Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, December 17, 1906, Page 4

lank Books, Ledgers; Journals, Elc., Stationery, Christmas Stickers, 1907 Diaries, Typefilllor‘hpur. Scrap Books, Lead Pencils, Pens, Holders, Ink Wells, Etc. Rubber Sllm‘r! and Pads, Fountain Pens, Letter Copy Books, Paper Clips and Fasteners, Rubber Bands, Letter Files, Invoices, Typewriter Supplies, Postal Scales, Legal Blanks, Copy Holders, Calendar Pads, Document Files, Note Books, Time Books, Scale Report Books, Trial Balance Books, Rulers, Erasers, Kneaded Rubber Squares, Township Plats in book form, Fine quality colored Blotters, Letter Copy Presses, Waste Paper Baskets, Rubber Type |ES S i R Get Your Office Su % % pplies at the Bemidji Pioneer Office Most Complete Stock West of Duluth tits, Staplers, Paper Knives, &c TELLS CONGRESS ABOUT THE CANAL BPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT COVERING CONDI- TIONS ON ISTHMUS. SATISFIED WITH SITUATION DECLARES HIMSELF CONVINCED OF THE SUCCESS OF THE STUPENDOUS TASK. Washington, Dec. 17.—The president today sent to congress the following special message on the Panama canal: To the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives: In the month of November I visited the isthmus of Panama, going over the canal zone with conslderable care; and also visited the cities of Panama and Colon, which are not in the zone or under the United States flag, but. as to which the United States govern- ment, through its agents, exercises control for certain sanitary purposes. I was three days ashore—not a suffi- cient length of time to allow of an exhaustive investigation of the minu- tiae of the work of any single depart- ment, still less to pass judgment on the engineering problems, but enough to enable me to get a clear idea of the salient features of the great work and of the progress that has been made as regards the sanitation of the zone, Colon and Panama, the caring for and housing of the employes and the actual digging of the canal. The zone Is a narrow strip of land and it can be in- spocted much as one can inspect fifty or sixty miles of a great railroad at the point where it runs through moun- tains or overcomes other natural ob- stacles. The president then details the pro- gramme he carried out during his stay on the canal zone. He says it rained almost continually during that time and that conditions were at their worst when inspected. Continuing, he says: At the outset I wish to pay a tribute to the amount of work done by the French Canal company under very difficult circumstances. Many of the bulldings they put up were excellent and are still in use, though, naturally, the houses are now getting out of re- pair and are being used as dwellings only until other houses can be built, and much of the work they did in the Culebra cut, and some of the work they did in digging, has been of direct and real benefit. This country has never made a better investment than the $40,000,000 which it pald to the French company for work and better- ments, including especially the Pan- ama railroad. Preliminary Work Being Done. The wisdom of the canal manage- ment has been shown in nothing more clearly than in the way in which the foundations of the work have been laid. To have ylelded to the natural impatience of i1l informed outsiders and begun all kinds of experiments in ‘work prior to a thorough sanitation of the isthmus, and to a fairly satisfac- tory working out of the problem of getting and keeping a sufficient labor supply, would have been disastrous. The various preliminary measures had to be taken first; and these could not be taken so as to allow us to begin the real work of construction prior to Jan. 1 of the present year. It then be- came necessary to have the type of the canal decided and the only delay hag been the necessary delay until the 20th day of June, the date when the congress definitely and wisely settled that we should have an 85-foot level canal. Immediately after that the work began in hard earnest and has been continued with increasing vigor ever since; and it will continue so to progress in the future. When the con- tracts are let the conditions will be such as to insure a constantly increas- ing amount of performance. Successful Sanitation. 