Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-28

From copyrighted photograph by Matzene, Chicago.
up the canal forces has his work and his
responsibilities, but all subordinate
to Theodore P. Shonts. and to him the Pres
ident looks for results. In other words, the
canal work is at last under one head, and
that head Is Mr.. Shonts.
The Man and His Job.
Before I give you our interview 1 want
to say word about the man and his job.
We all know something of the Job. 1t is
one of the biggest ever attempted by any
nation. 1t is to gouge out the earth and
rock through the lowest part of the back
bone of the mighty mountain chain which
runs through our hemisphere from the
Klondike to the Straits of Magellan
so that the leviathan vessels of our
age may steam through from ocean to
ocean. 1t is to move out of the way from
thirty to one hundred million cubic yards
of EARTH to build mighty dams to hold
back the floods of the Chagres, which rise
at times almost thirty feet in a night to
turn the course of rivers. and, in short, to
take the goddess of nature by the throat
and force her to do her work in new ways
for the benefit of man. All this must be
accomplished in a tropical climate, in an
unhealthy country, with labor that In the
past has proved itself among the poorest
that the world has to offer. The job will.
of course. be a costly one. 1t Will run into
the hundreds of millions of dollars. 1t
lions; il may be three hundred, or it may
be more. 1t is a job of time. Buneau-
Varilla, in the eXuberance of his French
Imagination, talks of five years. The form
er chief engineer thought it might be done
in ten, and other eminent authorities put
the time at from twelve to twenty.
So much for the job!
Now for the man!
Is he big enough for the job? I will
answer that by telling you who he is.
how he looks, and what he has done. The
only real answer can be his work. and 1t
will take time for that. In the first place,
Mr. Shonts impresses one by his plainness
and his sturdy simplicity. He has no frills.
He does not part his hair his name in
the middle, and he does not wear patent
leather shoes nor spats. He is business
man. dressed in business clothes, who talks
business, and does business in a business
way. He is a worker. He Is the son of
United Presbyterian parents, coming from
the cast iron Puritan stock OF northwest
ern Pennsylvania, and educated in the
United Presbyterian College at Monmouth.
Ill. There is no better stock and no better
training to make men.
Mr. Shonts began life as a bank clerk in
Iowa He made a reputa ton as bank ac-
countant. and, working along business lines.
rose to be a builder and manager OF rail-
roads. He has the reputation of being
good organizer and a successful handler
of men, and that in the west, which, after
all is the best business working part of
our country and which today is producing
the leaders of all branches of business.
Another big element in the makeup OF
this man is his health. He is, I judge,
about fifty, but his eye is that of a man
ten years younger His cheeks are rosy
with red blood. He eats well, digests well
and is the personifcation of vigor and
vitality. He stands over six feet in his
stockings. a big man, with a big frame
padded with lean. muscular flesh.
The Lord has given him the physique for
the work, his life seems to have furnished
the training, and President Roosevelt has
picked him out as the man for the place.
1t is now up to him to make good.
His First Real Job.
In my tall, with Mr.. Shonts 1 referred to
the magnitude and complexities of the
canal work, saying:
You have now had your hands on the
machine for more than six months; you
have been able to study the situation by
and large. I want to know how you like
the job?'
II find 1t both interesting and absorbing"
was the reply 1T is so absorbing that it
takes all my time. all my enersies-eyery-
thing that is in me. Indeed, 1t seems to me
the only real job l have ever undertaken
did not realize how big 1t was until 1 at,
tempted IT. but with time and work 1t will
be accomplished"
How about the red tape and govern
ment methods, Mr.. Shonts2 Can any bust
ness man handle the canal after modern
business methods with the government in
charger
I'VE hope to do things after the best of
modern business methods, and at the same
time not act contrary to government regu-
lations. There are some things that might
perhaps be changed to the benefit of the
work One rule Is that all accounts have
to pass through the hands Of the auditors
Of two or three of the government depart
ments. In the great railroad business of
the United States, a business which In
the vast sums involved equals. II 1t does not
surpass. that of the federal government.
almost nothing is lost It would seem that
IL the accounts pass through the auditing
branch OF one great government depart
ment that might be sufi1cient. The chief
results; we should like any. changes that