Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-01-11
TAFT'S ANSWER
To Pou|tney Bige|ow's At
tack on Panama Canal.
Proves It Vicious in Nature
and Wholly Without Truth.
The Senate Inquiry Into Canal Affairs
Will Begin Today.

Washington, Jan. 10-A cOmprehen-
sive answer to the charges against the
Isthmian Canal Commission contained
in an article in the independent has
been maze by Sec. Taft. 1t is III the
form of letter to the President. who
on Jan. 6. in communication to the
secretary said his attention 'hsssl been
directed to an article purpOrting to
have been written by Mr.. Poultney
EIselow, attacking the administration
Of affairs by the canal commission and
yourself on the isthmus' and adding:
"Will you please advise me what basis,
if any, there is, for these charges"
After summarizing the charges the
secretary says that Chief Engineer
Stevens, now in Washington, is per-
sonally cogniZant of the facts with re-
spect to every local condition described
by the writer of the article and "a MEM
orandum of comments thereon by Mr..
Stevens is appended to the letter.
Discussing the conditions at Colon,
the secretary quotes Mr.. Stevens as
saying that everyone knows who has
been ON the ground that the problem Of
draining the city is one of extreme diff
ficulty, owing to the situation on an is
land surrounded by the sea on one side
and by a fresh water swamp on the
other. Uncertainty as to the plans of
improving Colon has rendered imprac-
teal any radical destruction of unsan-
ltary buildings Meantime the Secre-
tary says the sanitary conditions in
Panama required much more urgent
treatment than those at Colon, the
death rate at Panama since the govern
ment took charge of the health of the
isthmus being from % per cent, to 33 1-3
per cent. greater than in Colon.
1t is not true, he says, that a large
number of the employees on the isthmus
live in Colon proper. as Mr.. Stevens
points out there are not to exceed 200
or 300 living there.
Bearing on the charge that there is
today no water supply in Colon, Sec.
Taft quotes from a dispatch from Gov.
Magoon of Jan. advising him that of
the two temporary reservoirs for the
Colon and Cristobal water supply one
was completed Nov. l and the other the
latter part of December with a total
capacity of S0,0OO,0OO gallons, amply
sufficient for the present dry season;
that there is no scarcity of water i'll
Colon; that a permanent reservoir ca
pacity Of 500, 100000 gallons is under
construction to be completed April l.
The secretary says it is charged that
the chairman of the commission and all
others wrongly look upon the tropical
negro labOrer as poor labor. The con-
cuSion Of Mr. Stevens and of every oh
server on the isthmus, he declares, is
to the effect that this labor is ineffi-
citnt. Regarding the statement that the
negroes are leaving the isthmus in pro-
telitous numbers because mistreatment,
Mr.. Stevens testiies, the secretary
says, that just before the holidays a
great number Of laborers returned to
the islands whence they came as has
been the custom ever since the begin
ing of the French construction. The
secretary shows there are now on the
payroIls 1900 laborers.
As to the charge that officials on the
isthnius We're appointed through con-
gressional OF political influence, the
secretary says the chief engineer cat
esorically denies this. land 1 am able
from the standpoint of Washington al
SO categorically to deny it,
Sec. Taft says the charge that quar-
antine officials construe the law and
enforce it rs far as POSSIBLE to inter-
fere with commerce is utterly un-
founded
Sec. Taft repeats his former state
mcnt that the charge that a boat load
OF black women were imported from
Martinique for immoral purposes is
false. Sec. Taft says the l. members of
4 lie 1,-;, a
seven and one-ialf days OH the 18TH
mus and made an extended examina-
tion quite sufficient and minute enough.
he asserts, for them to pass upon the
proper type of the canal.
Secretary Taft continues:
FINALLY. | come to the charges
specifically made against the secretary
Of war They consist in Il refusal to
accept the guidance of Tracy Robinson
ia visiting the Purlieus Of Colon, and
refusal to have an interview with
John Lundie chief engineer of the
electric and refrigerating plant in
Panama. To the first charge | plead
guilty"
He says an impression was sought
10 be given that Mr. Lundie's applica-
interest Of the negro laborers on the
isthmus. and declares that the CORE
spondence shows nov unfounded this
is, and that in fact Mr.. Lunde did not
ask for an interview at all.
Sec. Taft states that the writer of
the article containing the charges ar
rived in Panama Nov. 80 and left Dec.
l and that lit is not unfair to say that
his opportunities for observing were
limited to IS hours including day time
and night time
But" remarks the secretary, 'the
writer will answer that he did not de-
pend upon his own observations, but
consulted witnesses. Two witnesses
we are able to identify, Tracy Robin
son. and John Lundie. The others are
unnamed and most of them negroes
from the West Indies
g.