The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-20

cePt the position. never mind what, the salary might be, if ii were to be abso- lute chief, who would be responsible to the President and the, Government alone. But I have no idea that the President will do that
 However, upon my arrival in Wash ingtOn I was in consultation with couple of representatives of President, who strongly urged me to accept. l sent word that l was practical rail- road builder and knew that great works of this sort could be carried through economically and satisfactor- fly under divided responsibi!ity. said that l must be boss. or 1 would not accept. By that I meant that I was to be supreme. and assume the sole responsibility, although l did not mean that l desired to show my power over President accepted. Up to that time MT. Wallace had been in charge, of the work. and had been practically su preme. He was made commissioner and a member of the Executive Com mittee in exchange for his loss of su preme. power and accepted the change gracefully.
 Differed With Wallace.
 After l had taken the charge I had to settle up my own affairs. During this period held several conferences with Mir. Wallace and expressed a fear that sufficient provision had not been made to house and care for the laborers on the canal He admitted that new houses had not been built. but ex- pressed the belief that all these things could be done later. l differed from Wallace, and consulted Governor Ma he thought that not sufficient provision was being made for the men. and that sanitation was not seriously enough considered That was the only differ ence that Wallace and l had.
 Then he returned to the work, and busied myself getting supplies for warded. l was determined that medi- cines and appliances to fight the fever must be forwarded. found that sup plies in hundreds of thousands of dol lars worth had not yet been forward ed. l got to work and saw that thou sands of tons were shipped. Then prepared to go down. Just at this point l received a cable from Wallace begging to be relieved. That detained me here longer. I had to select his successor. for l made 1t a condition that select my own assistants.
 T selected the man recommended to me by 70 per cent. of the railroad man agers, presidents and engineers with whom l spoke, man well known to myself He accepted my offer and the salary of $30,000 attached to 1t on one condition. that he was to have only one boss: Then I went to Panama with the chief engineer. had no Knowledge of the conditions, but got to work, in- spected every inch of the line and stratghtway made by plans"
 silent on What He Saw.
 At this point the chairman is silent He does not care to speak of the dis heartenlng condition which he met ev- anywhere Here the story Is supplied by one very close to the chairman Mir Shonts found practically no provision made for the laburers, and little for the higher paid officials. He found the latter housed in q Government building in Panama, where they were exposed to contaglon from fever. and the labor CTS utterly without houses. There were practically no mess tents, and the price of food had risen to such a figure that every penny earned by the labOrers had to be paid out for food
 He found that although the Govern ment had bought thirty-four hundred three hundred had been repaired and made habitable. All of the ten thous- and men who could not find shelter