The Cairo bulletin., 1907-02-16
OLIVER EXPECTED
TO GET CONTRACT
TENNESSEE CONTRACTOR BEATS
THE POWERFUL WALL
STREET CABAL.
SHREWD GAME PLAYED
BY the MeArthur-GilIespie Bunch.
Backed BY Root--President Sees
That Formers Proposition
Can't Be Ignored.

! Washington, Feb l5.-That- tn
| Panama Construction Compan,
headed by W. J. Oliver of Knoxville
Tenn, will succeed in getting tn,
contract to dig the Panama cana
now, Is being strongly intimated il
| official ciicles here. A week ago tn
indications were that the Oliver Nc
DonaldPierce combination, the sue
cessor to the Oliver Bangs combina
ton. would be knocked out by III,
powerful Wall street Influences
which, backed up vigorously By Sec
retary Root have been making 6
strong effort to land the contract foi
the Macarthur Gillespie combine, or
failing in this to have all the bids
to continue the work on it's own ac
count for the present in the hope that
If construction by the government
proved a failure new bids would be
called for.
Now however, politics appear 10 be
playing smaller part in the fight
and, consequently the strength OF
Oliver and his associates Is growing
President Up a Tree.
TO use a homely phrase, the presi
dent Is up a tree Sometimes he thinks
he wants the canal dug by the gov
ernment and sometimes he thinks
contractors should do the dirt shovel
ing act, while the government looks
after the administration end. That II
was on the card for the Macarthur
Gillespie combination to get the job
in the first place. is well known by
all who are conyersant with the in
side history Of the great fight that
has been waged since the day the BIDS
were opened and Oliver upset al
calculations with his low bid and thai
the McArthur-Gillespie company ha,
been urable to oust Oliver Is not the
fault Of the men who have carried
On the fight against the Tennesseean,
for they have done everything in
their power to bring about his down
fall
The game they have played has
been most shrewd. bnt it must be re.
that they feel that the let
ting Of such a big contract to an out
s,dcr by the government would be a
crime against the Wall street inter
q Is that are back of them
All this was made plain 10 the
president by Secretary Root, who
Arthur-Gllesple crowd. To add to the
strength of this combination, Fred
erick Macarthur, of the firm. went to
college with Roosevelt and he two
are warm personal friends Also the
hackers of the McArthur-Gillespie
firm are strong in the Republican
party Of New York which Roosevelt
wants to keep with him.
The Stevens Resignation.
On the other hand, Oliver has
made good with his bid He has strong
financial backing. and his associates
John b. Mcdonald and john Pierce
Of New York. have excellent records
rs con ractors. His bid is clean cut,
and is the lowest. Therefore The presi-
dent can not see his way to throwing
Il ont without laying himself open TO
severe criticism and charges OF tad
faith.
The firms who made bids pout a
great deal Of money IN prepari- z
their estimates. The decision of IN
prcsidcu TO let contracts for part of
the work was arrived AT only after
the most careful and deliberate con
siderstion by him. Secretary Taft,
Mr. Sh-nts and Mr. Stevens Tbe.e-
fore 90 would not look well for him
la come out now and announce that
he had changed his mind
The way was paved for such a
charge last week when IL va, given
lut hat Mr. Stevens had cablcl from
the isihmus that if the canal work
va done by contract he would d"
sign. but the reasons of the eAief cn-
eiue,r f-~ sending such a telrgrafn
are well Known 10y ton many people
FOR his stand in the matter tp h"
1scd as an excuse hv ihc president
Should be- bids be thrown cut ~
public would SOON know the facts
ard this the president would not lie
for the publication Of The Inside
tory would unquest.onabiy bring
lown upon tho administration the.
everest criticism. I- would show bad
1aith on the pa1 Of the government
and contractors all over the country
would be cautious about bidding on
work iu the future
Oliver Has Them.
After cO-silering all sides Of the
question the president. Ct Is under
tood has about made up his mind
% Ie. the contract. and thc general
ipiuion is that the announcement vill
fE~-~f1ra a ,r r-ffFh ra-rN