The Cairo bulletin., 1907-04-23
ARMY ENGINEER
KNOCKS STEVENS
NEW PANAMA CANAL CHIEF
SAYS FIGURES ON WORK
ARE NOT RELIABLE.
RECORD HARD TO EQUAL
Was Attempted BY Ex-Engineer in
Charge, II is cIaimed--says
Data of Work Done Were
Merely Estimates.

Washington d. G., April 22.--Serl-
GUS reflect ons have been cast iy
Major George w Goethals, chief en-
! gin er of The Panama canal, upon the
work done by his predecessor. John f
Stevens. Major Goethals charges in
an cfficial communication to the war
department that the reports made by
former Chief Engineer Stevens RI
|garding the large amount Of dirt OK.
cavated from the Panama canal are
not In accord with the facts. Major
|Goethals charges that much OF the
dirt eycayated from the canal route
nndsr the Steycnts administration
dumped In places from which 1t will
have to be removed later
Former Chief Engineer Stevens rel
ported officially to the war d part
ment that he had excaayted in the
month Of January 5G6 $50 cubic yards.
In February G3S.Gl4 cubic yards. and
in March Sl5,270 cubic yards. He es.
timated that in March 100000 cubic
wards would be excavated.
Figures Based on Shovel Capacity.
Major GoethaIs declares that In,
stead Of thesa figures representing the
work actually done taey are based on
the estimates Of the capacity of the
steam shovels and how much work
they should perform each month
These figures did not cover the davs
VIXEN the shovels were idle or we're
being repaired
The estimates, says Major Goethals
were. made on loose earth afser 1t was
excavated and the measurements are
not accurate.
He has also forwarded to the war
department profile survey which. he
says demonstrates that much of thu
dir that has been excayated has been
dumped in wrong places and will have
10 b. removed again. he purpose hay.
ing apparently been to push the evca
yators 10 their limit SO as 10 make 4
record regardless of effectiveness OF
the work. Major Goethals concludes
with strong recommendation that
the work of excavaiing thc canal
should be lei on contract.
Record Hard to Equal
When II was first announced that
the government intended to put the
Panama canal work in charge of the
army engineers and the reports began
coming from Mr. Stevens of the large
quantities of excavation work that
he was doing several army engineers
expressed the opinion that Mr.. Stew
ems was endeavoring TO make record
that would he embarrassing 10 the
members of their corps that was 10
succeed him in charge q the work
Army officers did not place much
cred nee In the reports OF Chief En-
giner Stevens or the large amount ~
dirt that was being excavaicd. and
hey feared these roseate reports
would be compared with the future
achievements OF the army engineers
20 the detriment of the military men
Major Goetahls does not expect 10 ex-
cavate 100000 cubic yards Of dirt
fer some months to come. but he does
expect to make good progress In the
work.
When questioned regarding tho
charges made by Major Goethals. Mr.
stevens sad he was certain that his
did not make the state
ments attributed TO him. There are
many reasons why he does not believe
The staten nts. the main one being.
he says that II is impossible 10 make
the mistake charged Stevens ssii
hat the estimates on the excavations
we're simply matt Of figuring the
cross-sectioning, which process was