Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-21
NEXT STEP TO TAKE
Bids to Be Received for Digging
the Panama Canal.
GREATEST MODERN WORK
Proposals Will Be Opened on the 18th
of Next Month.
CHAIRMAN sHONTs EXPLAINS
Contracts to Be Awarded to a Group
of Contractors Each of Whom is
Specialist in His Line.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
On the 10Th of January bids will be opened
| at the offices of the Panama canal commits
| sion for the most extensive and the most
expensive construction work ever under
| taken, as Commissioner Shonts describes it,
the greatest task of modern times. The
bids were to be opened on the 10Th of De-
cember, but were postponed in order that
the contractors might have opportunity
to revise them under certain important
changes in the specifications. These
changes, decided upon at the suggestion of
contractors of long experience, reduced the
bond required from three to two millions
and included an elastic provision concern
ing changes in the wage scale on the 18TH
mus. The contractors thought 1t impera-
tive that they should be protected If wages
should go up, and willing to have their
compensation reduced if they go down.
All of the great modern construction
works in the world have been done by con-
tract, except the Kiel canal, connecting the
Baltic and the North seas, and the railroad
| which Mr.. H. NJ. Flagler is now building
along the keys of Florida from Miami to
Key West. That is remarkable under
taking, as more than half the track will be
upon steel trestle work connecting the little
coral islands which stretch almost the en-
tire distance. The unusual character of the
construction is such that the contractors
insisted that Mr.. Flagler should carry all
the risk. He decided that he might as we'll
do the work himself under those circum-
stances, for, if no calamities occurred, he
would make all the profit
The Chicago drainage canal, the Sault
Ste. Marie canals, the Manchester ship ca
nal the SueZ canal the Pennsylvania rail-
road tunnels under the Hudson and East
rivers and all their terminals done by
contract, and the commissioners have al
ways contemplated contract work on the
Panama canal, but they could not make
specifications until the kind of canal and
the character of the work were decided
upon. In the meantime they have been
making excavations and doing other pre-
paratory work which would have to be
done anyhow, until on June % last, Con-
gress decided upon an eighty-fve-foot level
canal, requiring three locks on either side
of the continental divide. That gave the
commission chance to figure out exactly
what was to be done and gave them the
knowledge and experience upon which they
could base specifications and give accurate
information to the contractors. 1t was
then decided to invite bids.
What the Canal Has Cost.
The act of Congress authorizes the
pendture of s145 100000 the canal. The
internationa board of consulting en-
gineers figured out that three-lock
eighty five foot-level canal should cost $780,
only Their estimate did not embrace the
expenses of the administration of the gov
eminent of the zone, the sanitation of the
territory and many other costly features of
the work.
Up to the goth of September last there
had been expended for all purposes con-
nected with the canal $76962, 725. OF this
comparatively small portion had been
paid for construction work. The following
are the principal items:
Franchise including Panama railroad. $40, 900, 900
Paid government of Colombia. 10 10000
Permanent plant Observation-Disclosures. 10 01S, 563
Actual construction work .............. 5,S2S, ass
Materials and supplies 1s3, 454
Water works sewerage, ........... 1,609, 500
Administration purposes ........." . 80 $50 500
Engineering expenses. .-........... 859,66l
Railroad equipment. oSo,OOo
OF the above expenses only about S14,-
100000 are to be charged against the S145-
100000 appropriated for the canal, and it is
| expected that the bids will average in the
neghborhood of 500, 100000. Under the
| terms of the contract the government fur
nishes all the permanent plants and most of
| the material. The contractor furnishes the
| men, the loose tools and light machinery
and does the work.
Conference With Contractors.
Immediately following the action of Con-
gress determining the type of canal, Mr..
Shonts went to the isthmus and spent sew
eral weeks in daily conferences with Mr..
Stevens and his assistants developing a
general plan for the form of the contracts
Upon his return he invited conferences with
fifty or sixty of the large contractors in
the country in order to interest them in the
enterprise and obtain their ideas to how
the work should be divided and how the
specifications should be drawn in order to
give the contractors a fair profit and at
the same time protect the interests of the
government. Among the contractors he
consulted with were those who built the
Chicago drainage canal; O'Rourke who is
building the Pennsylvania tunnels and con-
structed the sea wall at Galveston; ]. G.
White & Co. of New York, who build
ing railroads in the Philippines; the Kill
patricks of Kansas City, Macarthur Bros.
of Chicago Gillespie & Co. of Pittsburg,
Oliver & Co. of Knoxville and many others.
AS a result of these consultations it was
decided to ask joint bids from contractors
who have had experience in excavation in
dry earth, those who have specialized in
dredging, in dam construction and in heavy
concrete work. No one firm in the world
has ever undertaken to do all of these diff
ferent kinds of work involved In the con-
struction of the canal.
In other words, the plan contemplateS
competition between several groups of con-
tractors, each group composed of men who
have achieved significant success in at least
one of the several departments of CONSTRUCT
ton involved in the present undertaking
and whose combined experience covers the
whole task. Bids from single firms of in
dividuals therefore, discouraged.
The group of contractors who receive the
award will each be entitled to an agreed
percentage upon the cost of the entire
work and will be governed by system Of
premiums and penalties according as their
task is completed within or beyond an esti-
mated cost and time.
Chairman Shonts' Explanation.
When 1 asked Mr.. Shonts the advantages
of this system, he replied:
This plan is not novel, 1t is being en-
ployed by the oldest, largest and most sue
cessful corporations in the country.
Il The government will get the benefits
of the combined efforts of the best and
most experienced contractors in the world,
each in charge Of a department in which
he is a specialist, because all are sharers in
results, to bring the whole to work to the
earliest and most successful conclusion.
..0 The gnyernment will secure the CO.