Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-04-06
CANAL COMMISSION
REORGANIzED With SHONTS AS
Chairman.
With the Exception of Benjamin N.
HarrOd None of the Old Mem.
berS Have PlaCeS-NajOr Portion
OF Powers and Duties Conferred
on Three Men.

Washington, April 3.-Before leav-
ing ON his vacation trip President
Roosevelt completed the reorganization
of the isthmian canal commission
Theodore F. Shonts, president of the
Toledo, St. Louis & Western railroad,
Is to head the commission. He Satur-
day notified the president that he would
accept the offer made him.
Mr.. Shonts came to Washington Fri
day night and conferred with william
Nelson Cromwell, Secretary Morton
and Col. Edwards, the head of the in
sular affairs bureau of the war depart
ment. He went to the White House
Saturday with Col. Edwards and had
conference with the president, who
told him some of the difficulties under
which the old commission had worked
Only one memb Der of the old commits
sion was reappointed, Benjamin M.
Harrod. Otherwise the commission
is new from top to bottom, for there is
top and bottom, and considerable
difference between the functions and
pay of the commissioners.
Finding he was obliged legally to
appoint seven commissioners, the pres
ident did so, but he carried out his own
plan by making three of them practi-
cally the full commission. The other
four, though bearing title of commits
sioners, not only receive much lower
compensation, but are assigned much
smaller fields of activity. The presi-
dent has also carried out his scheme of
dividing up the work of the canal
building among the commissioners, so
that, though nominally acting as a
body on stated occasions, each individ-
ual mem Der would operate in a special
field.
ShOntS at Head.
The head of the commission is a
trained railway man, chosen for his
administrative ability in the financial
and purchasing field; the new COVER
nor of the zone is a lawyer, who has
also had to do with state affairs; the
engineer commissioner already is known
for his ability in the execution of the
practical work of canal cutting. The
other mem bers of the commission are
placed to comply with the law as to
the number of the commission, but are
men Of Ligh ability as hydraulic en-
gineers.
Under the presidents order the
actual headquarters of the commission
will be in Panama and there probably
will be considerable transfer of en-
ployes from Washington to that place,
leaving here only sufficient force to
carry on the work of the administra-
tive branch and to keep the duplicate
accounts. Chairman Shonts, with Gov.
Magoon and Engineer Wallace, will
spend most of their time in the zone,
but as the administrative officers are
directly in Mr.. Shonts charge, he will
be in Washington more or less. The
purchasing agent will probably be es-
tablished in New York.
Personnel of Commission.
The personnel of the new canal com
mission is as follows:
Theodore p Shonts, chairman.
Charles E. Magoon, governor Of the
CAual BOue.
John F. Wallace, chief engineer.
Rear Admiral M. T.. Endicott, u.
S. N.
Brig. Gen. Peter G. Hams, y. S. A..
retired.
Col. Oswald M. Ernst, corps engi-
neer, U. S. A.
Benjamin M. Harrod.
The allotments of salaries are as fol-
lows: A salary of ~. 500, with travel
ling expenses, to each member of the
commission. and to the chairman of
the commission the additional compen-
sation Of $22, 500; to the chief engineer
the additional compensation of SIT, 500,
and to the governor of the zone the ad-
ditional compensation of $40, 900. The
head Of each department is allowed the
use of a furnished house on the 18th
mus and his travelling expenses when
travelling on the business of the com
mission.