Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1906-12-20

protected. In a place which has been
for ages q byword for unhealthfulness,
strangers suddenly pat down and set to
hard work there Will now and then be
outbreaks of disease. There will now
ton; there will be unlooked-for acct
dents to delay the excavation OF the cut
or the building. of the dams and locks.
Each such incident will be entirely nat
ural, and, even though serious, no one
OF them will mean more than little
extra delay or trouble. Yet each, when
tailed to timd folk of little faith, will
serve as an excuse for the. belief that
Experiments will continually be tried in
housing, in hygiene, in street repairing,
In dredging and in digging earth. and
rock. Now and then an experiment will
be failure; and among those who hear
of It, certain proportion of doubling
Thomases will at once believe that the
whole work is failure. Doubtless here
and there some minor rascality will be
| uncovered; but as to this, have to say
| have been unable to find single reput-
| able person who had so much as heard
OF any serious accusations Affecting the
honesty. of the commission or of any
| responsible officer under 1t. ] append a
letter dealing with the most serious
charge, that of the ownership. of lots in
| reputable man, and is utterly base
less, IL rs not too much to say that the
Sreathes q the commssCn
ana energy. Above all, the work has
peen Kept absolutely clear of politics I
have never heard even a suggestion Of
spells politics in connection with it.
nave investigated every complaint
orought to me for which there seemed
Two or three cases; all of which 1
nave Indicated in the course of this
message ! came to the conclusion that
there was. foundation for the com
| plant. and that the methods of the
commission in the respect complained
OF could be bettered In the other in
iuteIy baseless, save in two or three
instances where they referred to mis-
takes taxes which the commission had AL
| reauy round out and corrected.
ISLANDERS and Libeiers.
So much for honest criticism. There
remains an immense amount of as
! reckless SANDER as has ever been pub
lilshed. Where the slanderers are of
them Where they are Americans, I
feel for them the heartiest contempt
an ana Indignation s because. in spirit
they are trying to interfere with and
hamper the execution of, the greatest
work of the kind ever attempted. and
are seeking to bring to naught the Ct
forts of their countrymen to put To-
the credit of America one of the giant
accusations of these sianderers con-
stitute gross libel upon a body of
public servants who, for trained INTEL
llgence., expert ability, high charac-
tetr and devotion to duty, have never
been excelled anywhere. There is not
a man among those directing the work
position on any other basis than merit
alone and not one who has used his
position in any way for his own per-
sonai or pecuniary advantage.
Plan TO Build by Contract.
After most careful consideration we
have decided to let out most of the
satisfactory terms with the contract
ors The whole work is of a kind
suited to the peculiar genius of our
oped the type of contractor best fitted
to grapple with it.. 1t is of course
part by contract than to do it all by
the. government, provided it is pos
sible on the one hand to secure to the
contractor sufficient remuneration
to make 1t worth while for respon-
sible contractors of the best kind to
undertake. the, work; and provided on
the other hand it can be done on terms
which will not give an excessive profit
to the contractor at It.. the expense Of
sideration the plan already promul-
gated by the secretary of war was
adopted This plan in its essential
and thorough study and consideration.
by the. chief engineer, Mr.. Stevens.
who. while in the employment. of Mr..
Hill, the president of the Great North
ern railroad, had personal experience
Of this very type Of contract; Mr.
Stevens then SUBMITTED mi the plan to
Shonts, who went carefully over 1t
with Mr.. Rogers, the legal adviser of
the commission, to see that all legal
Acknowledgement met. He then submit
ted copies of the plan to both Secre-
tary Taft and myself Secretary Taft
sci at the New York bar, and after
wards 1 went over 1T very carefully
with Mr.. Taft and Mr.. shonts, and we
before Mr.. Root My conclusion is
that It combines the maximum of ad-
vantage with the minimum of disad-
put upon the speedy and economical
construction of the canal. and pen
doubtless it will have to be changed
in some respects before we can come
, sponsible ontractors-perhaps even
after the bids have been received;
and of course it is possible that we
, cannot come to a agreement in which
case the government will do the work
/ itself Meanwhile the work on the
i without any let up.
! Single Commissioner Desired.
, A seven-headed commission is of
: course a clumsy executive instrument.
, We should have but one commission
i err, with such heads of departments
t and other officers under him as we
' may find necessary. We should be
D expressly permitted to employ the
: best engineers in the country as con-
: / accompany this paper with mar
showing substantially what the canal
e viii be, like when 1t is finished. When
t the dams built Of they are built as al
present proposed there VIII then be
of the canal two great fresh water
y lakes connected by broad channel aIn,le
;, across the backbone of the Western
e Hemisphere; Those best informed be:
o in about eight years; but it is never
g safe to prophessy about such a worn
y as this, especially in the tropics
= Confident of Ultimate Success.
J. OF the success of the enterprise
s am MS well convinced as one can b.
: of any enterprise that is human. L
n is a stupendous work upon which our
i fellow countrymen are engaged dow
e there on the isthmus, and while W.
s, should hold them to strict accounta
y bility for the way in which they per