The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-02
MAJ. TUTW|LER ON GREAT CANAL WORK Has Returned From Short
 Visit to Panama PROUD OF ALABAMA Three Men From This State Have Taken Very Prominent Part
 in the Great Under
 taking

Major and Mrs r. NJ. Tutwiler, after spending several days In Panama, have returned to their home
 Major Tutwiler. whose examination of any engineering proposition Is always careful and accurate, said yesterday that from a statement made in Panama by Colonel Slbert. boats would be piloted through the great canal next year. He added that the final dedication will not take place until a year or two later, but that commercial effort would be put forth | through the canal within a very few morths.
 Major Tutwier says that the canal is a marvellous undertaking. is of vast worth to this section of the country and will when completed stimulate commerce in this section as no event of modern his- | tory.
 eThe prearranged details Is what struck me with peculiar force while looking over the work in Colon and elsewhere on the l zone" said Major Tutwiler.
 "As every newspaper reader is more 
 tractors who were succeeded by army engineers studied the game there for years before allowing the work 10 go ahead. They planned every possible de- tail two years in advance and have fol- lowed that original draft of events with wonderful fidelity. That teaches a les | son in engineering that would be of vast
 help to all beginners could they but see
 the fruitful results that have come from the wonderful foresight of those experts,
 Commercially the canal will be of great
 worth 10 the south as everyone agrees. The results will be in larger exports and
 imports from the gulf points, which will
 in more than one way help the Birming
 ham district and the south. That will
 come about with a rush tide and will
 overwhelm, this section if such a thing
 were possible.
 Alabama should be proud of three men
 on the canal zone of the United States
 army who have done as much if not more than any other officers there I re- l fer 10 Major Gorgas of Tusoa oosa, Major ! Chester Harding, brother of w. r. G,
 Harding of Birmingham, and Colonel Si-
 bert. Tho work of Colonel Gorgas, on account of the vital statistics being widely written of. has been exploited around the l globe He is almost idolized In Panama because of his wonderful work there for the sanitary betterment of the zone He | has done work in Panama that entities | him to all the praise that has been given him and whatever reward should be given a true and faithful servant of the gov ernment He robbed the fever of Pan anna of its blsterng breath and saved thousands of lives to carry on that work, He not only did that but he made the | locality habtable so the work could go on Had 1t not been for him the Amer lcan standing army could not have coped with the unseen levers that crept upon men without warning and struck them dead almost in their tracks. Now the place is not only delightful to visit. but the workmen are all satisfied. The gov ernment feeds them and pays them in gold. The latter proposition insures good rations and a habitable house. for the government does not suffer its employees to be poorly cared for.
 Major Harding is assistant to Colonel Sbert. who has charge of the eastern l division of the construction. He has to build three locks of immense propor- | tions. well as to handle the Gatun dam construction. Those tasks carry great responsibility, but the two Alabama men have handled the situation with re- markabe wisdom.
 "rhe work Is tremendous, scientific and | modern. All the work Is done by the | most approved plans, machinery taking | the place of men wherever possible, and no stone being left upturned to get the
 work successfully completed.
 "The whole thing Is a living tribute to the indobitabe will and courage of the American people, whose governmental of- fcers braved the narrowing failures of
 other nations and undertook to link closer
 than ever the American continent with the remainder of the globe"