The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-12-25

e,ar+ions were of national significance.
g,be president amazed the country by K
+h~owing his influence openly for {,
fJ,,phes AGAINST Hearst in the contest !,
a., GOVERNOR National issues were at
stake he believed. Secretary Root !
vas sent to Utica as spokesman OF tho /
administration in a statement attack
ing Hearst and backing Hughes. The
f;rat 'tl1ird-terma talk began to be
heard at this juncture- 1t was I'D
that the fortunes of the republican I
rsrtv and the fate of what were to be-
conc known as my policies would
compel the president to reconslde, his
decision not to run again-The Edi-
tor
What the President Saw at Panama.
u. S. S. louisiana.
At Sea, Nov. 20, 1906
DEAR KERMIT:
our visit to Panama was most sue (!
cnssful as we'll as most interesting. I
We were there three days and we work
Ell from morning till night. The second !,
dav was up at a quarter to and got |.
to bed at a quarter to II, and do not
believe that in the intervening time,
save when I was dressing, there We're
10 consecutive minutes when / was
not busily at work in some shape or
form For two DAYS there {were) un-
Interrupted tropic rains without a
glimpse Of the sun, and the Chagres
river rose III flood higher than any
fer - years. so that we saw the cH-
mate at its worst. It was just what
I desired to do.
II certainly adds to ones pleasure
10 have read history and to appreciate
the picturesque. When on Wednesday
W. approached the coast and the jun
gie-covered mountains looked clearer
ard clearer until we could see the surf
beating on the shores, while there was
hardly a sign of human habitation,
kept thinking of the four centuries of
wild and bloody romance. mixed with
AFFECT saualor aud suffering, which
had made UP the history of the 18th
mus until three years ago. l could
soc Balboa crossing at Darien, and the
wars between the Spaniarls and the
Indians, and the settlement and the
building Up of the quaint walled Span
ish towns; and the trade, across the
seas by galIeon. and over land by
pack train and river canoe, in gold and
silver. IN previous stones; and then
the advent OF the buccaneers, and of
the English seanen, Of Drake and
I7robisher and Morgan, and many,
MANY others, and the wild destruc
ton they wrought. Then I thought
Of the rebellion against the Spanish
dominion. and the uninterrupted and
bloody wars that followed, the last oc-
curing when I became president:
wars the victorious heroes of which
have their pictures frescoed on the
quaint rooms of the palace at Panama
City, ana in similar palaces IN all
eapzfais OF these strange, turbulent
little ha1f-easte civilizations. Mean
-, oa5J bod hnc
l6ifd BY Americans over a half cen-
{u@y ago. with appalling loss of life,
50 that it is said, of course with ex-
a@gerat 3on that every sleeper laid rep
resented The death of a man. Then
the French canal company started
Work, ard for two or three years did
4 good deal. until it became evident
that the task far exceeded it's powers:
and then to characterization and ineffi-
cheney was added the hideous greed of
&dventprers. trying each to- save some
thing from the general wreck, and {. he
company e9oesd with infan1y and scan
Gal.
New we have taken hold of the job.
We have difficulties with our own
people, OF course. l haven't a doubt
that II VIII take a little longer and
cost a little more than men now APP
preciate. but I believe that the work is
Icing done with a very high degree
both OF efficiency and honesty; and
am immensely. struck by the char
aeter of american employees who are
engaged, not merely in superintend-
ing the work. but in doing al, the Jobs
that need skill and intelligence. The
steam shoyels. the dirt trains, the
machine shops. and the like are all
Filled with American engineers, con-
ductors. macafnists, boilernakers, car
penters. From the top to the bot
tom these men are so handy, so eff
cient, 50 energetic, that it is a real
pleasure to look at them. Stevens.
The head engineer, is a big fellow,
man o. daring and good sense, and
curly power. All of these men are
quite as fornlidabI and would, if it
were necessary, do quite as much in
battle as the crews of Drake and Nor
gan; but as it is, they are doing a
work OF 51ssiniteIy more lasting conse-
qtehce. E0slling whatever remains to
snow what Drake and Morgan did
heN produced no real effect down
itefe, hut Stevens and his men are
changing the face of the continent, are
cong the greatest engineering feat of
me ages and the effect OF their work
%ll he felt while our civilization lasts.
went over everything that I could
-Si9 20 over IN the time at my dis
posal- examined the quarters of
married and single men, white men
ana negroes. went over the ground
u the Gatun and La Boca dams; went
trough Panama and Colon, and spent
& Jay IN the Culebra cut, where the
sFs5t work is being done. There the
huge steam -sllovelSsa hard at it,:
seooplhg huge masses of rock and
StdFei and dirt previously loosened by
me ar5llers and dynamite blasters.