The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1905-07-04
THE RESIGNATION OF
ENGINEER WALLACE.
Savannah News.
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When it was first announced that
Engineer in Chief Wallace, Of the
Panama canal. had ceased to be an Of
feer Of the canal it was supposed that
there had been trouble OF some kind
between him and the commission, or
that the president had refused to give
him all the authority he thought ne
ought to have. Indeed, some of his
friends have tried to make it appear
that he was dissatisfied with the out
look of things on the isthmus because
there seemed 10 be so many bosses,
and also because of the difficulty, on
account of the many bosses, OF bring
ing order out of the chaos that existed
in about every branch OF the work.
The statement of Mr.. Taft, secre-
tary of war, must be accepted, how
ever, and from that Il appears tnat
the sole reason why Mr.. Wallace quit
the canal job was that he received an
offer of a bigger salary Tor more con-
genial work. Naturally the secretary
was irritated, if not little hot under
the collar, when he heard Mr.. wal
lace's reason for quitting the isthmus,
and most men would have been. He
recalled the fact that the government
had given Mr.. Wallace the job at his
own solicitation, and at salary which
he himself fixed. He therefore expect
ed that he would stick to the job, I'M
less he had a better reason than the
offer of bigger salary for quitting It..
Under the circumstances the secre-
tary talked pretty plainly to Mr.. Wal
lace, giving him to understand that he
regarder his conduct as unworthy of
man of his position. And the secre-
| tary was about right. Merely because
he was offered more money and job
that he liked better, Mr.. Wallace
wasn't justified in embarrassing the
government as he did. The work on
the Panama canal has reached a stage
when there is need all the while for
! the presence of the dominating mind
of the undertaking. Mr.. Wallace direct
| ed about everything. Now there must
be a vast deal of confusion. Perhaps
the work has partly stopped. If it
hasn't, there must be uncertainty as
to what should be done in some OF
the most important branches of the
work.
Both the president and the secre-
tary of war have been greatly disap-
pointed in Mr.. Wallace. They felt
when they had secured him as chief
engineer they would be relieved Of
much of their responsibility. He had
the reputation of being good business
man as well as a good engineer. All
at once they were notified that the
canal work was without head. The
fact was forced upon them that they
must hunt around for another engi-
| neer in chief, and that the chances of
finding one capable of filing the bill
in every respect wasn't promising.
It may be that after all the trouble
with Mr.. Wallace was that he was
afraid of the fever. He didn't know
what the fever was until he got on the
isthmus and heard the dreadful tales
about 1t. It may be the fame of being
known to history as the builder OF the
canal didn't seem so desirable in the
face Of the chance of being victim %
yellow Jack.
Another engineer-in-chief has been
found, and the work will go on, but
doubtless the president is thinking the
canal isn't progressing quite as rapid
ly as he hoped 1t would When the
president took hold of 1t he permitted
the impression to go out that the great
work would, in all probability. be COM
pleted within ten years. Two of the
ten have passed and a beginning has
hardly been made. 1t is going TO take
more money and more time to cut a
canal across the isthmus than the
most sanguine of the canals friends
thought probable when ii was decided
to adopt the Panama route.