The National tribune., 1906-04-19

he could find out tie truth about things
down there. His instructions were: NO
sensations. Plain facts are all that are
wanted" Well, if plain facts" happen
to be sensations, then what? Mr.. Clum
is personally known to me. He wouldn't
lie for anybody. He has been writer
and correspondent for a good many
years, and his word is worth more than
the average mars bond. Mr.. Clum is
sending back some ripping stuff as
plain facts" For instance. when some
body came up here and said that the
water supply of Colon and Cristobal was
no good, there was an immediate reply
from inspired quarters that the sup
ply was ample. Mr.. Clum finds it nil.
He paid two cents q gallon for drinking
water; paid it to Government officials.
This is what Mr. Clum says:
Secretary Taft. in a special report
dated Jan. s, 1906, informs the public
that there is no scarcity of water in
Colon; that a permanent reservoir with
4 capacity of 500, 200, 900 gallons is un-
Ter construction, with two permanent
Standpipes, one of 100000 and the other
of 100000 gallons capacity, under con-
tract TO be completed by April 1. On
this last day of March / am able to
report that there is a scarcity of good
water in Colon: that the work of clear
ing the ground for the 500, 900. 000-gal-
Ion reservoir has scarcely begun; that
the work on the permanent dam is
practically at standstill, and that
neither of the two standpipes has been
begun"
Mr.. Clum says that the spot where
this reservoir is to be is a big tree
shaded valley at the present moment.
He walked all over the reservoir site
and counted the men at work. They
numbered 200, mostly negroes, under
a negrS foreman. He says that there
should be at least 1000 men at work
there. Mr. Clum says it is difficult to
get the truth about things. The sore
heads can tell lot, and it is mostly
true, but what they say is always dis
credited because they are soreheads and
have grievance. Government officials
will not talk, or if they do, Mr.. Clum
says, they always say they must not be
quoted. but if he could quote them he
could give a lot of good news about
how things are not being done down
there.
Mr.. Clum talked with George T. Ken
ly, who was for six months one of the
engineers. Mr.. Kenly says the reser-
voir will be useless when it is finished
because there is nothing from which to
draw water. The surrounding country
and is not a natural watershed, and the
one stream from which the water sup
ply is TO come is slow, sluggish. made
quate. Mr.. kenly says that the reser-
voir will be n disease breeder, because
the water will foul. He also says that
when the reservoir is constructed it will
take at least year, and he believes
two years, to fill ii with water, and IT
could not be used until once filled. And
reaIk-nO.
April /; must have been of some other
year, don't you know. Mr.. Clum also
says:
Some of the Governmental experts
on the Isthmus of Panama are taking
advantage of the Administration. Sec
retary Taft also stated on Jan. that
1900 feet of permanent (waterD mains
have already been laid, and that the re-
naming 5000 feet are being laid at
the rate of 400 to 500 feet daily. If
this progress had been maintained the
laying of the mains would have been
completed within 90 days at the OUT
side. Nearly three months have elapsed
since then, and the laying of mains has
not been completed"
Mrs. Roosevelt has returned from her
cruise of the Cuban coast much re-
freshed in mind and body. The First
Lady in the Land was pretty well fraz-
zled out with the hard social work of
the Winter, and rest was an absolute
necessity.
Gen. Adna r. Chaffee has been asked
to take the Presidency of the New York
State Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals at a salary of 5000
a year, which isn't bad on top of his
pay as a retired Lieutenant-GeneraI of
the Army. He has not accepted the
new office yet. And along comes some
OF the members of the Society and say
that he hasn't been asked to accept. and
that he viii not be asked. Dear, dearI
Senator Alger, who has got out Of
life about all the honor and glory that
one man should want, has decided that
one term as a United States Senator is
all that he wants. Well, maybe not
exactly all that he wants, but at any
rate he feels that to accept six years
more would be to shorten his life by
hard work and anxiety, and, like the
sensible man that he is, he prefers to
spend his later years in quiet and ease
with his family, and they are eminently
pleased that he shall do SO. Senator
Alger has been in public life so long
that 1t will seem strange not 10 see him
about the Capital Of the Nation; but
his work has been a good one, and will
live.
OF course. there is to be 2 great strug-
gle for his seat At the present time
il looks as though William Alden Smith
had a mortgage on it. Mr. Smith now
represents Michigan in the lower
House, and has for good many years.
with credit to himself and honor to his
state. If he shall be called to the upper
House he viii be missed, for he is re-
liable, companionable, capable and ap-
proachablc. \ man whom men like.
There Is the very mischief of row
| being kicked up in religious circles
here by Rev. Wallace Radcliffe, pastor
| Church. over lecture delivered before
| the National Geographic Society by a
| Buddhist priest Rev. DR.. Radcliffe
! thinks that it was very bad taste, to
say the least, TO let a Buddhist lecture
/ in n Christian city. The particular
Buddhist who has aroused his wrath is
Shoku Soyen, Lord Abbott of the
| Buddhist Church of Japan. He IS GER
| tainly one Of the most learned men OF
| his day. His lecture vas highly enter
ttaining. and il had nearly as little re-
| ligion In it as the average sermon IN
the swell churches of the orthodox to-
| day. DIR. Radcliffe wrote TO the Geo
graphical Society, of which he is a
member. by the way, and offered him
self as a willing sacrifice for a sermon
on Calvinism. and the Geographical So
cicty had the bad tas-um, well, yes
the Geographical Society said il wasn't
lhankering to hear ijm talk, or some
thing TO that effect.
Judge John a. Marshall. Of the Unit