The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-01-26

Odore ShOltS, late chairman or the
Isthmian Canal Commission, before
the annual banquet of the Knife n
Fork Club:
Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
You have honored me with a. invl-
tation to be mere tonight and to talk
to you, as men of affairs interested IN
all public questions, bout the Pan
anna Canal. | shall endeavor TO salts
fy your desire for by tell.
ing you, as simply and tersely as pos
sible, what we have done and are
doing on the Isthmus. You are aware
that any great e~nterprinse is divided
into two stages, the creative period
and the period of actual operation.
By the creative period | mean that
of preparatory work. In this 1T has
been necessary to create not only the
system by which the men VINO are TO
perform the labor on the canal are
to be collected housed n fed, but
the broad policies upon which the en-
tire gigantic project is to be conduct
ed, and the engineering plans upon
which the canal itself is to be built.
| need not say to you, who are prac-
tical men of affairs, hat the first
stage of the work is at once the most
difficult and the m q t jmportalt-that
if it be not well and thoroughly done
in every part, the actual work which
is based upon it will be handicapped
at every step.
The present commission, during its
first visit to the sthmus in July, 1905
decided that a ~onsiderab period
must be devoted to preparation be-
fore The actual work of canal constru-
ctio7 could be carried forward. A
form of government must be devised
and put into operation in order to
-@@sA-.- L. ~ANN-
words, we had to reate a State. The
sanitation of the Isthmus must be ac-
complished as thoroughly as possible
in order that it might be a healthful
place in which to work. Quarters
must be erected for employees L an
adequate and wholesome food and
water supply provided. A plant must
be assembled with which to do the
work of construction, and a railway
system must be built up that would
enable the railroad to perform ade-
quately it's functions as the chief in
Strument in such construction. Ger
tain broad policies were evolved for
the accomplishment of these purpos-
es. Among these were:
l. That during the preparatory per
Tod the work of ana excavation
should be confined to putting the va
rious levels in the cut in perfect con-
III " NhC dhh OPSAo
ton of the maximum number of steam
shovels, n the laying of railway
track for the movement of trains
with the spoil.
.. That all available forces of la
borers should be concentrated upon
sanitary work, Il construction of
quarters, and railway enlargement,
and the location and erection of dunn
ping grounds for the spoil.
That the Commission ShQuld on
en- commissaries at suitable places
along the line of h ana for the
supply of proper and wholesome food
and arrangement should be made to
obtain such o from the United
States.
4. That the Panama railroad should
be doubled tracked throughout it's N
tire length; that new locomotives, fiat
Dump, Il passenger cars should be
ordered; that terminal and switching
yards should be constructed, and that
existing docks should be enlarged
anu new ones provided.
5. That the expenditures for inn
proved facilities of all kinds only
such sums should be applied to ex-
listing facilities in the Republic of Pa
mama as were sufficient to keep them
in a proper state of repair, and that
all necessary additions shoul be To-
Gated within the Canal Zone
6. That in purchasing material and
supplies OF all kinds III the United
States bids should be called for on
the basis of the price covering deliv-
cry on the Isthmus in order to give
each section of the country and each
port equal opportunity to furnish the
materials desired, thus making the
canal work comprehensively Ameri-
can.
These policies have been in opera
ton nearly a yea anu a half, and dur
ing that period the preparatory work
has been virtually completed. 1t was
so nearly completed within a year
that actual work of ANA construction
began IN July last. as soon as Con-
gress decided upon the type OF canal
that we were to build.
In giving you an of
mas been don during the creative pc
Rod, l ask you to zeal in mind con-
staltly that we were working 1000
miles from a base of supplies, in a
country that was literally destitute
of everything we needed. Every foot
of lumber, every bit of machinery, ev-
cry tool. every nail, every pound of
paint, every skilled mechanic, every
railway tie and rail, every locomotive.
fat car, dump car, every piece of
furniture, every bit of plumbing mate
rial. and virtually every ounce of
food had to be brought 1000 miles.
We had to build towns and villages
under these conditions, and to recon
struct a~16A62large a decrepit single
rack n fully a quarter of a cen
tury the times, making it a
tn equipped modern double
Eystem. with up-to-date locomo
cars of all varieties, terminal
rid other yards, and with u~p-to-date
man Fn~ ff0 nn0roffnn We hod ~