The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-06-29
WALLACE HOLDS . CENTER IF STACE Is Equally CsnsuTtd and PTais, ,
 for Resignation ? REPUTATION WAS AT STAKE Friends Assert That He Realized the Panama Canal Was Destined
 to Be Failure
 Finally.
REPUTATION WAS AT STAKE

Washington, June S.-(Special.)-Th resignation of Chief Engineer Wallace is still the talk of official Washington. Sec retary Taft is expec1ed to give out statement tonight or tomorrow and there is no little interest as to what he will say.
 Several of the administration papers severely criticise MT. Wallace today, de- claring that he has deserted the govern ment when he was greatly needed and claiming that the President will not ac- cept his resignation, but will dismiss him. If the President and Secretary Taft are in such a humor little of it may be expected to reflected in the Taft state ment.
 Wallace Reputation at Stake.
 MT. Wallace's friends say such critic ism Is wholly unjustifable and that the engineer had a perfect right to get out of the canal work when he pleased and especially if things were not going to suit him or if he thought the project would end in failure thus injuring his reputation as an engineer, It develops to- day that of the seven members of the commission, four are indignant over the way they have been treated Instead of being coordinate commissioners they are mere subordinates with nothing at all to do. All of them are eminent men in their line and resent the manner in which it is claimed they have been treat ed by Chairman Shonts and MT. Wallace In this connection the story is again revived that is about time for the Pres ident to again reorganize the commits sion. The whole canal business is In a bad way. Sanitary conditions on the isthmus are constantly growing worse. yellow fever is prevailing and what is more serious, it has thrown a large pro- portion of the American community in a panic. There are troubles over organiza- ton. purchasing ana distribution of sup plies.
 Work Is RidicuIously Slow.
 In addition to all this, it is claimed that the work on the canal Is proceeding at ridiculously slow rate The state- ment is made that if no more progress is made in the future than was made in the month of May it would take one hundred years to build the canal. It is also said that the cost of the excavation at the same time has increased to three and four times the unit figures which were used in estimating the total cost of the canal. It is said that during May not more than seventy thousand cubic yards of material were excavated. This was at Culebra, the only point where any con- struction work is under way. A con- servative estimate Is that at least one hundred million cubic yards must be taken out of Culebra alone. To complete this in twenty years would require monthly excavation of over four hun dred thousand yards.
 In administration circles there is great disappointment over the present outlook It Is not believed that conditions can be remedied much before Congress meets when the whole affair will be extensively aired in both Senate and House. If con- ditions do not improve strong senti- ment in favor of abandoning the Pan anna route and turning towards that of Nicaragua is likely to be created.