The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-15
PANAMA CANAL IS
 AGAIN DISCUSSED
(continued from First Paee)


 -~~~~~~~~~~-~-~~~-~ isthmus and the latter gave MT. Wallace as his authority. In this connection he de- tended MT. Wallace from the charges made against him and MT. Hopkins in terrupted to say that MT. Wallace and his friends resent the imputation that he left the commission because of his desire for increased salary.
 He left" said the Illinois senator, because he found he could not build the canal in accordance with the spirit of the law" MT. Tillman expressed the opin- ion that the Senate should investigate the circumstances of MT. Wallace's severance of his connection with the canal, but MT. Teller replied that MT. Wallace need ed no vindication.
 Quoting Secretary Taft's testimony be- fore the committee on appropriations MT. Teller said the attitude of the administra- tion is that the President has the right under the law to construct a lock canal without further consultation with Con- gress.
 Possibly this Is true" he said. Con gress has done many foolish things in the past forty years, but 1 do not believe it has ever done SO foolish a thing as it has done in putting out of it's own hands the control of this important work. " He thought that Congress and not the ex-
 
 attributed 1t to tho demands of the pub lie for undue haste in the matter. This demand he also attributed to the expense which has so far attended the work on the canal.
 Wants Larger Canal. Mir. Teller concluded with a plea for a wider and deeper canal than that de- cided upon by the canal commission. He also indicated preference for sea level canal, admitting that It's cost would not be less than S50O, ,000, Oo0 but contended that such a canal would better meet the demands of the world.
 Mir. Scott expressed the opinion that a mistake had been made in selecting the Panama route. and made Q speech advo- eating the San Bias route.
 We are now confronted with just such a situation as I have always held would be encountered if we follow the Panama route We have expended millions of dol lars and are no nearer to the completion of the enterprise than when the United States took control of it." He contended that the canal could not be constructed as lock canal within less than ten years, nor as sealevel canal in time to serve this generation.
 Enumerating the advantages of the San Bias route. he said 1t was only thirty miles in length that 1t has good har- bars 1t could be traversed in five or six hours; Is capable of construction in three years, and will accommodate all the busi- ness much more readily than any other. Mir Scott concluded with the statement that he would not oppose the appropria- tion for the Panama canal, but he ex- pressed the opinion that if the investiga- ton raised by him three years ago had been made the San Bias route would have been chosen, and what he termed the present complication would have been avoided
 E At the instance of MT. Aldrich, the sen- ate inserted an amendment extending to incidental expenditures the committed s provision limiting expenditures to appro- priations.
 The suggestion of the amendment led to a discussion of the authority of the commission to make contracts. Mir. Gull person called attention to Secretary Taft's statement, to the enect that under the terms of the spooner act the commission