The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-24
Mr.. Taft Speaks for the Canal Policy
OF the Administration.

Mr.. Taft Speaks for the Canal Pollcy
of the Administration.
Secretary TAFT's testimony before the
Senate Committee on 1~nteroceanio Ca
nails, on Friday and Saturday OF last
week, would have attracted universal
attention at almost any other time. In
the concentration of public interest upon
San Francisco the Importance and sig
niicance of this document should not be
overlooked.
With the exception Of what is perhaps
an excess of time and energy devoted
to the trituration of the unfortunate Mr..
WALLACE, the statement of the Secre-
tary of War is a remarkably symmetrical
exhibit of canal history and Adminlstra-
ton policy and present conditions on the
Isthmus, together with the Administra-
TONS care regarding certain special
matters which have been the subject OF
criticism. Mr.. WALLACE's W testi-
mony gave some reason for an official
reioinder. We submit, however, both
in behalf of a public which has already
formed it's conclusions about the cir
cumst ian attending the severance OF
Mr.. WALLACE from the canal enterprise
and for the sake of ordinary humanity,
hat the enormous crushing power which
Mr.. TAFT can on occasion develop might
possibly be employed to better purpose
than the further pulverization of Chief
Engineer STEvENs's predecessor. There
ia little doubt in our mind that the late
Captain TOBY SHANDY, in tn c Secretary's
place, would have opened the window
and allowed Mr.. WALLACE to depart to
the freedom Of a tolerated existence
elsewhere.
With his uncommon talent for COM
prehensive assimilation and forcible
presentation, the Secretary OF War has
produced for the benefit of the Senate
committee a document so crowded with
facts as to be fairly encyclopaedia, and
as lucid Us it is authoritative with regard
to the questions now in controversy, 10
most of the charges brought by enemies
of the canal and obstructionists of the
Administrations greatest job in hand,
Mr.. TAFT makes answers which talr
minded men, we think, will be glad to
accept as conclusive.
One question is now of overshadowing
importance. The Administratio on is nx-
ious to know at the earliest possible mo-
ment whether Congress desires to revise
the policy as to type of canal which the
Spooner act certainly intended to pre-
scribe; namely, a lock canal at about
IL I.-..l z,,u;a,ll,, ,nnnp,rnnphpn hu la
Walker Commission. If the type is to
be changed to sea level or nothing, both
Mr.. SHoNTs and Mr.. STEVENS think that
the character Of the estimates even for
the next fiscal year will be materially
affected, and these estimates must be
made very soon. If no change is made
by Congress, or if the question is left to
the President, Mr.. TAFT says that work
will proceed speedily according to the
plan recommended by the minority OF
the consulting board, with some pos
sible notifications.
We strongly hope that the latitude OF
the qualifying phrase here quoted is
sufficient to include such modification OF
the form of locks and dams at an initial
high level as will permit a gradual
transformation hereafter to a lockless
waterway at sea level, the only type
practically invulnerable by the forces of
nature and adequate to the future needs
of the worlds commerce.
Mr.. TAFT, while not sharing the ap-
prehensions that have been expressed
about the stability of the Gatun dam,
"the distinguishing and Indispensable
feature" of the plan now favored, rcCoG-
nizes the gravity of the question and he
serious character of any mistake. His
brief remarks about the Gatun dam were
prepared before the nows came of the
San Francisco earthquake Perhaps that
warning will further impress engineers
with the gravity of any error which
should stake the entire canal upon the
stability of a huge structure 7,70O feet
long, breasting the water at the altitude
of eighty-fiv feet, in a region OF earth
quake shocks. They may begin to in
uuire, for example, how many years it
is since an earthquake actually opened
in the ground within six miles
of the site chosen for the Gatun dam.
The lesson of the recent commissions
on the Pacific Coast, as Mr.. BUNAU-
VANILLA has been quick to point out
from Paris, must be disturbing to those
who contemplate tying the canal for all
time in this earthquake region to perma-
nent locks and permanent dams.
The New San Francisco.