Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-11-27
VAST WORK DONE
Great Amount Already Accom-.
pIished in Digging of the
Panama Canal.
COL. G. W. COCKTAILS REPORTS
Total Expenditures to July 1, $48,2s5,
110, Nearly Half Being for Var
ious Preparations.

Washington, Nov. 27.-There has
been spent already on the Panama
canal total of $4S,2S5,11O, according
to the report made to Secretary Taft
by Colonel George W. Goethals, chair
man and chief engineer of the canal
commission, the report bringing the
detail of accomplishment and eXpendi-
lures up to July /, the close of the
last fiscal year. OF this amount only
29,7S2,6S2 was spent on the actual
work of construction, the remainder
being for buildings, preparatory work
and sanitation.
Entire Personnel Changed.
Since the retirement of Chairman
Shonts March 4 and the resignation of
Chief Engineer Stevens, effective
April l, 1907, the entire personnel of
the commission has been changed
The two important changes in meth
| DDS of operation resulted from a conf
bination of the positions of chairman
and chief engineer and from the re.
quirement that the commissioners take
station on the isthmus, where they
! IL
| committed to their charge.
Most of the actual digging has been
done on the Culebra division of the
canal. The first stage of the work
that of preparation, was finished last
year, and 4,047,071 cubic yards OF
earth were removed from the Culebra
cut during the first six month"; of 1907
| This division is 10 miles long, and
| the greatest difficulty of construction
has been found during the rainy sea
son on account of the dumps. The
freshly removed earth after it is wet
| sinks under the loaded trains apf
often causes a local cessation of the
Material Presents Problem.
The commission finds, in fact, tha
the great problem in the construction
of that portion of the canal included
in the Culebra division is the dispo
sition of the material that has beer
lexcavated. The construction ef--th,
dams is intimately connected with th'
excavation of the Culebra cut and tn,
dredging, and it is believed that thi!
Ipart of the work can be done most ad
vantageously and economically by th'
government rather than by contractors
1T naturally follows" says the re
lpOrt. that the method followed TO
the construction of the dam must b.
the same-namely: by hired labor un
der government supervision and no
by contract"
Opposed to Contract Work.
The commission does not believe il
contract work as a rule. The repor
goes into an interesting argument o
the question. and cites as an instanc
of comparative cost the fact that tn
expense of a team for month "ir
r Guiding all charges for labor, fOragin
; and miscellaneous items, as we'll a
expense of sick teams, was abou
$110. A proposal was recently rt
ceived by the commission from a col
tractor in the United States who ha
had considerable experience in simila
work in Central America. to do a
, land transportation at the rate {
$3.50 per month per team, or over fou
times what it is costing the commi
sion at the present time"
: 1t is admitted that the question {
f government work versus contract
a connection with the Panama canal ha
been discussed and a conclusio
. reached in favor of the latter metho
because of certain stated advantage
that are claimed to result" But til
d commission finds that 'the advantage
r