The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-21
SHUN ISUN CANAL
Chairman of Commission Is the
Guest of Honor
At a Banquet Of the Queen City
Club.
TELLS OF THE WORK.
What Has Been Done and Is
Being Done at Present.
He Fires Broadsides at POultney
BigelOW.
TELLS OF THE WORK.

Theodore P. Shonts of the isthmian
canal commission, was the guest of
honor tonight Of the Commercial club
at a banquet at the Queen City club.
Mr.. Shonts was the only speaker and
his address was on the big canal I'M
dertaking and was frequently applaud
ed. He spoke in part as follows:
I am here tonight to talk as I have
said, not Of an experiment. but of an
assured success. We are not merely
going to build the Panama canal-we
are building it. Preparation is a. part,
and a most important part, of the work
of construction. When that shall have
been fully and thoroughly accomplished,
a great step forward win have been
taken. You can not erect house until
you have laid the foundation. You can
not run d railway until you have lald
the tracks. You can not build CHM
ney by placing the top bricks first.
These are trite truisnas, but there seem
to be people in this country to whom
they are novelties. We are approaching
the end Of the preliminary work we
have made the Isthmus healthtul
place in which TO work. We are getting
the line of the canal into a condition
which will enable US to operate an ex-
cavating plant to the best advantage,
and we, are assembling the plant with
which the work is to be done. When
you bear in mind that we have been en-
gagged in this preparatory task barely
six months that we have been conf
PEELED to carry it forward in a tropical
country mainly a wilderness, not ac-
cessible by railway, but 1000 miles a
sea and 1000 miles from the base OF
supply, and that most of the material
entering into the work had to be man
ufactured to order before it could be
Chi to of aptinD T think
you will admit that the amount of time
consumed has not been unreasonable.
1 shall not burden you with details of
the preparatory work. These were set
forth by me in speech before the
American Hardware Manufacturers as
ISOLATION d few weeks ago. and are to
be found in the recent report of the COM
mission to congress. Briefly summed up
they have resulted, first, in converting
the Isthmus from d hotbed Of disease
into as healthful a place for work of the
kind in hand, as could be found in any
tropical country-with reasonable care
man can go there to live now with no
more serious menace to his health thaD
he would encounter in frontier work IN
our own country: second, the workers of
all grades are provided with suitable
sanitary quarters, wholesome food tn
abundance and at reasonable prices, and
pure water; third an antiquated, made
uuate. and poorly manned railway SyS-
tenn has bene improved and recognized
on modern lines, and provided with up
to-date equipment of locomotives ana
cars: fourth. new wharVes equipped with
modern mechanical appliances. cOnnod-
ions terminal yards at both ends of the
railway. extensive warehouses, suitable
machine shops. and modern coal hoist
ing plant are rapidly approaching COM
Dletion: fifth, more than S9,O0O00O has
been expended in the purchase of sup
plies and material. largely for an operat-
ing plant in the actual work OF eXcaVa-
tion. and the bulk of this Investment is
already on the Isthmus
Bought in United States.
This vast quantity of supplies has
been purchased almost exclusively N
the United States. In accordance with
our policy of buying in the cheapest
markets we have bought chiefly IN
the United States because Its markets
in the main are the cheapest IN the
world for the products that we need
in this; work The American labOrer
is the highest priced nj the world, put
we can buy the results of his Work
more cheaply here than abroad, pc
cause of the intelligent interest which
he as an American c1llzen taxes IN ms
work In other words. he puts more
brains into the product of his hands,
because he is q citizen OF a free coun-
try and his mind has been enlarged
and his ambition stimulated by active
participation IN the duties of citizen
ship.
Gentlemen. we are treating this task
as a great business enterprise and are
seeking to accomplish 1t by the appl-
cation of strict business methods, pay
ing no heed to politics or political
pulls" Our sole aim and purpose IS
to give the American people the full
worth OF every dollar they put into
the work. and to hand over the work
completed to them at the earliest pos
sible day. SO long as we continue in
control of the job it will be managed
on these principles and on these alone.
When it becomes apparent that we
will not be permitted to build the
canal in that way we VIII sep aside
and let somebody else take it in hand.
\ Shot at BigeiOw.
A notable specimen of scandai-mon-
geriug literature was LADDER ore the
country d few days ago from the pen of
a man who had spent Is hours ana ~
minutes on the isthmus. The ten min
utes are important. for a person of such
extraordinary powers of observation
and production can collect an enormous
amount of material in that time He
landed at Colon on November 80 at 10
a. m. and sailed away on the same
steamer from Colon at 2:10 p. m. on
December L. In those % hours and 10
minutes he accumulated fund OF
exact knowledge sufficient to enable
him to draw a general and sweeping
Indictment of the president, Secretary
Taft, the canal commission, Governor
Magoon, Chief Engineer Stevens, Vol.
Gorgas. and everything that has been
done on the isthums since the Amerf-
can government came into possession
Of the Canal Zone.
He has been not merely answered but
annihilated by Secretary Taft. and I
shall waste no time with him. Ore point
only will I mention as an Illustration
of his miraculous powers of observa-
ton. He said that during a recent rain
the volume of water was so great in
the sewers of Panama that it backed
the sewage up into cellars and ruined
many houses" There is not cellar
in Panama and never has been.
Five Blocks Burned.
Ninot. N D. Jan. Chelmsford. a town
20 miles northwest Of here. was nearly
wiped out by fire today. The entire bus
a..a.- aiet.-iet Is in asIas In tEraa ho,,,-s