The daily critic. (Washington City, D.C.) 1890-1890, 1890-06-16

The Cni.fof Enaiueers has submitted
thorerort called far bythl Senate some
months AGO In thi- report he dis
Cussos ihc condition and possibilities of
The cuuCjuct tunnel over which there
was such an upoar during he inaum
hency of Major Iydcakcr ir District
affairs
10 win he remembered Chat when the
outbreak against Lydecker was at ifs
height, The assertion was freely made
l# the tunnel would prove atOai loss
10 was common experience DO hear
the statement That 8Il those hundreds
Of thousands Of dollars hajbccn wasted
through IydgCser's criminal careless
ness The howl was as savage and in-
stnsate as though it were The omanati0n
of raging mob. and TO This furious
clamor Mai Lydeckcr was as we believe
unnecessarily and cruelty sacrificed
The community, even the country at
large, was taught that The defective
work could not have been put in save
through The connivauCc, by dcllb
crate neglect of the engineer in
charge they were taught that, owing
10 this wicked conuivancc, the whole
structure would be worthless and all
the money expended on it wasted
And In the fury of the moment.
Mojcr Lydeckcr was demanded as
sacrifice 10 popular wrath
Now. however. in the light of Calmcr
CounsCls a rational Investigation has
been ordered, and the Chief of Euri
neers, after weeks Of intelligent re
search and dispassionatc consideration.
has made up his report and presented
IL TO the Senate II is a very cautious
document and that is proper enough.
General Casey naturally rcfrains from
any uiterance that will stir up the old |
controversy But he offers some sug
gcslionS that are significant enough. |
and that viii siarilc those who Dc |
lieyCd that the tunnel would
Prove total loss He proposes that |
a test Dc made uf The tunnel. by letting /
into 81 The prorcr volume Of water and !
thereby uhicctIng 81 10 the pressure I
that 10 would bo subject 10 Ar f. !
were 10 use Not only This. but |
he proposes that This test /
be made without repairing The tunnel |
az al and while Il labors under an |
those disadvantages of defective work /
which SO recently, were loudly aud .
confidently declared 10 be fatal.
II Is evident that General Casey
wants The truth arrived al by unmis
taxable methods but is It not fairly
prosumable that he believes the truth
will be favorable 10 the tunnel Ifhe
knew II to be worthless, would Il not be
his duty 10 say sol
As 70 the matter Of expense, the re
port says that # will cost $500 900 10
complete the tunnel aud put It in order
for use by the city This Of course.
pIesupposes that the structure bears
the proposed test. and refers only
10 the cost Of making good The
defective work By the contractors and
the completion Of the connections and
the ends left unfinished when the
work was abandoned II viii
surprise many 10 hear that con
siderably less than half Of this
$500 U0O goes 10 make good that de-
fecliye work, and that the remainder Is
for work that would have been neces-
saIy had tie tunnel been built to per
fectioB
We trust the test recommended by
tie Chief Of Engineers will be ordered
az once. There has been a VAST outcry
about this tunnel and widespread mis-
apprehension as to It's character Il is
about time the public should have a
few facts.