The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-30
IFS GIVEN AN OVATION Taft Makes Speech in
 Cincinnati. CULTIVATION OF HIS VISIT Canal Will Be Finished in Eight
 Years; Tells Why oliver Bid was Reelected sBut Does Not Msntion His Candsdacy to Succeed
 President Roosevelt.

Cincinnati, April 2s.--'Tf the Panama Canal is not completed within eight years from now. shall be greatly dis appointed. If 1t is completed in less time than that. shall not be greatly surprised4
 This statement made tonight by Sec retary of War Taft before the Busi- ness Mems Club of this city brought forth uproarious cheers. the 500 mem bers of the club who were gathered inside the banquet hall rising to their feet and cheering the statement and the speaker with tremendous enthusi- asm.
 The banquet tenaerea to the secre- tary by the Business Mems Cluo came as the climax to the last of the three days of hts present Western trip and it was fitting eu1mination te ine mt tering reception that has been extend ed to him on every side by his ohio friends
 The Last official day of the secre- tary.s Western trip was like the two days which had preceded 1t. fuii or work.
 In the morning he delivered an ad- dress to the students of the law school of Cincinnati University Later he ap- peared on the floor of the Chamber Of Commerce, where in response to the enthusiastic greeting of the members he made a brief address.
 Political Conference.
 Early in the afternoon he held an extended conference on the condition of Ohio politics with N. c. Wright or Cleveland. who- outlined to him the exact position of the majority of the leading Republicans in the northern part of the State. The remainder or the day, prior to the banquet: was <v.f,
 Secretary Taft announced at the commencement of his address that he would speak on ..rhe Panama Canal" and particularly upon the improve ments that had been made and the steps toward the completion that nad been accomplished since the occasion of his visit to the lsthmus precedinB fine one just completed.
 'Tt is only by a comparison or the conditions existing at the time of these visits" said the Secretary. that am able to give an adequate idea Of the work that has been accomplished and of the present conditions of the work I would like, In passing to pay trib- ute of Justice to the French people. Tor what they did down there has never been properly appreciated by the Amer ican people The great danger of any work of this character under the aus pices of the American people is that the work of construction will be under taken before the work, of preparation is completed. I do not think that the nreparatory work of the last two years has been productive of anything but the most beneficial results.
 My visits this year, was to settle the question of the location of the locks, the completion of which, in my opinion, will mark the completion of the canal. It is possible, however, that the finish of the work in the Culebra cut will be the end of our labors. In this cut there are yet to be excavated 52.000,O0o cubic yards of earth, exclusive of the digging to be done on the approaches to the cut proper. In the nine miles of the cut there are now dfty-eight steam shovels at work and they will take out on the average 1,000.000 cubic yards per month. This rate may be increased until we have ninety shovels at work and then 1t will gradually de what below the 100000 cubic yards per month. We will not be able to work as many shovels as we get lower down In the cut, where the space is more narrow. I can safely say, how ever, to the man who goes there now' that he will see something that begins to look .like a canal and 1t will look
 
 Why B1ds Were Refused.
 We advertised for bids on the canal work and then declined them for the reason that we found that 1t would be- necessary for the contractors to have the help of the capitalists and we would be compelled to allow the con tractors per cent interest on the money they would be compelled to borrow from the capitalists. As we could borrow money at per cent, this per cent proposition d!G not appeal greatly to us
 T wish to pay a high compliment to Chief Engineer Stevens for his work in connection with the ce al. and also for his efforts to transfer to the gov ernment the entire organization on the Isthmus which we had perfected with much labor. No resignations have come from the force which we organized and placed in operation.
 TO us in responsibility. It is a great comfort to be able to introduce the army engineers upon the work. We have three of them there and if one of them falls out, the work will be undis- turbed. It is only fair to say of the army engineers that there will be no graft that they can suppress and there will be no bad work accepted that they can supervise. No doubt engineers from civil life would act in a similar man ner but If any of you gentlemen have ever managed a work of magnitude, where everybody had the right to poke in his nose and insist upon this and that, you would know how great Is the relief to have that done away with. The record of the army for the last fifty years is a guarantee that ,he work will be capably and honestly performed"