The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-04-14
HEAD OF ENGINEERING COLLEGE
 REFUTES W|CK'S ATTACK ON LANE

In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of March 26th there appeared the first one of series of articles, com posed of letter addressed by Jas. Wickersham to the Secretary of Interior Franklin K. Lane. in which a number of charges were made against the secretary. Most of these charges related to the Alaskan Engineering commission and MT. Lanes administration of the affairs of that project thru the same con- mission.
 These charges included waste, mis. use of funds appropriated by con gress for the construction of the road. levying unjust rates over com pleted portions of the road, general incompetence of those i'll charge of the project and numberless lesser things.
 One week after the publication of the Wickersham letter, there appear ed another letter in the Post.Intelli- gencer signed by Prof. F. D. Hayden, assistant professor in the Engineer ing School of the University of Wash ington. denying Wickersham's charg- es against Mir. Lane and the Alaskan Engineering commission. and backed by his knowledge of the project. ac- Quired thru four years work on the staff of the commission, and py his technical knowledge of practical rail road building. He not only declared that the administration of the affairs of the road had not been a total fail ure as was alleged by Wickersham, but the record made Is a credit to any governmental administration.
 At the request of The Citizen the Associated Press in Seattle wired this letter to this paper. It is an ex- cellent article and gives the Alaskan Engineering commissions side of the case as well as showing that Wickersham's letter was not found ed on fact, but on political reasons. The letter follows in full:
 Based on d few definite state ments, Wickersham has made broad sweeping condemnation of the en- tire project. If all the other charges made have not better foundations they are not worth much credence.
 To deal ut first in a little gener- -alitv >which he invites, and quoting frO---.4re Post-Intelligencer of March 26 when he said, When $4,0O2.38O carried in the estimates for 1920 shall be appropriated as requested by Lane and expended the entire sum authorized by congress for this pro- ject will have been completed and the project about two-thirds con- pleted." Without going into details and on his own statement Wicker sham charges absolute incompetence. This is not proved because only two. thirds of the project is completed with the funds estimated in 1914 as sufficient for the project.
 Wickersham might here say that am taking the line of argument which he already anticipated and that expended appropriations will be charged to increased costs. etc. It is not necessary to do that altho facts are facts when they have occurred and are proven.
 The project, as 1t stands. two thirds completed wouldn't be black eye to any administration. How many really large projects. especial ly those dealing with new conditions are ever finished in the first tenta- tive cost estimates?
 PANAMA COST GREATER
 The costs of construction greatly exceed the estimates of the Panama canal cost which were made by American and foreign engineers. All the big engineering projects have their Culebra slides.
 DETAILS GIVEN
 Leaving generalities and getting to details. Wickersham charges that Riggs built only 22 miles of railroad in four years. On account of incom- petence IA miles was built below the Nenana river level and washed out. Of the other eight miles. five are narrow gauge, leaving credit of three miles of standard gauge to show for four years work. Lest we forget Wickersham reiterates the fact that only three miles of main road were constructed in four years.
 What are the facts? In 1914 con gress appropriated $1.00O.000 for sur veys only. The information secured enabled the President to select a general route. No specifically de- tailed locations were made that year