The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-14

Jamaica Is unwilling to consent to the commissions taking 10000 laborers ex- cept upon bond of f5 for each laborer to protect the Jamaican Government against the maintenance, under the 1 poor laws, of the families left behind. Offers have been made to supply on | trial 1000 Chinamen and a similar 1 number of Japanese coolies.
 l The Secretary strongly recommends the acquisition by the Government of I the 1,59 per cent of the stock of the
 Panama Railroad Company now in
 private lands, which may be secured by
 condemnation or through a lease of the ! road to the canal commission.
 Referring to the existings contract l between the Panama Railroad Company and the Pacific Mail Steamship Com pany giving the latter exclusive rights
 to issue bills of lading on business be- | tween San Francisco and New York, the Secretary says he thinks this contract | in invalid under the laws of Colombia and the laws of Panama, but ct any rate he is clear that the United States Government cannot consistently and
 with due regard to its own public poll | icy make itself a party to such q con tract. He has directed the commission | to serve notice on the Pacific Mall Steamship Company of the intention Of | the railroad to withdraw from the con- tract at the end of six months. The report says the development of the final plans for both the deep wa ter channel and the inner harpor at either end of the canal. including about
 mile of the canal line, will be in- cluded within the next two or three months in connection with large
 amount of filling of low ground. will be performed within the limits of Cris- tobal and the city of Colon, which has
 most important bearing on the san itation of that city.
 As regards the sanitation of the isth-
 mus the report says that extreme meas ures have been adopted for the pre- vention and cure of disease and the | Department of Health has made an ad- ministrative department of theN canal zone government.
 A large section of the report is de- voted to the Panama Railroad. The Icommission feels that the Government which now owns over 9S per cent. of | the shares of the railroad, own. the entire capital. The commission is ready to purchase any shares that may | be offered at par. On the completion of the canal it will become merely a local line between the cities of Colon
 and Panama.
 l The report says the present steam
 ship equipment will be inadequate to meet the demands of passengers and freight traffic during active construc- I tion of the canal, and says plans for lnew steamships have been ordered. l The report contains the first annual
 report of Major General Davis, Gov
 ernor of the canal zone, dated Novem-
 Der 1, 1904.
 | General Davis comments on the high
 telegraph and railroad rates of the
 isthmus. He advises making the rail- road telegraph line a Government line
 and says if the Government would go out of the steamboat business and
 would reduce the rate across the isth-
 mus 50 per cent, private competition
 would reduce steamship rates between
 New York and Colon and San Fran
 cisco and Panama
 General Davis says this suggestion would result in a large diminution of revenue of the railroads but also in a very large diminution of the expenses I of management. The New York office
 can be given up entirely, for there will l be no excuse for it's maintenance,
 which last year cost $95,000, and whose agency expenses at that point
 and in other places cost more than lS100. 900. The chief engineer of the
 Isthmian Canal Commission could take charge of and manage the Panama Railroad forty-seven miles long-a
 mere trifing incident of his engineer | ing duties