The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1906-12-22

protected In a place which has been
for ages hyword for unhealthfulness.
strangers suddenly put down and set to
hard work there Will now and then bo
outbreaks of disease. There viii now
and then he shortcomings in administra-
ton; there will be. unfookedfpr acct
dents - delay the excavation of the cut
or the building of the dams and locks
Each such incident will be entirely nat
ural, and, even though serious. no one
OF them VIII mean more than IA little
extra delay trouble Yet each. when
discovered uy sensation mongers and re-
tailed 10 tbmid folk OF little faith, will
serve as an excuse for the belief that
the whole work Is being badly managed
Experiments viii continually be tried in
housing, III hygiene. in street repairing,
in dredging and in digging earth and
rock. Now and then an experiment will
be failure. and among those who hear
9, 9l IL, certain proportion OF doubtinx
Thomases VIII at once believe that the
whole work is a failure. Doubtless here
anu tntr% some minor rascallty VIII os
uncovered. but as to this, have to say
mat after thr most painsiak!ng inquiry
nave been unable to md IA single reput-
able person who had much heard
OF any stIlpns accusations affecting tho
honesty of the commission or of any
responsible officer under it, / append a
letter dealing With the most serious
charge, that of the ownership Of lots in
'oIoh' IN" charge was not advanced by
a Reputable man, and is utterly base
less, 1t Is not too much to say that tho
Whole atmpsphc o: the com mission
hrehthes honesty ii breathes efficiency
anu enersF Above all. the work has
]
haNT never heard even "a suggestion of
sr9ils politics in connection with it,
nave investigated every complaint
hrohEht to m" for which there seemed
| To %" any shadov of foundation. In
| tWn or thrse cases. all Of which
| have Indicated in the course of this
message ] came to the conclusion that
tntrr was foundation for the com
| plant. and that the methods OF tho
of could he hett,rcd in the other in
stances thr complaints proved abso-
! LV lE.a ttA
takes which the commission had al
| ready found out and corrected
SANDERS and Lipelers.
So much for honest criticism. There
| remains an immense amount OF as
| reckless sl1ud,r as has ever been pub
| lilshed. Whore the slanderers are of
/ foreign origin ! have no concern with
I them. Where they are Americans 1
4 ft"i Tor them the hcartiest contempt
| of wanton dishonesty and malice.
! they ar" trying to interfere with and
! hamper III" execution of, the greatest
| work of The kind ever attempt, d and
! are seeking to bring to nuugAt the ef-
| forts OF thc-r countrymen to put to
f'ilS "l Tn" ages. he outrageous
| accusations OF these slandrr,rs con-
sttute gross libel upon body OF
! public servants who for trained intel
| lEcnce. expert ability, high charac-
| tetr and devotion to duty, have never
] been "NCelIrd anywhere. There is not
a man among those directing the work
on the tsthmus who has obtained his
position on any other basis than merit
| alone, and not one who has used his
| position in any way for his own per-
sonai or pecuniary advantage
Plan to Build by Contract.
After most careful consideration We
have dtcid'd t" let out most OF tho
| satisfactory terms with the contract
| ors. The whole work is of a kind
suited TO the peculiar genius of our
IL. Ii.
| op"d tn" Twp" of contractor best fitted
t" grapple with it 1t is of course
| part by contract than to do it all by
! tn" government. provided it is pos
sihle on the one hand to secure to tho
| contractor sufficient remuneration
| t" make it worth while for respon-
| sible contractors Of the best kind to
| undertake the work. and provided on
| tn" other hand it can be done on terms
which Will not give an excessive profit
to the contractor at the expense Of
sideration the plan already promui-
gated by the secretary of war was
adopted. This plan in its essential
| features was drafted after careful
and aand thorous4 study and consideration.
by the chief engineer. Mr.. stevens.
! Inn. the president of the Great North
ern railroad. had personal experience
of this very type of contract, Mr.
/ stevens then submitted the plan to
the chairman of the commission. Mr.
| Shonts, who went carefully over Il
| with Mr. Rogers. the legal adviser OF
ths commission. TO- see that all legal
ted COPIES Of tha plan TO both secre-
! tarv Taft aud myself. Secretary Taft
submitted IT to some, of the best c"un-
! sci at the New York bar. and after
with Mr.. Taft aud Mr. shonts and we
| before Mr.. Root MY conclusion 10
| mat ~ combines tn" maximum Of ad-
/ vantage with the minimum of disad-
| vantage. Under 1t a premium will be
| put unon the speedy and economical
| construction, of the, canal; and a pen
/ atty imposed on delay and waste. The
plar as promulgated is tentative;
| dou ,tIess it will have to be changed
! to "A satisfactory agreement with re-
| suonsihlc ontract"rs-perhaps even
after the bids have been received:
/ can not come t." a agreement, in which
| cas-" the government will do the work
| itself Meanwhile" the work tho
sthmus is progressing steadily and
without any let up,
Single Commissioner Desired.
\ seven headed commission is OF
course CLUMSY %xccutive Instrument
/ We should hay" but one mission
or. with such heads Of departments
and other ofiic, RS under him as We
/ expressly permitted to employ the
! best engineers in the country as con-
| su1ting engineers.
! ! accompany TITS paper with map
showing substantially what the canal
! viii he like when 1t is finished When
! the dams built Gf they are built at
/ present proposed there will then be
at both the Pacific and Atlantic ends
of the canal two great fresh-w water
/ lakes connected by broad channel
| running at the bottom of a ravine.
! across the backbone of the Western
! Hemisphere. Those best informed be-
lteve that the work will be completed
in about eight Years; but 1t is never
safe to prophcsv about such work
| as this. especially in the tropics. ,
Confident OF Ultimate Success
or the success of the enterprise Z
( am as wen convinced one can BE-
! of any enterprise that is human IL
| is stupendous work upon which our
| fellow countrymcn are engaged down
| there on the isthmus. and while we