The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-16

desk just inside the door and took up the letter-writing at which he had been busy when I interrupted him. And before he had finished he had written his letter of resignation to the President of the United States, and had brought about the most serious and vital reverse since the United States took over the French Canal concession. It is far more serious than the defection of Wallace, because Wal lace, no matter how great his capacity coerce his superiors to let him do things in his own way. The'recent re- tirement of Shonts was positive help to the harmonious and orderly prose cution of the contract. But John F. Stevens is the one man, who, up to the moment of his resignation, had gone effectively and aggressively and econ omically at his huge task, and had achieved a success, developed since January l, completely astounding to everybody who has kept in close touch with things on the Isthmus. Absurd as the words seem, there are many of us who must believe that this success surprised the man himself and that his resignation may be in- directly traced to this surprise. But his letter went to Washington on the steamship Colon; tGle President re- ceived it on February Is; the wording of it seemed to him so inexplicably of
 fensive, and the spirit of it so far from that which he believed ought to ami mate the man directly in charge of the Panama Canal, that he accepted the resignation, only asking that the news should not be given to the public until arrangements for installing his sue cessor could be made and decision could be reached on the bids for the canal contract. Major George w. Goe- thals, of the War College, was assign ed to act as chief 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 B. Gaillard was assigned to assist Major Goethals The whole lIsthmian Canal Commission was re- moved. Joseph c. s. Blackburn was made chairman of a new commission 1 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 I talked that Friday night on Culebra Hill had it in his heart to quit To any one wf1o knows John F. Stevens well, the imputation that he could be quitter is Imaginable. He seemed rather on the night of Febru- ary s, to be man who was going through the reaction which follows a great achievement-a reaction which ought not have come until after the canal was finished but which had come prematurely because of the tremendous physical strain of the last three years with all it's fantastic complications of climate, politics and diplomacy In other words, he seemed like an overtrained football player who has broken down into nervous ness and despondency after the first big game of the season. We all know the type; a great big bunch of nerves and muscle goes sulking off to his room after having brought about a tremendous victory; he sits there un- til midnight, with his head in his hands worrying and at last he writes a letter to the head coach a half-petu- Iant, half-angry letter in which he announces his intention to retire from the team and from the whole game of