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 the 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 amnio sunnlv of the Very host
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 a mile broad It now
carries some 500000000 gallons of
first closs water I forward herewith
a photograph of this lake together
with certain other photographs of
what I saw while I was on the isth
mus Nothing but 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 as bad as Pennsylvania avenue
in Washington before Grants admin
istration Front 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 streets is rapidly going
on Through three fourths of the
town it is now possible to walk evi n
during the period of tremendous rain
in low shoes without wetting ones
feet owing to the rapidity with which
the surface water is carried away in
the ditches In the remaining one
fourth of the streets the mud is very
doep 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
100 per cent better than a year ago
The most superficial examination of
the town shows the progress that has
been made 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 material
in question had been abandoned the
commission after having tried it in one
or two streets finding it not appro
prisitc
The result of the investigation of
BTJ5AiA3icSistfbaji
-
Philippines and belonged to the best
type of American soldier Without ex
ception the black policemen whom I
questioned had served either in the Prlt
ish army or in the Jamaica or Uarbados
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 n
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 OConnor 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 coloretl teachers
from Jamaica Barbados and St Laicla
The schoolrooms were good and it was
a pleasant thing to see the pride that tne
teachers were taking in their work and
their pupils
Care of Employes
Next in importance to the problem of
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 pf Mr
Jackson Smith and on the whole has
been well done At present there are
some C000 white employes and some
10000 colored employes on the isthmus
I went over the different places where
the different kinds of employes were
working 1 think 1 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 5000 of the white employes had
come from the United States No man
can see 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 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 relt
that he ought to be receiving more
money a view however which the aver
age man who stays at home in the
Inited States probably likewise holds
as regards himself I append figures or
the wages paid so that the congress can
judge the matter for itself Later 1 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 and at home and I may then
communicate my findings to the canal
committees of the two houses
Chinese and Other Labor
Of the 10000 or 20000
emnloved on the canal a
are Spaniards These
wrnrir Their foreman
thov did twice as well
Indian laborers
and no difficulty
day laborers
few hundred
do excellent
told me that
as the West
They keep healthy
is experienced with
them in any way some naiian laoor
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
anv 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 cirtainly ought to
be unnecessary to point out that the
PRESIDENTIAL PARTY LEAVING HOTEL
From stereograph copyilght by Underwood Underwood N Y
Photograph ot the President and Mrs Roosevelt and party leaving
Tivoli hotel at Colon taken during the recent inspection of the canal by
chie executive
work Is not in a more advanced condi
tion while thd others complain that It has
been rushed with such haste that there
has heen 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
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 course neces
sary 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 30 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 i American army usually in the
the
the
American working man 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 ali ns from another country
with a yellow skin Our busini ss 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 unfredly disposition to our
work and has thrown obstacles In the
way of our getting the labor needed
I nil it is hi hlv unilosim hlo to give
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 tile bet
ter class who are to be found as fore
men as skilled mechanics as pollcc
men are good men and many or tne
onlmarv hiv nhorors jire alSO KOOU
Work of Construction
nut thousands of those who are
brought over under contract at pur
expense go off Into the Jungle to live
or loaf around Colon or work so
Iv iiftnr II llrst throe of four IaVS
as to cause a serious diminution or
the amount of labor performed on l ri
day and Saturday of each week i
questioned many of these Jamaica
laborers as to the conditions of their
work and what If any changes they
wished I received many complaints
from them but as regards most oi
these complaints they themselves con
tradicted one another In all cases
where the complaint was as to their
treatment bv 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 Jm Hoea dams the Gatun
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 still occur The Ia
Hoea dams offer no particular prob
lem the bottom material being so
good that there is a practical certain
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 and yet the ablest men on the
isthmus believe that tins 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 Tf 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 Itipley will visit the
isthmus and the three engineers will
make the final and conclusive exami
nations as to the exact site for eacli
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 he 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 he 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 earth 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 those new
steam shovels just as the French dump
ing cars seem like toy cars when com
pared with the long trains of huge cars
lumped by steam plows which are now
in use This represents the enormous
advance that 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 The 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 Put the recent cars hold from
2 to UO 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 I
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 242000 cubic yards
in September 2U1010 cubic yards and in
October 325000 cubic yards In October
new records were established for the
output of individual shovels as well as
for the tonnage haul of individual loco
motives I hope to see the growtli of a
healthy spirit of emulation between the
different shovel and locomotive 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 1 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
cars and from cars into ships on the
Panama railroad where thanks largely
to the efficiency of General Manager
Uierd the saving in time and cost has
been noteworthy My examination tend
ed to show that some of the departments
had doubtless neeesaril 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 tins kind constant Iv
