Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1904-05-07
From Washington.
Correspondence of the Alexandria Gazette.l

fCOrrespOndence Of the Alexandra GaZetle.I
Washington, d. c., May 7.
Secretary of the Treasury Shaw will
this afternoon sign the warrant for S4O,-
600, 900 which is to pay for the purchase
Of the Panama Canal. This will be the
largest single Warrant ever drawn on
the United States Treasury. 1t is made
PAYABLE to J. p. Morgan q Co., of New
York, who are acting as disbursing
agents for the United States government
in transferring this large sum of money
to the Bank Of France, and through it,
to the Panama Canal Company. AL
though a warrant for such an amount
if stolen would be of no earthly value to
anybody except the parties to who 1t IS
made payable, Secretary Shaw has de-
cided to carry it over to New York
himself and he will personally present
it to the Morgan firm and get receipt
therefor. He will be accompanied by
his secretary, Mr. J. II. Edwards. The
secretary will leave here tomorrow night
and the transfer of the warrant will take
place at the Morgan Office on Monday
morning.
Admiral Walker, chairman of the
Isthmian Canal Commission, had long
talk with the President this morning
about conditions on the strip. ''The
force of workmen employed by the Pana-
ma Canal Company" said the Admiral,
after his talk with the President, "were
taken over by us the moment that the
government obtained possession. There
are between seven and eight hundred
men at work, practically all Jamaica
blacks. They get on an average, | be-
leve, about fifty cents in our currency,
which is paid them in Colombian silver,
as they made their contract with the COM
pany to be paid in that coin. Until we
have decided exactly how the work is to
be done, whether by contract or by the
government directly, the present force
will be continued. We understand that
there are about fifteen hundred idle men
on the Isthmus now who are very anxious
to 90 to work. You may say that no
matter what scheme is carried out, wheth-
or the contract or ihe governmental con-
troll of the workmen, the work on the
canal will be carried on all along the
strip. Many thousands of men will be
put to work and the digging will be
pushed just as fast as money and the
best energies we can bring to bear upon
it will accomplish the result"
The President today reappointed Capt.
Albert L. Mills a brigadier general in
the army. Capt. Mills is commandant
at West Point and was nominated for
the brigadier generalship some time ago.
The Senate refused to confirm the noun
nation. The President now makes a
recess appointment which will give Capt.
Mills the rank and pay of brigadier
general until the Senate acts on the
case.
President Roosevelt's friends won out
today at the meeting of the District bar
that had been called for the express pur-
pose of censuring him because he ap-
pointed Wendell Philips Stafford, OF
Vermont, to the local Supreme bench
without consulting the legal lights of the
capital. The resolutions of censure pre-
scented by Attorney A. Y. Bradley were
voted down by ballot of 10 to 20. At
torney 2. NJ. Browne said that "every
little local politician could get an audi
ence with the President, but prominent
members Of the bar who call at the
White House on important business are
kept waiting" The lawyers decided to
petition Congress next December to
enact legislation that will compel the
executive to appoint local men to the
local bench.
The United States consul at Callao
reports by cable to the State Depart
ment the death of Manuel Candamo,
President of Peru. Candamo was In
stalled as President Sept. s, 1903.
J. w. Ivey, of Valdez, Alaska, called
upon the President this morning to show
him bottle of petroleum from a well
Just bored in the Kyak mining district.
1.-THE oil found in Alaska is the highest
grade in the world" said Mr.. Ivey.
''Three gushers have been struck thus
far. The old district is near the place
where the coal has been found"
A. NJ. Bait, one of the best known
newspaper advertising men in the country
died suddenly in Baltimore late yester-