New-York tribune., 1908-12-13
no CHANCE FOR
PANAMA SCANDAL
RECORDS SHOH- RUMORS
OF DEALS FALSE.
Com pIete List of Claims and Pay
ments on File IN ParTS-BunGu-
Tdrilla's TieIcS.
rs7<oszl ny French cable - The Tribune
rC-rv-iErt 1895. by The Tribune Association J

paris. Dec 12-Are there any traces of irreg-
ura-!ty or jobhing in the dossle~s or records
concerning the distribution of payments OF the
4,gre-,s canal punchaseG - was the question put
Yesterday by your correspondent TO NJ Le1nar-
c--s- who is the successor OF NJ Gautron' lhe
Official liquidator charged with the Distribution
~ the $4,000 0e0 paid for the canal. The same
question was put 10 q responsible official o1 the
Ministry of Justice. and also to funchonary
attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. IN
each case the reply was positive and categorical
mat no traces Of any irregsllarty whatever exist
II the voluminOus records and correspondence
The same question was put 10 Philippe Bunau-
varilla who was equally emphatic and eNphcII
in his answer. and explained that the payments
made with the authority and under the carelul
st,pervision and scrutiny Of the French tribunals
were distributed 22E.9T6 individual holders O
titles. each Of which had been examined ana
verified In some instances there had been op-
uosition On grounds Of the validity Of shares or
iaentifoation Of the holders. but these were
merely technical matters Of purely local or per-
sonal interest
n. Buna,l-VaTilla fully indorses the declara-
ton made by William Nelson Cromwell concern
irR the futility Of the charges made against
Douglas Robinson and Charles P. Taft. 1t is
impossible says NJ. -Varilla. that any
Individual American. or any American or French
zroup of hnanc.ers. could have had finger in
The transaction without such fact being dis
closed hy the records
Moreover the assertion made last October
that the entire records Of the affair had been
se-retlv and -nysteriously spirited away TO
Washington is on its face. absurd These rec
o-5s which are now under the lock and key of
the Official rquidator in his Offices in the Rue
Louis lie Grand. are SO numerous that seventy
four clerks are employed to classify indorse file
ard index them. Each Of the o27 $50 persons
entitled 70 payments has his her own par
---ular doss,er. and with correspondence attesta-
tio1s. opposiJions. registrations and other fnnu-
--e-able skeins Of red tape. these records I'LL
upward II hundred huge bureaus and book
cases and the papers alone weigh between four
a-d five tons,
The very name Of Panama is q bugbear to the
average Frenchnan. and no interest whatever
e disclosed here in the accusations of irregu-
la~ity. joobery graft. which prominent polit-
i-al parsonage described to your correspondent
II al probability delirious ebullition or
frantic var cry hallUcinaIon of the recent Pres
idenrisl- campaign, while ali who have been con
suited here affirm that everything is correct and
absolutely straight regarding the purchase and
transaction
" Bunau-TariIla. in conversation with your
correspondent Yesterday confidently predicted
that II continued on the present engineering I
lines the canal, even after the expenditure Of
S25o"fooco, which is double the original esti- /
nate. cannot be completed because Of the in
ev-table landslides Of the foundations of the re-
tanning wall Of the Gatun dam. NJ Bunau-
Nsr-lla- whose views in regard TO the engineer .
lnE schen2e Of the canal are already well known
and we're set forth in mis- letter TO President
Roosevelt, dated March ;. 1905. considers that
the present plan will lead to the biggest engi-
nesring disaster ever recorded in the worlds
history.