Evening star., 1904-03-18
RULE OF CANAL ZONE
SECRETARY yAFT EAvoRs THE
PENDING LOWERING BILL.
This Measure Was 9efted by Admiral
Walker, Ghazl ian Of the
Isthmi& q omission.

Secretary Taftg Mas bard by the House
committee on inSsrsta& and foreign COM
merce today on e a1l ect of constructing
the Panama canl To Secretary favored
the pending Lowering bill for the govern
ment of the canal zone. This bill. he said
was drawn by Admiral Walker, and con-
tained as many legislative provisions as
were necessary at the present time.
secretary Taft was questioned by MEM
bers of the committee regarding his views
as to the proper methods of expending the
money for the construction of the canal
He said the President primarily was re-
sponsible for this large sum of money. but
that the gigantic proportions of the work
and the duties of the President otherwise
made II, OF course. impossible for him to
give ms personal attention to such mat
ters. TO the commission the President un-
doubtedly had made the proper delegation
OF his authority on this subject If there
was any question as to this. the Secretary
said that contracts in excess of $2,OOO.O0O
for instance. might be referred to the Sec
retary OF War or some other member of
the Presidents cabinet or other person
whom the President might designate for
review The engineering features of the
work would make the Secretary of War the
most available and best-equipped official
for this work,
In answer to question by Chairman
AiSPooih oo u WQelIeT d requirement.
should be made that each member of the
commission should reside on the canal
strip, secretary Taft smlingly replied that
from ms own experience of life in the
tropics, he knew that such life could be
made very pleasant. with the amount of
money which the canal commission will
have at hand, should imagine they would
De apie TO make life quite attractive on the
canal zone" he said.
How Money Was Expended.
Admiral Walker made detailed explana-
ton of the manner of expending money by
the last canal commission, of which he was
president. He said that President McKln-
ley had delegated him as the executive head
OF the commission. and when the commits
sion organized the entire supervision of the
expenditure of money was left in his hands.
NO resolution ever was passed by the COM
mission regarding the policy of expending
money or the details of any single expendi-
ture Admiral Walker said that engineers
were hired, the important ones after being
discussed by the commission, and the
young men by himself after a personal ex-
animation. He fixed the salaries and from
time to time authorized by communication
with the Treasury Department certain sums
to be placed to the credit Of the disbursing
officers Of the commission. A warrant in
triplicate was kept for every payment One
copy Of this was retained by the commits
sion, one went to the State Department and
another to the treasury. The accounts
were audited by these two departments in
exactly the same manner other accounts
of the government. He said that no books
were kept by the commission, but in an
swer to a question he said the commission
was kept posted as to the balance 1t had at
the Treasury Department.
Selection of Canal Route.
Following line of questions asked by
Chairman Hepburn, regarding the selection
of canal routes recommended by the COM
mission, Admiral Walker explained that
the law required the commission to select
the route most feasible and economical
which the United States could own and OPP
crate. Nicaragua was selected first be-
cause 500 900, 600 was asked for the Pana-
ma concession by the French company,
which put that route entirely out of the
question compared with Nicaragua.
When the price was reduced to $40, 600 900
and title assured, the conditions were
changed and the commission reported in
favor of the Panama route
The hearings will be continued Monday.