Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-10
DISCUSS TYPE
OF BIG CANAL
LOCK OR SEA LEVEL FORM
ARGUED IN SENATE
BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS DIS.
cUss PANAMA PROJECT
Representatives for Six Hours Debate
as to ACCESSIBILITY of Changing
Methods of Admins
tration
CBy Associated Press.l

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.-The senate
discussed today the type of canal that
should be constructed at Panama. Sen
ator Kittredge, chairman Of the COM
mittee on canals, precipitated the de-
bate by presenting an adverse report
on the Hopkins bill, authorizing the
secretary Of the treasury to issue bonds
to the extent of $500, 900, 900 for the con-
struction of the canal.
Reading a statement Of expenditures
of the canal to date, he declared the
completion of the lock canal would cost
$400, 100000 and insisted that a great
mistake had been made in not adherlng
to the plan for the building of a sea
level waterway, which, he said, would
be cheaper than a lock canal.
Senator Foraker and Senator Teller
both Joined Mr.. Kittredge in declaring
that a sea level canal should be con-
structed, and Mr. Kittredge said it was
not too late to abandon the lock project.
81 was Influenced to change my sup
port from the Nicaragua canal to the
Panama canal because L supposed that
we could build a sea level canal at
Panama and that we could not build
one at Nicaragua" said Senator For
aker.
Regrets His Action
Everything that has occurred in con-
nection with that canal since then has
caused me to regret my action
Mr.. Teller said he also had supposed
that when the change was made moth
ing less than a sea level canal would be
undertaken.
A controversy over the height Of tides
at the Atlantic and Pacific ends of the
canal, raised by Mr.. Curtis, brought
forth the statement from the Kansas
senator that reports of the French en-
gineers could not be accepted as Of
value, as they did not know what they
were undertaking"
''They did not" said Mr.. Teller, "and
1 want to say they knew as much about
it as our people-just about"
For nearly six hours the house Of rep
reSentatiVeS discussed the bill to ma
terially change the methods of adminis-
teriug the Panama canal zone and con-
Structing the canal.
Amendments almost without number
were aimed at the measure, but with
one or two exceptions they failed Of
adoption.
Consideration of the bill was COM
pleted, but because of a threatened roll
call by the opponents of the bill, and
the hour being late, Mr.. Mann, who
had it in charge, did not ask for a vote.
Encounter Amusing
An amusing encounter between Sena-
tor Smith of Michigan and Senator
Lodge Of Massachusetts marked the de-
bate on the Canadian boundary water
ways treaty in executive session of the
senate today.
Senator Lodge asserted the foreign
affairs committee had received from
the state department information which
he believed answered Mr.. Smiths OBJ
jections.
Mr.. Smith, in his reply, declared the
treaty had not been prepared by former
Secretary Root but that it was the
work of Chanler Anderson, a New York
lawyer who has been engaged by the
state department on various occasions
in connection with treaties affecting the
relations of this country and Canada.
Mr.. Smith intimated that Mr.. Ander-
son was too close to the interests that
control power rights at Niagara Falls,
and that the whole treaty was prepared
for the purpose of Quieting titles of
New York corporations to these rights,
Mr.. Lodge then intimated that the
Michigan senator was not fully ac-
quainted with the treaty. This aroused
Mr.. Smith, who told Mr.. Lodge he did
not like his looks, his scowl or his irri-
tating manner.
Senator Tillman interrupted with the
remark that he hoped Massachusetts
and Michigan would clinch, but he sup
posed there were too many centuries
of culture in the Massachusetts member
to permit of anything so commonplace"
ftTf thew would OD1v tOOath -