'The first great problem to be solved, upon the solution of which the success of the rest of the work depended, was the problem of sanitation. This was from the outset under the direction of Dr. W. C. Gorgas, who is to be made a full member of the commission. It must be remembered that his work was not mere sanitation, as the term 18 understood in our ordinary munic- ipal work. Throughout the zone and in the two cities of Panama and Colon, in addition to the sanitation work proper, he has had to do all the work that the marine hospital service does as regards the nation, that the health department officers do in the various states and cities and that Colonel Waring did in New York when he cleaneq its streets. The results have been astounding. The isthmus had been a byword for deadly unhealthful- ness. Now, after two years of our occupation, the conditions as regards sickness and the death rate compare favorably with reasonably healthy lo- calities In the United States. Espe- cial care has been devoted to minimiz- ing the risk due to the presence of those species of mosquitoes which have been found to propagate malarial and yellow fevers. Equal care is taken by the inspectors of the health depart- ment to secure cleanliness in the houses and proper hyglenic conditions of every kind. I inspected between twenty and thirty water closets, both those used by the white employes and those used by the colored laborers. In almost every case I found the condi- tions verfect. 1 inspected the large hospitals at Ancon and Colon, which are excellent examples of what tropical hospitals should be. 1 also inspected the re- celving hospitals in various settle- ments. I went through a number of the wards in which the colored men are treated, a number of those in which the white men are treated— Americans and Spaniards. Both white men and black men are treated exact- ly alike and their treatment is as good as that which could be obtained in our first class hospitals at home. All the patients that I saw, with one or two exceptions, were laborers or other employes on the canal works and rail- ways, most of them being colored men of the ordinary laborer stamp. Not only are the men carefuly cared for whenever they apply for care, but so far as practicable a ve®:' is kept to see that if they need it they are sent to the hospitals, whether they desire to go or not. From no responsible source did any complaint come to me as to the management of the hospital service, although occasionally a very ignorant West India negro when he is first brought into the hospital becomes frightened by the ordinary hospital routine. - Health Showing Remarkable. Just at present the health showing on the isthmus is remarkably good— s0 much better than in most sections of the United States that I do not be- lieve that it can possibly continue at quite its present average. Thus, early in the present year a band of several ‘hundred Spaniards weie brought to the isthmus as laborers and additions to their number have been made from time to time; yet since their arrival in February last but one of those Span- iards thus brought over to work on the canal has died of disease, and he of typhoid fever. Two others were kilied, one in a railroad accident and one by a dynamite explosion. There has been for the last six months a well nigh steady decline in the death rate for the population of the zone, this being largely due to the decrease in deaths from pneumonia, which has been the most fatal disease on the isthmus. In October there were ninety- nine deaths of every kind among the employes of the isthmus. There were then on the rolls 5,500 whites, seven- eights of them being Americans. Of these whites but two died of disease and as it happened neither man was an American. Of the 6,000 white Amer- icans, including some 1,200 women and children, not a single death has oc- curred in the past three months, whereas in an average city in the United States the number of deaths for a similar number of people in that time would have been about thirty from disease. This very remarkable showing can not of course permanent- 1y obtain, but it certainly goes to prove that if good care is taken the isthmus is not a particularly unhealthy place. In October of the 19,000 negroes on the roll eighty-six died from disease, pneu- monia being the most destructive dis- ease and malarial fever coming sec- ond. The difiiculty of exercising a thorough supervision over the colored laborers is of course greater than is the case among the whites and they are also less competent to take care of themselves, which accounts for the fact that thelr death rate is so much | higher than that of the whites, in spite of the fact that they have been used to similar climatic conditions. Even among the colored employes it will be seen that the death rate is not high. Diminution of Mosquitoes. In Panama and Colon the death rate has also been greatly reduced, this be- ing directly due to the vigorous work of the special brigade of employes who have been inspecting houses where the stegomyia mosquito is to be found and destroying- its larvae and breeding places and doing similar work in ex- terminating the malarial mosquitoes— in short, in performing all kinds of | hygienic labor. A little over a year ago all kinds of mosquitoes, including the two fatal species, were numerous about the Culebra cut. In this cut during last October every room of every house was carefully examined and only two mosquitoes, neither: of' them of the two fatal species, were found. TUnfaltering energy in Inspec- tion and in disinfecting and in the work of draining and of clearing brush are responsible for the change, .1 ap- pend Dr. Gorgas' Teport on the health conditions; also a