The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1908-01-30
KITTREDGE A TRUE PROPHET
CANAL DEVELOPMENTS VINDI-
CATE HIS JUDGMENT.
FoREsAw ITS GREAT COST
Change in Construction Plans and Es-
Inmates Predicted-South Dakota
Senator's Mastery of the Canal Sub
ject-His Standing in the Senate.


Senator's Mastery of the Canal Sub
ject-His Standing in the Senate.
Washington. D. c.. Jan. 17-Spe-
cial correspondence: There is one
man in Washington who was not
surprised at the changes in the
plans of construction and the revised
estimates increasing by more than
$1O0,000,000 the cost of the Panama
nal commission. That man is Sena-
tor Alfred B. Kittredge, chairman of
the senate committee on interoceanic
canals There is no man in the SEN
ate or in the country who has a clear
er, more comprehensive and more ac-
curate grasp Of the Panama canal sit
uation than Senator Kittredge. Since
he has been in the senate he has
made an especial study of all the con-
ditions surrounding that tremendous
work and he has come to be recog-
nized in the senate as the great canal
authority.
Senator Kittredge was originally
for sea level canal. His foresight
was so keen and his knowledge of the
difficulties in the way of a lock canal
so sweeping that he contended it
would be better for the country to cut
the canal across the isthmus at sea
level even at an increased expense,
than to try to build a lock canal and
entail on the government an expense
that at best, could be but prob
lematical until the canal was finished
and the last dollar spent The senator
advocated a sea level canal on the
theory that the cost of such a canal,
though great, would be final. That is,
after a sea level canal was dug there,
would be no further expenditure to be
reckoned with, and the cost could lie
estimated accurately from the first,
because the skilled engineers of the
government could compute the amount
OF excavation to be made. and that
done, there was nothing to do but ex-
caNate. The senate, reluctantly an
by a narrow margin of votes, decided
TO build lock canal because, as it
Was contended, the work could be ac-
complished more quickly and the
canal secured at an earlier date than a
sea level canal could be. Senator
kittredge pointed out that the canal
was not temporary work, but a mon
uInent for all time, and that there
should be no makeshift policy. How
ever, the senate voted for a lock canal,
Influenced, presumably. by the state
ments that a lock canal would cost
many millions less. The house fol-
lowed suit and the president signed
the bill.
Prediction Becomes Prophecy.
At that time Senator Kittredge stat
ed that, in his opinion. an opinion
formed by an exhaustive study of
isthmian conditions, the canal would
not be built for the price nor within
the time originally estimated He was
not captious in his criticism, but mere
ly said that this was the fact, and pre-
dicted that the country would learn
sooner or later that he was right. For
several years a hard working member
of the canal committee of the senate.
il is not surprising that he is modest
~ gratified that one of the first i'm
portant matters to be laid before the
canal committee after his accession to
the chairmanship is the confirmation
OF his prediction. Col. Goethas and
Commissioner Blackburn, both here
from the isthmus, esta blsh Senator
Kittredge's foreknowledge of the sit
uation. So do. Chairman Tawney. of
the house committee on appropriations.
and several members of this commit
tee who visited Panama a short time
before congress convened in December
in order to study conditions there at
first hand.
Senator Kittredge knew and point
ed out that the original estimate of
100000 for the construction of
a lock canal did not include the cost
of the necessary work outside the con-
struction of the canal. His knowl-
edge of the entire problem was so ac
curate that he was able to say to the
senate and to his committee that the
engineers would ultil'' ately. come be-
fore. eaf:s,>':;s 5,fl1 ask FOR more money.
and his estimates af the Increased cast
of the canal were very close to the es
Inmates now made public by the men
who "~o dieeing the canal.
The Kind of Man He Is.
This accurate, comprehensive, de-
tailed knowledge of the canal situa-
ton is pointed to by his friends as a
type of the work of Senator kittr dge
in all the affairs of the senate of the
United States. They insist that he al
ways knows what he is talking
about and that he never goes off at
half cock" on any proposition that is
bending before that body. Whenever
a question comes up for discussion he
studies it until he has mastered all its
ntricacies and all its details, and when
ne speaks the senate knows and lib
rally recognizes the fact that man
talking who has solid. substantial
-asp on the subject he is discussing
The senate of the United States is
7 an emotional body. 1t does not
'hrace a man on his own sayso. 1t
equires results before it admits a new
;anator to it's inner circle, requires a
emonStration of worth and is not in
'uenced by slsyrocket and pyrotechnic
locution; but when a man comes to
he senate and proves by his work and
he qualities of his brain that he is
worthy of becoming one of the men
who do things and who are consulted
by the leaders on all important topics,
the senate looks him over, and, if he
proves up. receives him and depends
IN him. That is what has happened