The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-12-18
THREE MESSAGES
FROM PRESIDENT
Chief Executive of Nation Keeps
Congress Busy Listening
to His Views.
INTEREST CENTERED IN
REPORT OF PANAMA TRIP
President Roundly Scores
"Slanderers and Traducers"
of Great Enterprise.

NaS6lNUl lONs Dec III nIee me9-
sages from the President were received
by Congress today, and their reading
took practically all the time of the Sem
ate The reading was delayed in the
House by the fact that 1t was suspen-
sion day.
The messages were in relation to the
public land laws and the navy personnel
bill and recounting of the President 8
visit to Panama.
The latter message attracted great in-
terest because 1T was elaborately illus
trated, showing the work on the great
waterway in It's various stages. 1t was
in the form of very entertaining story
of the President s visit. AS it was read
the Senators followed it closely from
handsomely bound copies which had
been laid upon their desks.
In his message on the Panama canal,
transmitted to Congress, President
Roosevelt deals extensively with re-
port of his visit TO the isthmus last fall
and his inspection of the work on the
canal He found health conditions, par
ticularly among the white population,
good. and the work of sanitation pro-
crossing well He found complaints in
this regard not well founded.
The work of construction, the Presi-
dent says, is going on with vigor and
efficiency
In the course of his message the
President says;
Criticism Inevitable,
"1t is not only natural but inevita-
| BILE, that work as gigantic as this
which has been undertaken on the
| isthmus should arouse every species of
! hostility and criticism. The conditions
are so new and so trying, and the work
so vast, that it would be absolutely out
of the question that mistakes should
not be made, Checks will occur. I'm
| foreseen difficulties Will arise. From
time TO time seemingly well-settled
| plans will have TO be changed. AT pres
ent $4,000 men are engaged on the task
| After a while the number Will be dou-
| bled. Tn such a multitude il is inevita-
BILE that there should be here and there
! scoundrel. Very many of the poorer
| class of laborers lack the mental devel-
| opment to protect themselves against
either the rascality of others OF their
| own folly, and 1t Is not possible for hui
| man wisdom to devise plan by which
| they can invariably be protected. In
| place which has been for ages by
| word for unhealthfulness, and with so
| large a congregation OF strangers sud-
| denly put down and set TO hard work
there will now and then be outbreaks
! of diseases. There will now and then be
shortcomings in administration; there
will be unlooked-for accidents to delay
the excavation of the cut or the build
ing of the dams and locks Each such
incident will be entirely natural, and,
even though serious, no one of them Will
mean more than a little extra delay or
trouble Yet each, when discovered by
sensation mongers and retailed TO timid
folk of little faith, will serve as an eX-
cuse for the belief that the whole work
is being badly managed. Experiments
will continually be tried in housing, in
hygiene, IN street repairing, In dredg-
ing, and IN digging earth and rock
Now and then an experiment will be a
failure; and among those who hear of it,
certain proportion of doubling
Thomases Will at once believe that tho
whole work rs failure.
No Serious Accusations,
"Doubtless here and there some
minor rascality will be uncovered; but
as to this, | have TO say that after tho
most painstaking inquiry l have been
unable to find single reputable person
who had so much as heard OF any seri-
Gus accusations affecting the honesty of
the commission or of any responsible
officer under IT. | append letter deal
ing with the most serious charge, that
of the ownership of lots in Colon; the
charge was not advanced by reputable
man, and is utterly baseleSs, 1t is not
pherc of the commission breatheS hon.
esty as IL breathes efficiency and energy.
Above all. the work has been kept abso-
lutely clear OF politics, | have never
heard even suggestion OF spolls poll
tics in connection with 1T,
Il have investigated every complaint
brought to me for which there seemed
to he any shadow Of foundation In two
or three cases, all of which | have indi-
Gated IN the course of this message, [
came TO the conclusion that there was
found alton for the complaint, and that
the methods of the commission in the
respect complained of could be bettered.
In the other instances the complaints
proved absolutely baseless save IN two
or three instances where they referred
to mistakes which the commission had
already itself found out and corrected.
Much Reckless SANDER.
$50 much for honest criticism There
remains an immense amount Of rs reck-
less slauder as has ever been published.
Where the slanderers are of foreign
origin | have no concern with them.
Where they arc Americans, / feel for
them the hcartiest contempt and indig-
nation; because. in spirit OF wanton
dishonesty and malice, they are trying
to interfere with. and hamper the eXecu.
tion of, the greatest work OF the kind
ever attempted. and are seeking TO bring
TO nnnght the efforts of their country
men 10 put TO the credit of America ono
of the giant feats of the ages, The out
rageous accusations of these slanderers
constitute a gross libel upon n body OF
public servants who, for trained intclli.
gcnce. expert ability, high character
and devotion to duty. have never been
eXcelled anywhere There IL not n man
among those directing the work on the
isthmus who has obtained his position
on any other basis than merit alone, and
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