The Washington herald., 1914-04-19
Col. Goethals Made Head OF Tremendous
Undertaking Greatest Task that
Any Man In the World Has Accom-.
plished"- "-Unstinted Praise for His
Ability.

result of such action, their position, although
foolish, is compatible with belief in their wrong
headed sincerity But it is hypocrisy, alike
odious and contemplate, for any man to say
both that we ought to have built the canal and
that we ought not to have acted in the way we
did act.
The Canal Begun; the Lock Type Adopted
After a sufficient period of wrangling, the
Senate ratified the treaty with Panama, and
work on the canal was begun. The first thing
that was necessary was to decide the type of
canal. | summoned board OF engineering ex-
perts foreign and native. They divided on their
report. The majority of the members, including
all the foreign members, approved a sea-level
canal. The minority, including most OF the
American members, approved a lock canal
Studying these conclusions, l came to the be-
lief that the minority was right The two great
traffic canals OF the world were the Suez and
the 500 The Suez Canal is a sea-eve canal,
and it the one best known to European en-
gineers. The 500 Canal, through which an even
greater volume OF traffic passes every year, is
lock canal, and the American engineers were
thoroughly familiar with it; whereas, in my
judgment, the European engineers had failed TO
pay proper heed to the lessons taught by its
operation and management. Moreover, the en-
gineers who were to do the work at Panama all
favored lock canal.
| came TO the conclusion that a sea-level
canal would be slightly less exposed to damage
in the event of war; that the running expenses,
apart from the heavy cost of interest on the
amount necessary to build it. would be less; and
that for small ships the time OF transit would be
less But | also came to the conclusion THAI
the lock canal at the proposed level would cost
only about half as much to build and would be
built in half the time, with much lc>, risk; that
for large ships the transit would be quicker and
that. taking into account the interest >aved. the
cost OF maintenance would be less
Col GoethaIs at the Head
Accordingly / recommended to Congress, on
February 10, 1906 that lock canal should be
built, and my recommendation was adopted.
Congress insisted upon having it built BY a CONF
mission OF several men. tried faithfully to get
good work out OF the commission, and found it
quite impossible; for a many-headed commission
is an extremely poor executive instrument. AT
last | put Col. Goetllals in a, head OF the COM
mission Then when Congress still refused to
make the commission single-headed solved the
difficulty by an executive order OF January 6,
1908. which practically accomplished the object
by charging the powers OF the chairman. max
ing all the other members of the commission de-
pendent upon him, and thereby placing the work
under one-Inan control Dr. Gorga> had already
performed an ineStimable service BY caring for
the sanitary conditions so thoroughly as to make
the ISthmus as safe as a health resort. Col
Goethas proved to be the man OF all others tC
do the job. 1t would be impossible to overstate
what he has done 1t is the greatest task that
any man in the world has accomplished during
the years that Col. GoethalS has been at work.
1t is the greatest task of its own kind that has
ever been performed in the world at all. Col.
Goethas has succeeded in instilling into the men
under him a spirit which elsewhere has been
found only in few victorious armies. 1t is
proper and appropriate that, like the soldiers of
such armies they should receive medals, which
are allotted each man who has served for a suffi-
cicnt length of time. y finer body of men has
never been gathered by any nation than the men
who have done the work OF building the Panama
Canal; the conditions under which they have
lived and done their work have been better than
cs; they have all felt an eager pride in their
work; and they have made not only America but
the whole world their debtors by what they have
accomplished.