The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-01
WHERE THE raeunLE LIES.


 From good Republican contempo- rary. The Indianapolis Star, we take the toIiowing.
 With the exception of President Roosevelt and Secretary Taft. there is probahiy no intelligent person in the United States who does not feel that something is wrong with the isthmiau canal enterprise. Few are agreed as to Inc dificulty. but that some dtffi- cul.y exists Is the universal conviction. fs has always been the opinion Of The Star. frequently expressed, that the trouble at Panama is red tape and Gov ernrnent irterferepce This position Is WaiIace in the current Engineering Marazine. whose article was sulnmar- fzed in vesterday mornings dispatches;
 Every business man VIII gnaers.ana m the United States represented by MT. Wallace, to the effect that the men m charge at the isthnus must have Tree rein. It Is fatal for bureaus at Wash- inaton to buy materials which the chief engineer does not want and send them 10 him without his knowledge or con- sent. 1t is fatal for him to be handi- who are selected by others and over whom he has no power either Of dis- cipline CT removal.
 Evidence IS continually accommodating to prove that the President and some of his trusted advisers have on more than one occasion made mess of canal affairs whether all the stories told of the work are true. or whether all the criticisms have been justified, we are not saying, but we do know that there has as yet been very little to be proud of, and we have no doubt that The star points out the cause of most of the trouble. Red tape and continued governfnental interference are at the bottom Of most of the failures to show ereditable results in connection with canal work.
 And speaking of the canal, The New York Times has an editorial desing with the report filed by a majority of | the Board 6f Engineers composing the l Commission fin favor Of a sea-ievei ca mai. The Times shows how easily | RooseyeIt knocked out all the experts and highsciass engineers and showed | to his own satisfaction that the ma jority were a set of lunkhsads whe I apparently didn't know canal from a mele's burrow. Then with fine sar- easm it adds
 .
 There must be something the matter l with our schools of engineering and | with the engineering schools of Eng faid, Germahy, Franee, and the Netn- erlands What sort of textbooks do they employ that they turn out engi- 1 neers who are so easily hoored by e I tayfaan like Mir. Roosevelt?
 Doubtless these engineers who have
 made a life study of the science were
 somewhat surprised to learn from ouI | President, inferentiaily, at least. that
 they know nothing of the business and
 that their first duty was to sit at his
 feet and learn the first principles oi
 their calling. we are not arguing now
 that the sea-level plan should b'
 adopted, though we believe 1t prom
 ises better results but are speaking [ of the almost contemptuous way ir which the President ignored the con cIusions arrived at by eight of th' engineers and insists on Congress adopting what is really his own plan,
 1t may turn out for the best, or I
 may not. but certainly there will have to be some material changes from thu way the business has been managed
 thus far,