Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1907-06-27
From Washington.
Correspondence of the Alexa ndria Gazette
Washington, June q.

Correspondence OF the Alexa ndrlA UazetIe.J
Washington, June q.
Another reorganization Of the 18th
milan Canal Commission is under con-
sideration by the President aud Secre-
tary Taft. Decentralization has again
struck the Panama canal workers, and
il is said that there is to be new deal all
around. Lieutenant Colonel George W..
Goethals, of the army engineer corps,
who succeeded John +. Stevens, as chief
engineer or the canal, after having been
on the isthmus less than four months,
has, 1t is said, found the job to big for
him. 1t is reported that be has applied
for four months leave of absence, and
has asked to be relieved of his assign
ment as a member of the Isthmiau Canal
Commission, and chief engineer of the
work. Major David d. B. Gaillard,
also an army engineer, and second to
Dol. Goethsls, on the canal commits
OF, has also, it is said, asked to be
relieved. Jackson Smith, of Cincin'
natl, head of the department of labor
and quarters, and member Of the COM
mission, who is now in this country
on leave of absence, is reported to
have rendered his resignation, and the
same report comes from the isthmus
regarding Col. Beird, who has been in
charge of railways and transportation.
Although Secretary Bishop, of the
canal commission, says ne knows moth
ing Of these prospective changes, there
is reason to believe that the reports are
we'll founded. The resignation of three
members of the commission would, OF
course, require its entire reorganization
and would be source of considerable
chagrin and disappointment to both the
President and Secretary Taft, who had
hoped that in putting the canal work in
the charge of army engineers, the prob
lem of construction had been solved. AS
nearly as can be ascertained, the trouble
arises largely from general spirit OF
dissatisfaction and decentralization which
spread among the canal employees with
the departure of Chief Engineer Stevens.
There does not seem to be any special
complaint against the officers, but things
have not run so smoothly and interest
in the work on the part of the men has
tagged. To such an extent, it is reported
nas this grown, that the higher Of
ficials have become affected, and
the four men named want to quit
The bottom of the whole trouble is said
t be politics. The real reason for the
,eslguatiOn of John F. Stevens, a step
which he did not want to take, has never
been made public. He was making an
excellent record, and was fast pushing
the excavation work up to a million
Yards a month. Then he noticed that
the class of men being sent to him from
the States, was deteriOrating. They were
mostly Incompetent, ADD chosen not for
their capacity in any line of work but
apparently because OF their political pull.
He protested, declaring his reputation
was at stake, and that he would be COM
PEELED to leave the work If the policy of
which he complained, WAS kept up. There
was no material improvement, however,
and finally Stevens resigned and the
present unfortunate conditions, which
will undoubtedly delay the work on the
canal, is the result.
Consul Plumacher, at Msracaibo,
Colombis, has reported to the State De-
psrtment that all ports on the Gulf OF
Venezuela, with the exception of Bahia
Honds, Manure and Tucac4s, have
been closed to commerce because of re-
ports of an uprising among the Indian
tribes on the peninsula of G0sjirOs,
although the Colombian government in
sists that no such uprising has taken
place.
Elizabeth Beach, the 1S-yesr-old
daughter of ex- district Attorney Morgan
II. Beach, was bitten on the arm by
dog in the rear of 1926 Nineteenth street
and quite painfully hurt.
The Jockey Club has again rejected
the application for license to hold
race meeting at jamestown.
Arguments which will extend over two
days, were begun today in the Interstate
Commission 10 the famous Spokane rate case.
In this case Spokane is fighting against
higher rates from the east than are given to
Pacific Coast points, refusing TO acknowledge
the doctrine of water competition by Cape
Horn, for the by the Northern Pacific lines as
defense. Besides the Hill lnes, the Pacific
coast points have lawyers present to advocate
the justice of the present schedules. Brooks
Adams, Of Boston, opened the argument for
tine compliments. The responsibility Of the
holder of a public trust, was the the text of
his remarks.