The independent., 1907-03-21

the president received it on February
10; the wording of it seemed to him
SO inexplicably offensive and the
spirit of it SO far from that which he
believed ought to animate the man
directly in charge of the Panama ca
nal, that he accepted the resignation.
only asking that the news should not
be given to the public until arrange
ments for installing his successor could
be made and decision could be
reached on the bids for the canal con-
tract. Major George W. Goethals of
the war college, was assigned to act
as chlef engineer of the canal, and 1t
was determined that hereafter the
work should be under the supervision
of the engineer corps of the United
States army. Major David Du B. Call
lard was assigned to assist Major
Goethals. The whole isthmian canal
commission was removed Joseph c..
;. Blackburn was made chairman of
new commission of which the army
engineers are the only other members.
Stevens is out. But it does not even
yet seem credible to me that the man
to whom talked that Friday night on
Culebra Hill had it in his heart to
quit. To any one who knows John f.
Stevens well, the imputation that he
could be gutter Is laughable He
seemed rather, on the night of Febru-
ary g. to be man who was going
through the reaction which follows a
great achievements reaction which
desk just inside the door and took up
the letterwriting at which he had
been busy when I interrupted him.
ought not to have come until after the
canal was finished, but which had
notr
mendous physical strain of the last
three years with all it's fantastic com
pllcations of climate, politics, and
diplomacy. In other words, he seemed
like an overtrained football player
who has broken down into nervous
ness and dependency after the first
big game of the season We all know
the type; great big bunch of nerves
and muscle goes sulking off to his |
room after having brought about a |
tremendous victory; he sits there until |
midnight, with his head in his hands, |
worrying, and at last he writes a let
ter to the head coach, a half-petulant. |
lalf-angry letter in which he an
aounces his intention to retire from /
he team and from the whole game OF /
,ootbaQ The head coach misses him
rom the training table in the morn
ng before the fatal letter is ever
opened, pulls him out of bed, tells him
lot to be fool, throws a pail of cold |
water on his head-and the big boy
'heepishly asks If he can't have the
etter back unopened
But it is sadly true that Washing
on is considerably farther from Pan
ina than is the training table. from a
'ollege dormitory, moreover, the cor.
l. i
md not uniformed boys The president
nd Stevens We're so far apart, and
lad come to the breaking point
through SO much tension and response
ility that pride had time to stiffen
stevens determination that he would
tick by his word and get out and the
PRESIDENT could not bring himself to
ee that man whose grit had broken
own at such a critical stage of the
york was fit to go on with it. There
vas never any intent to reconsider.
IF Stevens had been Frenchman,"
aid Frederick Palmer, when we were
alkIng the matter over, tsthe wire
'ould have been hot with the request
hat his letter be disregarded or re-
lrned unopened. But the same quail
" in the American temperament
vhich leads the American to attempt
} defy the tropical climate when he
!, sent to do work in it makes him
tubbornly stand by the results of his
hysical and mental breakdown and
'ritation which come from that de-
ance. Sooner or later the American
'ho contemptuously discards the sun
mbrella and the siesta, and who stays
n his work from dawn until dark.
caches the breaking point, loses his
and his sense of the propor-
on of things"