El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-04-20

- ULEBRA. Canal Zone. Panama
April 2O.-Sitting here on the
~ hills Of CuIebra, high over the
mighty cash which Uncle Sam has cut
through this lowest pass Of the Andes
and looking down upon the busiest ana
noisiest place upon earth, 1 have had
chat withCoL George W GOethels as
To our mighty canal and its future
There is no man who can speak more
inte1lfgentlv and more authOritatively
about the canal than Col. Goethals. He
is the supreme manager Of all tRin2s
on the fsthmus- His title is chairman
Of the canal commission and chief en-
gineer. bu- h. is far more than that
Under the powers granted him by the
president he is the dictator, the admin
istrator. the executive, and In snort
the ultimate authority to whom All
others must bow. His iron fist may
be clad in A glove Of velvet and the
thousands he rules may not appreciate
its existence. but if they disobey' 1t
strikes and brushes the offender
such authority has been found abso-
lutelv necessary to the canal construc-
ton. The lack Of it was TO a great ex-
tent the causes OF the designations OF
chief engineers Wallace and Stevens It
tied their arms and those Of their sub
ordinates with the governmental red
tape Of caprice and custom, and swathed
this mighty industrial entity, the whole
canal force. with bands stronger than
those with which the Lilhpudans bound
the giant CULVER When Col Goeunals
Iii al IN
work like Gulliver's and II was only ~
presenting the matter 70 president
Roosevelt who had watched the vain
and chaotic struggles Of the past, tnat
he was able to get the power Whlc lLi Las
enabled him TO accomplish the mlgnly
work which every one now recognizes
as his.
The Square Deal at Panama.
More than this. Col Goethals mas use9
his authority so that his thousands OF
employees are glad to obey he mas
brought harmony out Of discord among
the American employees. ana mas done
the same with the thirty-odd thousand
Central Americans, Jamaicans ana Other
West Indians. He has not only
preached the square deal, but ne mas
given the square deal 10 every one, anu
with the exception or a rev cohstllu-
ffonal Ivickers all are satisfied ENeIy
SUNDAY morning the chairman hoIds
little supreme court Of appeals mere IN
his office in the administration ouLlu-
ing He is both Judge and Jury, anu
anv one who will even to the Dlackest
ana nOcrest Of the laborers VINO handle
the picks or wade the mud, may come
and present his complaint me cnalF-
man investigates the trouble and the
judgment is usually such that the man
goes away satisfied
The Working Ruler
Col GOethals Is working dictator
He knows every bit Of the canal CON
EtrucffOn by close contact with the
mon and the machinery He goes over
some part Of the work every day. ne
starts out at o'clock in the morning
and walks TO those places Wnere ne Is
most needed. talking with the men and
directinv the foremcn. BE 6nOwa each
branch Of the engineering construction
as well as the division engineer IN
charge. and has, in short compLeIe
grasp Of this mighty JOB as whole
and in detail
might fiji this letter with stories
about him which illustrate his charac-
tpristics 7 might tell you how ne
locks, a gray-headed giant Of 90 with
ayes as blue as the Panama sky and
muscles as strong as the steam shovels
which are lifting mountains IN the cut
far below me might speak OF mis-
nerve and determination to get things
done and Of his motto which seems to
be. Results at all costs and that
everything and everybody must be
pushed to hurry the job. might speak
also Of his use Of modern SCIENTIFIC
his watching the leaks and OF his ap-
probation that every one Of Uncle
SANS dollars contains Just lou cents
and that every cent must DO Its snare
Of the work / might do all TINS ana
more but this story is not a character
sketch. It is an interview, or rather
q running chat got especially for YOU,
about the greatest job upon earth, with
Vhe man who, more than any other, IS
its handspring and dynamic ruler
Level Canal TmuONsihIP.
Our conversation covered a wide
range Col Goethals knows the canal
so well that he could talk most inter
eetiuElr for an hour or more about
any OF its features. I have room here
for only a part of our chat. We had
been discussing the mighty locks at
each end of the waterway which viii
lift the ships to the level Of the great
cut which lay there below us, and I
asked whether. after all, IL would not
have been better to have made the cut
deeper and have created sea-level
canal.
Col GoethaIs replied: no. the lock
canal is by far the better. and IL viii
prove 10 be the more permanent and
the more economical in its operation
II the government had decided upon
sea-level canal that great gorge below
us would have had TO be cut IS feet
deeper than it is now. Besides, I do
not believe that the people OF the
United States would have stood for the
additional time and cost which would
have been necessary to make it, and
that IS sIppOsing II were at all possible
to have made il. When / came here I
had a pretty well fixed idea that the
sea-level canal might be the better,
but my experience has changed that
opinion. for I do not believe that we
could have constructed il on account
Of the Immensely greater slides which
we would have had If he had deepened
the cut As il is now we shall be able
TO control the slides and do not ap-
nrehcld that they viii cause any great
damage TO the completed canal"
The Slides Of the Future.
Tell me something about these slides
colonel What makes you think they
will disappear when the canal is COM
pleted2"