Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-11-27
Annual Report of Canal Commits
sion Shows Satisfactory Pro-
gress During Year
YELLOW FEVER STAMPED OUT
Sanitary Efforts Meet With Success
Labor Problem Not Vet Solved
Climate saps Energies of Mon and
They Soon Leave-Tass of Umpire
cedented Magnitude.

| Washington, Nov. 27-There has
been spent already on the Panama
| canal total Of $4S,2S5 ITO, 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
! lures up to July 1, the close of the
| last fiscal year. OF this amount only
$29,7S26S2 was spent on the actual
work of construction, the remainder
being for buildings, preparatory work
and sanitation.
Since the retirement Of Chairman
Shonts on March and the resignation
of Chief Engineer Stevens, effective
on April 1, 1907, the entire personnel
of the commission has been changed.
The two important changes in methods
of operation resulted from combina-
! ton of the positions of chairman and
chief engineer and from the require
ment that the commissioners take sta
| ton on the isthmus, where they can
be in direct touch with the work COM
mitted to their charge.
| Most of the actual digging has been
done on the Cuebra 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 months Of 1907.
This division is ten miles long, and the
greatest difficulty of construction has
F'been found during the rainy season on
account of the dumps. The freshly
removed earth after it is wet sinks
/, under the loaded trains and often
causes a local cessation of the work
/ until the dump has dried out
| The commission finds, in fact that
| the great problem in the construction
of that portion of the canal included in
! the Culebra division is the disposition
of the material that has been excavat-
| ed. The construction of the dams is
intimately connected with the excava-
ton of the Culebra cut and the dredg-
| ing, and it is believed that this part
of the work can be done most advan-
tageously and economically by the
government rather than by contractors.
"It naturally follows" says the re-
port, chat the method followed for
| the construction of the dam must be
the same-namely: by hired labor I'M
| der government supervision and not by
contract"
Task of Unprecedented Magnitude.
| "The Panama canal presents a piece
of work unprecedented in magnitude,
which must be done under conditions
| entirely different from similar classes
| of work in the United States" the re-
port says "The work naturally divides
itself into dredging, dry excavation,
the construction of the locks and dams,
and the construction of the new PAN
anna railroad There is no contractor
| or syndicate of contractors that by any
combination could bring to the isthmus
an organization ready for team work
| on any of these units"
The supply of labor from the United
States is the same whether the work
be done by contract or by the govern
ment. But the dread of the tropics
keeps men from seeking work on the
isthmus, and since an adequate supply
of labor from the United States is not
possible, Workmen must be had from
abroad The commission finds that
European labor is far superior to the
blacks from the tropics who work
awhile and then quit The report de-
scribes them as migratory" But while
laborers from Italy, for instance, are
anxious TO come to the isthmus to
work for the government, they man
/ ifest a great reluctance to leaving home
| Of tho request of a contractor.
L-aborers Soon Leave Tropics.
Conditions on the isthmus are Pc