The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-11-14
CANAL TO Be BUILT
BY ONE CONTRACTOR
Engineer Sh0nts Asks Bids on
Percentage System.
ANY FOREIGNERS MAY COMPETE
Bidders Must Have S5,O0O,OOG Avail
able Capital and Give So, 1000, 900
Bond-An Eight-Hour Day Will
BE Required.

washington. u. C.-The plan to
, complete the Panama Canal by on
tract was made public by Chairman
;: Shonts. Each bidder must undertake
!, the entire construction. No bar will
BE- offered to corporations associating,
but they must be legally organized
into a single body, with which the
Government can deal. Bidders will
not be considered who do not have
available capital Of 100000. =.
certified check for 100000 is re-
CURED with each proposal, and 4
bond Of $4,000 900 will be required
from the successful bidder.
The biddiE- is not limited 10 Amer
lean contractors. All proposals are
to be in before noon of December -,
when they will be opened. Proposals
are to be expressed il terms of per-
centage upon the estim1ted cost of
construction, which is to be fixed by
q board of five engineers. three rep
r~esenting the Government and two
representing the contractor. Tht
chief engineer of the Canal Commits
sion is to be chairman Of the en-
cheering board.
The engineering board will also
estimate a reasonable time for the
completion of the canal, and will
agree upon a system of premiums and
penalties to be paid to or by the con-
tractor, according as the work is com
pleted within or beyond the estimated
cost and time.
All the Government plant for &C
tual construction work, including the
railwaw, is to be lace at the dis
posal Of the contractor and is 20 be
maintained by the Government. The
contrac. specifies that the commission
is to retain control of all engineering
work in connection with the con-
struction Of the canal; also all munic-
ipal engineering, the police, sanitary,
hospital and commissary depart
ments, mess houses, quarters. con-
|: struction and maintenance of build
ings, operation Of the Panama Rail-
way, an auditing department, to
which contractors accounts are to be
open, and a department of materials
and supplies.
Sixty days after the signing of the
contract actual work is to begin on
the Isthmus, and the contractor is to
take ovcr all employees on the Isthmus
which the commission does not wish
to retain. No American employe is
10 work more than eight hours.
Chairman Shonts defends the per-
centage system of payment in a letter
to Secretary Taft, as follows: This
plan is being employed increasingly
by the oldest, largest and most sue
cessful corporations in the country.
The Government will get the Ieneft
of the combined efforts of the best
and most experienced contractors in
the world, each in charge of q de-
partment in which he is a specialist
and cooperating with other special
lists. The Government will secure
the cooperation of these powerful in
terests in keeping mechanics Of all
classes.
The plans offer every incentive
for speedy and economical construc-
ton by penalizing extra time and cost
and rewarding better than contract
performance as to either. BY retain
ing control Of the work and exercis-
ing strict supervision through its en-
gineering force the Government will
protect itself against cheap or faulty
construction.
THE time and cost of completing
the canal as estimated, will in all
probability be reduced by the applica-
tion of new principles which will be
discovered as the work progresses.
Finally, a termination Of the con-
tract, should it become necessary,
would be less disastrous to the cons
tractor, while an effective resumption
of the work would be made easier
to the Government, owing to its close
. relations thereto"