Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-30
TAFT TELLS WHY
THE CANAL BIDS
WERE DECLINED
Excessive Interest
Demanded
Capitalists, He Says, Were to Furnish
Money to Contractors at Seven
Per cent-seoretary Loudly
AppIauded
By Associated Press.

ClNClNNAIl, ONO, April 2J.-lf the
Panama canal is not completed within
eight years 1 shall be greatly disap-
pointed. If it is completed in less time
than that L shall not be greatly sur
prised.
This statement, made tonight by
Secretary of War Taft before the Busi-
ness Mems club of this city. was loudly
applauded by the 1900 members of the
club gathered inside the banquet hall.
The banquet rendered the secretary
by the Business Mems club came as
the climax to the last of three days of
his western trip and it was a fitting
elimination to his flattering reception
that has been extended to him on any
occasion by his Ohio friends. The hall
was packed to it's utmost capacity and
more than 400 applications for tickets
of admission to the banquet were de-
clined because there was no room.
The last day of the secretary's trip
was full of work for him and crowded
with receptions flattering to him, both
as an orator and as man.
dress to the students of the law school
of Cincinnati university, where he still
holds his position as dean of the law
school. Later he appeared on the floor
of the chamber Of commerce and made
a brief address.
This afternoon Mr.. Taft conferred
with N. c. Wright of Cleveland re-
garding the Ohio political situation.
Mr.. Wright told him of the position of
leading Republicans in the northern
part of the state.
Pretentlous Affair
Tonight's banquet was one of the
most pretentious affairs Of the kind ever
seen in the city.
The appearance of the secretary was
the signal for an outburst of applause
that continued for several minutes.
Judge Horace H. Lurton of Nashville,
former colleague Of the secretary upon
the federal bench, introduced him.
Secretary; Taft announced that he
would speak on the Panama Canal"
and particularly upon the improvements
and rapid progress in the work.
''It Is only by comparison of the
conditions existing at the time Of my
two visits" said the secretary, that I
am able to give an adequate idea of the
work that has been accomplished and
of the present condition of the work.
would like in passing to pay tribute
in justice to the French people, for
what they did down there has never
been properly appreciated by the
American people.
"The great danger of the work of
this character under the auspices of the
American people is that the work of
construction will be undertaken before
the work of preparation is completed.
1 do not think that the preparatory
work of the last two years has been
productive of anything but the most
beneficial results.
Big Task Ahead
my visit this year was TO settle the
question of the location Of the locks,
the completion of which will, in my
opinion, mark the completion of the
canal. 1t 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 ST.
100000 cubic yards of earth, exclusive
of the digging to be done on the ap-
proaches to the cut proper.
"In the nine miles of thu cut theI
are now fifty-eight steam shovels at
work, and they will take out on the
average 100000 cubic yards per month.
This rate may be increased until we
have ninety shovels at work, and then
it will gradually decline until it will
probably be somewhat below the 1,000,-
900 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'VE advertised for bids on the canal
work and then declined them for the
reason that we found that it would be
necessary for the contractors to have
help of capitalists, and we would be
to allow to the contractors
7 per cent interest on the money they
would be compelled to borrow from the
capitalists.
because we could borrow money at
2 per cent, this per cent proposition
did not appeal greatly to u.s."
Affairs In Cuba
In regard to Cuba he declared that
the Teller resolution had fixed our
policy there. Change by insurrection
was about to be adopted when we in
tervened," he continued. I'VE sug-
gested means of settlements and with
conferences with the moderates and
liberals the matter was brought to an
end. But when we took charge we
promised to stay only until tranquil
lity had been restored and a firm gov
ernment established 1t may be all
right to talk about annexation and a
protectorate, but we made solemn
promise and we cannot afford not to
carry 1t out"
He estimated that it would require
until September 1908, to again allow
the Cubans to show whether they can
carry on stable government. 1t will
then be necessary to give them time
to show that the conditions are COM
piled with.
OF Porto Rico he spoke in conclusion,
telling of it's natural advantages and
its improvements and ambitions. The
people of that island want statehood
and citizenship. They now have the
protection of the flag and most Of the
OF citizens, but he suggested
that care and consideration should be
exercised before statehood was ex-
tended beyond the states.