in view and is now reorganizing the gov
ernment of the zone so as to make the
torm of administration both more llexible
and less expensive subordinating every
thing to direct efficiency witli 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
s iry to develop departments or bureaus
which are vital for the time being but
whch soon Income useless just as it will
he continually necessary to put up build
ings and even to erect towns which in
ten years will once more give place to
junge 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
iias been undertaken on the isthmus
should arouse ery species of hostility
and critiosm The conditions are so new
and so trying and the work so vast that
it would be absolutely out of the ques
tion that mistakes should not be made
ihecks will occur Unforeseen difficulties
will arise From time to time seemin lv
wel sectled plans will have to be
hanged At present 25U00
t men are en
gaged on the task After awhile the
number will be doubled In such a mul
titude it is inevitable that there bhould
be here and there a scoundrel Verv
many of the poorer class of laborers lack
the mental development to protect them
selves against either the rascality of
oiheis or their own folly and it is not
possible for human wisdom to devise
plan by which they can invariably be
an with so jar a set to
uik suddenly put uu thon be
h r work there will now - n0W
outbreaks of
nml then bo s oricnnooked for accl
tion there will be Mcavotlon of the cut
dents to delay the an dulocks
the building of the dams
or Each such Incident wM be enur y
ural and even though se rious
of them will mean more eacn when
let
delay or trouble
extra re
crs an
discovered by sensation mong
tailed to timid folk of little faun
for the euei
serve as an excuse
the whole work Is being badl -be maJ tried i n
will continually
Experiments
repai mu
treet
housing In hygiene
in dredging and in experimen t wm
rock Now and then an
be a failure and among those w0 utun
of it a certain proportion of
Thomases will at once believe that
ne to
whole work Is a failure Doubtless
oe
and there some minor rascality will
uncovered but as to this Ilfirv
inquiry
that after the most Iahistaklng
1 have been unable to find a single repui
able person who had so much as earn
of any serious accusations affectint u
honesty of the commission or or any
responsible officer under it I aPP
letter dealing with the most serious
charge that of the ownership of lots in
Colon the charge was not advanced Dy
a reputable man and is utterly base
less It Is not too much to say that tno
whole atmosphere of the commission
breathes honesty as it breathes efficiency
and energy Above all the work haa
i rfT t ilrw nn ri
have indicated in the course of this
message I came to the conclusion that
there was foundation for the com
plaint and that the methods of tho
commission In the respect complained
of could be bettered In the other In-
Ktfinooss tint orktiirtffi in t nroved abSO
Slanders and Lioelers
So much for honest criticism Thero
remains an immense amount of as
reckless slander as has ever been pub
lished Where the slanderers are ot
foreign origin I have no concern with
them Where they are Americans I
feel for them the heartiest contempt
and indignation because in a spirit
of wanton dishonesty and malice
they are trying to interfere with an1
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 glaat
feats of the ages The outrageous
accusations of those slanderers con
stitute a gross libel upon a body oC
public servants who for trained intel
ligence expert ability high charac
tetr anil devotion to duty have never
been excelled anywhere There is not
a man among those directing the work
on the isthmus who has obtained 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
Plan to Build by Contract
After most careful consideration wo
have decided to let out most of tho
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
peojde and our people have devel
oped the type of contractor best fitted
to grapple with it It Is of course
much better to do the work in largo
part by contract than to do it all by
the government provided it is pos
sible on the one hand to secure to tha
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 oC
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 pergonal experience
of this very type of contract Mr
Stevens then submitted the plan to
the chairman of the commission Mr
Shonts who went carefully over it
with Mr Rogers the legal adviser oC
tho commission to see that all legal
difficulties wore 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 tho 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 Fnder it a premium will be
put upon 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 be 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
case the govrnmont 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
We should have but one commission
er with such heads of departments
and other officers under him as we
mav find necessary We should be
expressly permitted to employ the
best engineers in the country as con
sulting engineers
I accompany this paper with a map
showing- substantially what the canal
will be like when it is finished When
the Culebra cut 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 by a broad channel
running at the bottom of a ravine
across tho backbone of the Western
iieiuisjHiore i nose nest informed ho-
liove
in
safe
as this
bility
form
that the work will bo inmnlioi
about eight years but it is novor
tO prophf SV about SUCh n Xl nrlr
esnoeially in the tropics
Confident of Ultimate Success
Of the success of the enterprise I
am as well convinced as one can be
of any enterprise that is human It
is a stupendous work upon which our
follow countrymen are engaged down
there on the isthmus and while we
should hold them to a strict noorr
for
It
the
wo
ciency that
navy work
way in which they per-
Silollm rrinnnUn
f T -- ttim
p Mi ne epic nature of
the task upon which they are encacM
and its world wide importance Thov
are doing something which will e
doud immeasurably to the credit of
America which will benefit all th
world and which will last r i
I to come Under Mr Shonts and Mr
r VI 1Jr uor as this work has
started with every omen of good for-
tune They and their worthy associates
from the highest to tho lowest
entitled are
to tho nn
- ii tui mat tvo
----- iim ihu
iT mv IAr this
peace will in
llg OOOOt
men ot a
eonfiiiost of
ts Rrwt and far-reach-
tho verv
or of war which have
ever been won
by any of the peoples of mankimi
badge is to bogiJen to every Ameri
can citizen
who for a specfiod t
has taken part In this work for nn
negation in it will hereafter be hofc
lii ri leer nnnnn w -
i w ukjii tne
in ipum JUSl
man par
as it retlects honor
a soldier to have belonged to a mlchtS
5IUy
innv jn a ir 0it u ir r i i
ness Oil ftllow
isthmus are working for our 1 11
and for the national
same spirit and with hTlnJ nth m e
Ve t of the arm- and
hooves uk t be-
IU iioiu
rhem in ev ryUvkrvhattS and toa
xnt White House December 17 lobs
protect 1 f unMalS
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