Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-02-06
" WALLACE IN DEFENSE
Ex-Chief of Canal Engineers
 Before Senate Committee.
REBELLED AGAINST RED TAPEISM.
Testified Cromwell Had Many Irons In Fire-Was Doing Business Along Dangerous Lines, VerSinE
 on High Finance.


 ! WASHINGTON, Feb. 6.--John Find ley Wallace, former chief engineer of the isthmian canal commission, testi- fed before the senate committee on interoceanic canals, which is investi- | gating the Panama canal affairs. He ! related the details of his selection as
 chief engineer and said he made pro- test particularly against what he call ed red tape methods and a multiplicity |, of masters and then read long state ment.
 He first spoke of the violent attack upon me which Secretary Taft and Mir. Cromwell gave to the newspapers last June" and asked that judgment upon i the justice of that attack be suspended i until he had an opportunity to explain l why think it was very uncalled for and unjustitiab able'
 He declared that the only basis for this attack was difference of opinion between them .'as to my right to decide for myself when thought the welfare i, of the enterprise and my own welfare
 justified me in resigning my position" Mir. Wallace attributed his clash with Secretary Taft to the machinations of ! Mir. Cromwell and said My reason for resigning was that I was made jointly | responsible with Mir. Shonts and Mr. Magoon for work on the canal. while 1 Mir. Shonts had a verbal agreement with the president that he should have | free hand in tine management of all | matters. felt that MT Shonts was not | as well qualified as was either as a business man or an administrator, and he was not an engineer. I thought l was to be director general of the canal
 work, but soon found I was mistaken i Mir. Wallace continued that he came
 north to have private talk with Sec
 retary Taft to explain the real reasons for his resignation, ito put myself at
 his disposal, to assist him in securing,
 If he desired. my successor
 "When I found myself confronted
 with both Secretary Taft and MT. Cromwell" he says. T contented my
 self with giving as a reason for re-
 signing the larger compensation I 1 hoped to secure in another employment. l I did so because I assumed that reason
 would be accepted as sufficient for the 1 time being and avoid the discussion of l other reasons in the presence of MT. ! Cromwell. But soon found that they i had both come to the interview deter
 mined to discredit me and if possible ito destroy my reputation"
 Another thing was Mir. Cromwelrs
 connection with affairs. said Mir Wal
 lace. He had done several things with
 the railroad property. which I ques-
 tioned. and seemed to be the controlling i force in the management of the prop
 erty. | considered he was doing busi-
 ness along dangerous lines sss : Mir. Wallace went on to explain that
 he thought Mr. Cromwell to he mixed
 up in so many local enterprises on the isthmus that his views might be per
 verted and if adopted by the commits
 sion scandal might be the result. One / of the acts of which Mir. Wallace com
 plained was that in which he asserted
 that the Panama railroad the year be-
 fore it was taken over by this govern
 ment had declared dividends of S100,- GOO more than it had earned and had
 then issued bonds for the rebuilding
 and improving the property. This. de-
 clared Mir Wallace. meant that that
 amount of money had been taken out
 of the pocket of Uncle Sam. He ex-
 plained that Mir. Cromwell had been
 c5onsel for the road and said tine ac-
 ton bordered upon high finance.