New-York tribune., 1915-03-20
LITERARY CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
at Home and Abroad-A Dreary Page
of Dutch History-Other Reviews.

! that does not entitle him to precedence
over the man who actually extermi-
mated the cobra of the air"
In the matter OF mechanical equip
ment Mr.. Shonts did a great work. But
/ there were brave men before Agamem-
! ron. The value of much OF the French
equipment, to which Mr.. Pepperman
bears witness. was fully recognized be-
fore Mr.. Shonts took hold. Nor is Mr.
Shonts TO be credited with the intro
duction Of the most important of all
the mechanical appliances, the one
which is universally credited with con-
tributing most TO American success in
excavating the great ditch namely, the
steam shovel. Un that po.. Mr. Pep
perman falls into ser.o's error. lie
tells us that when Mr. Shonts took
charge "the only digging equipment on
the isthmus was the out-of-date ma
chinery left by the French" The fact
is that the mighty steam shovels, TO
which Mr. Pepperman pays so high and
we'll deserved tribute, were introduced
long before Mr.. Shonts went TO the
isthmus. The writer OF these lines
personally saw the first Of them set
up and put TO work months before Mr..
Shonts was 80 much as thought of
for the headship of the commission.
Doubtless Mr.. Shonts increased the
number of these engines and increased
the size of them. But. to employ Mr..
Pepperman' own logic. he was in that
merely carrying on the work Of his
predecessor.
II is quite true that Colonel Goethals
performed his great work on the basis
Of the equipment and organization
which had largely been provided by
Mr.. Shonts. But it is equally true
that Mr.. Shonts did his work on 'he
basis Of the experimental surveys AM
estimates which had been made before
him by the indefatigable and devoted
Mr.. Wallace. If Goethals WAS indebted
to Shonts, no less was Shonts indebted
10 Wallace More than that II we
follow that line of argument, Wallace
WAS indebted TO Lesseps, and Lesseps
was indebted 20 Humboldt, and Hum
boldt was indebted to Saavedra Ceron,
and Ceron was indebted 10 Balboa, and
Balboa was indebted to Columbus, who
in his quest of waterway across the
Atlantic from Europe to Asia was the
real author of the Panama Canal!
OuOd erat demOnStrdndun'!
Now all this is said not TO dlscredlt
Mr.. Pepperman's really interesting and
valuable book nor to behttle Mr..
Shonts's very great services at the
isthmus. but rather to suggest the use
lessness Of hagglinG over precedence
and relative merits in such case as
this. 1t is well TO give each man MS
due. and it is well, therefore. that TINS
book has been written TO set forth MT.
Shonts's achievements. But 1t is not
we'll to foment jealous rivalries, and II
is quite futile to oppose the logic OF
events or of achievements. Inc AT
morer in Robin Hood eXalts himself
above the soldier. declaring that the
man who wields the sword IS not to De
compared with the man who makes IT.
But that logic Will not prevail off the
comic opera stage. Mr.. Shonts and his
railroad men associates made, or did
much toward making, the sword; but It
was reserved for Colonel Goethals TO
WELD it. When Mr.. Shonts resigned
his place there had been excavated per
haps ten million cubic yards of spoil"
Under Colonel Goethsls there have
been excavated two hundred millions,
and the more than Neptunian walls at
Gatun and Pedro Miguel and Miratioree
have been built. Rightly or wrongly,
the world regards and will ever regard
rs the real builder of the canal the
man under whose direction this vast
preponderance Of the actual construc-
tion work was done.
One other error is to be noted in the
book. Mr. Peppermsn very properly
condemns the human mosquitoes" who
bore all manner of false witness
against our canal builders. Yet he
himself quotes with apparent approval
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