Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-16
VOTED ON THE CANAL
Impressive Meeting Of the
Consulting Engineers.
DECISION KEPT SECRET
MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION HAS
BEEN SETTLED.
Preliminary Report to Be Made This
Month and the Detailed One Prob
ably in January.

The consulting engineers OF the Panama
canal, at their meeting Tuesday afternoon,
voted on the important question OF the best
type Of canal to be built. Referring 10
that meeting, one of the members said To-
day: 1--WE have pledged ourselves not TO
give away the decision Of the board, ana
cannot tell you, accordingly, how the canal
is going to be built. l may state that the
most important question of the whole pro-
ceeding has been settled The decision came
sooner than We expected and 1t was quite
late in the day when we had to vote on It,
Though l have assisted in the building or
many canals and harbors in every part or
the world during the last thirty years, sell
dom in my life have seen such solemn
moment as on that evening, when, after
the sun had gone down and the room was
dark the question came up how the moss
important work ever undertaken by hu-
man hands should be made, the decision OF
which will be of Importance for all ages.
There is hardly any need of saying that
the decision was absolutely an uninterested
one. The Americans who were chosen by
President Roosevelt to be members OF the
board gave up their own private interests
to serve their country, and as for the for
elsn delegates. their sole aim is to work
in such way that their judgment snail not
only be an honor to themselves, but also
to the countries which sent them. 1t was
requested that the voting be orally ana that
the votes of the members should be record
ed in the proceedings of the board. zen.
Davis, the chairman, conducted the paliot-
ing taking the first vote from the mempe,
at the opposite end of the table, around
which we were seated. The member slttlns
opposite him voted next. The voting went
back and forward across the table under a
solemn silence, broken only by the voice
of the delegate called upon to give his vote.
Chairman Davis was the last to vote. and
1t was found that the main question In
building the canal was adopted by an over
whelming majority"
Although the proceedings of the board Of
the Panama canal commission are kept In
great secrecy, 1t can be stated that the
board will offer plan of its own and that
neither the plan of Mr.. Bates nor that of
Mr.. Bunau-Varilla, though they were very
useful in the discussions
Engineers May Possibly Compromise.
The board of consulting engineers of the
tsthmian canal commission was not in ses-
sion today. as several members could not
be present. The board will resume it's ses-
sions tomorrow. There will probably be
preliminary report the last of the month
embodying the views of the commission,
but the final detailed report is not likely
TO be competed until some time IN January.
The report will be in the form of a resolu-
ton, which will embody the views of the
board, and minority report will be made
II the conclusions should not be unanimous.
Should there be a compromise one type
of canal, upon which all the members of
the board concur in the interests of ex-
pediency, 1t is quite likely that individual
engineers will submit their personal views,
giving reasons why their first preference
was for a different type of canal.
The full board of consulting engineers of
the Panama canal had an all-day session
yesterday and continued the work upon
the different types of canal. Only rumors
reach persons outside of the meeting room,
and these vary as to the prospects of the
final report. The prospects today indicated
that several reports might be made, one
favorfng a sea-level canal, another for
lock canal at a 60-foot level and still an
other for a lock canal at 80 or 40-foot level
There seems to be a general impression
that larger number of engineers at pres
ent favor a sea-level canal. but an intima
ton has been made that there might be
compromise upon a low-level lock canal
which would be very satisfactory to the
canal commission and the administration.