The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-02-28

Only last Thursday he said
last night "thc president assured
my friends that would he given
The contract and he wcnr as far as
t. say that he would be down In
Panama next November and said
that ne was confident that by that
time he would have tho work well
under way.
l. The corporation organized by MIR.
Oliver AMI known as the Panama
canal construction company will at
once be dissolved Mr. oliver says
that he has spent $4,000 in the prep
afatlon Of his bids and IN the or
lganizatiou OF The committee.
The president had conferences ri;
the White House yesterday afternoon
with Secretary Taft a~d Secretary
Root regarding the working out Of
the details of the reorganization
scheme for the Panama canal work.
II Is understood that in addition to
the changes in the commission. al
ready reported, it has been decided
that Colonel Hams, United States
|army, sretircd, and benjamin lIar-
rod civil engineer, both members of
the present commission, shall retire.
Admiral Elincott. who IS the only
remaining member of the old com
mission, will be retained On the new
commission, as the law requires that
ono civil engineer of the nav shall
BE- included in its membership.
In view Of the Increased cost of
living in the transfer to the isthmus
'anl the fact that they are to be
called upon to undertake the prorcs-
siona work Of high grade for which
their predecessors have been libcraiiy
recompensed. the three engineer pf-
ficers of the army, Majors Cocktails
.Gallurd and Seiberj, who Tuesday
were named as members Of the com.
mission ana engineers q conduct the
canal construction. will be he re-
cipicnts of salaries considerably IN
excess of those they now receive
namely, $1,000 : year. II IL the in
tcntion to divide among them the
salaries now paid to Mcssrs. Shonts
and Stevens, aggrcgating $4,000 per
annum, so long as they are engaged
Ia canal work. AS the president
has power to fix salaries of persons
employed in this work, there will
be no legal obstacle to this proceed
pre.
1t is stated tina. Chlef Engineer
Stevens resigned with the statement
that he would remain in charge ON
the isthnus until his successor ar
rived there. and was thoroughly ini-
iiatod into the new duties and pre-
pared TO take the mover. Familiar
as they are with the conduct of
large engineering enterprises, II is
believed that the army Officers who
are to relieve him OF his RESPONSE
hi,ities there, and as they sail from
New York about March 6 for the
isthmus, it is probable that the
transfer can be clfccted carly in
April.
II Is stated that II will be ncccs-
sary for these army engineers to
make personal inspection Of every
part Of the construction work Oh
the, canal before any determination
eanD be reathcd as 10 the method
OF conducting the work in The tut
upe;, that IL, whether l. should be
done ny cont. .adt, and If so, whelh-
ei upon the percentage plan, or In
accordance with the method now
pursued.
The presidents letter indicated
that there might bt Il recurrence OF
the contract plan in the future, but
even ii that should be the case, the
army officers in charge will. 1t is
pointed ont, find themselves able TO
ma aage the work in n supervisory
capacity just as they now do several
OF the large river and harbor pro-
jccts in execution in this country.
Albany. n. y, Feb. 2S. -" Re-
garding the report that Mr.. Diver
expended the suns of forty thous-
and dollars in preparing h's bid
to construct the Panama canal"
said Superintendent Of Public
Works, Stevens, today, II would
say that he expended that amount
ont of his own funds. formed
a company for HE purpose of
constructing, but ! don't see how
he cuu'd recover from the gov
erumcnt. because of the unexpected
result of his negotiations. "