The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1910-11-25
PRESIDENT SAYS
NO EXTRA SESSION
BOATS CAN RUN THROUGH THE
CANAL IN 1913.
viii Not Make Engagements for
Five Days to Complete His
Message.
ms a -
RECOMMENDATIONS
PANAMA

Washington, Nov. 25.-The presi-
dent announced soon after his ar
rival that he would make no engage
ments during the next five days. In
that time he hopes TO have his ness
age to congress completed. Only
cabinet officers and others with
whom the president desires to con-
suit regarding his message will be
formally received at the white
house.
In his regular message the presi-
dent will deal with his visit to
Panama, making recommendations
on a number of subjects which he
desires considered and discussed
with view to early legislation.
Coincident with the presidents re-
turn, it was learned that there is
not the slightest chance for an extra
session of congress following the
coming short session. The presi-
dent sees no necessity for calling
congress to sit after March 4.
How Canal Progressed.
President Taft had an interesting
day in Richmond, the most import
ant features OF which were an in
formal address on the Panama canal
at the luncheon given in his honor
and an address before the Virginia
educational conference.
The president attempted in brief
way to describe the satisfactory con-
dltions he found on the isthmus and
aroused intense enthusiasm by his
prediction that the canal would be
thrown open to the world well in
advance of the official date of open
ing, January /, 1915. He declared
that If necessity demanded. he be-
lieved American battleships could
be sent through the waterway by
January 1, 1913.
Il have been fortunate" said the
president, ''in having visited the
isthmus five times The first time
l went there with yellow fever and
malaria on every hand. with moth
ing but the skeletons of French ma
chinery half buried in the jungles.
with cut only barely made in Gu
Zebra and with no plans as to how
we were to build the canal, the pros
pect was not inspiring,
Men Well Cared For.
The question of housing the en-
ployes, of feeding them and keeping
them in health-Whioh were rife
during my second, third and fourth !
visits-haye disappeared. There is
no yellow fever and there has not
been any for three years. The ma
laria has been reduced to a point |
where it is negligible. Food is fur
nished at a price lower than in this |
country under. the government COM
missary, which delivers the food and !
ice at the doors of its patrons. The
workingmen are comfortably and
pleasantly housed and fed. They !
have clubs in the form of Y. NJ. c. A. |
houses at various points on the 18TH
mus, and the life in the tropics is !
made as pleasant as possible to those
who are doing the work.
Their wages are quite beyond |
received in the United |
States, and we could not Justify to !
those who are interested in the gov
eminent the amount OF those wages
were 1t not for the fact that work |
in the tropics under the best condi-
tions is attended with a nervous
strain, loss of nerve strength and |
a recurring period of dependency
q think the doctors call 1t nostal-
gia) that takes the life of the men |
and leads them to leave the work |
and go where they can get much less
wages II only they can breathe the
of the temperate zone.
What the American people want,
If ! understand It, is the prompt
completion of the canal and they
are willing to pay fairly for IL. 1t
does not require the Imagination of
the engineer to see that the canal is
being put through and that it will
be a great canal"