letter from Surgeon General Rixey to Dr. Gorgas. The: surgeon general reported to me that the hyglenic conditions on the isth- mus were about as good as. for in- stance, those in the Norfolk navyyard. The sanitation work in the cities of Panama and Colon has been just as important as in the zone itself and in many respects much more difficult; because it was necessary to deal with the already existing population, which naturally had scant sympathy with revolutionary changes, the value of which they were for a long time not able to perceive. Yet astonishing progress has been made in both cities. In Panama 90 per cent of the streets that are to be paved at all are already paved with an excellent brick pave- ment laid in heavy concrete, a few of the streets being still in process of- paving. The sewer and water services In the city are of the most modern hygienic type, some of the service hav- ing just been compléted. Colon Water Supply. It was not practicable, with the “orce at the commission’s disposal and m view of the need that the force should be used in the larger town of Panama, to begin this work before early last winter. Water mains were then laid in the town and water was furnished to the people early in March from a temporary reservoir. This reservoir proved to be of insufficient capacity before the end of the dry season and the shortage was made up by hauling water over the Panama railroad, so that there was at all times an ample supply of the very best water. Since that time the new res- ervoir back of Mount Hope has been vractically completed. I visited this reservoir. It is a lake over a mile long and half a mile broad. It now carries some 500,000,000 gallons of first class water. I forward herewith a photograph of this lake, together with certain other photographs of what I saw while I was on the isth- mus. Nothing but a cataclysm will hereafter render it necessary in the dry season to haul water for the use of Colon and Cristobal. One of the most amusing (as well as dishonest) attacks made upon the commission was in connection with this reservoir. The writer in question usually confined himself to vague gen- eral mendacity; but in this case he specifically stated that there was no water in the viclnity fit for a reser- voir (I drank it and it was excellent) and ‘that this particular reservoir would never hold water anyway. Unjust Criticism. Care and forethought have been ex- ercised by the commission and nothing has reflected more credit upon them than their refusal either to go ahead too fast or to be deterred by the fear of criticism from not going ahead fast enough. It is curious to note the fact that many of the most severe critics of the commission criticise them for precisely opposite reasons, some com- plaining bitterly that the work is not in a more advanced condition, while the :others complain that it has “~~a rushed with such haste that there has been insufficlent preparation for the hygiene and comfort of the employes. As a matter of fact neither criticism is just. It would have been impossible to go quicker than the commission has gone, for such quickness would have meant insufficient preparation. On the other hand, to refuse to do any- thing until every possible future con- tingency had been met would have caused wholly unwarranted delay. The right course to follow was exactly the course which has been followed. Ev- ery reasonable preparation was made in advance, the hygienic conditions in especial being made as nearly perfect as. possible; while on the other hand there has been no timid refusal to push forward the work because of in- ability to anticipate every possible emergency, for, of course, many de- fects can only be shown by the work- ing of the system in actual practice. Care of Employes, Next in importance to the problem of sanitation, and indeed now of equal importance, is the problem of secur- ing and caring for the mechanics, la- borers and other employes who actu- ally do the work on the canal and the railroad. This great task has been under the control of Mr. Jackson Smith and on the whole has been well done. At present there are some 6,000 white employes and some 19,000 colored employes on the isthmus. I went over the different places where the different kinds of employes were working; I think I saw representa: tives of every type both at their work and in their homes; and I conversed with probably a couple of hundred of them all told, choosing them at ran- dom from every class and including those who came especially to present certain grievances. I found that those { who did not come specifically to pre- sent grievances almost invariably ex- pressed far greater content and satis- faction with the conditions than did those who called to make complaint. Nearly 5,000 of the white employes had come from the United States. No man can see these young, vigorous men energetically doing their ‘duty , without a thrill of pride in them as | Americans. They represent on the | average a high class. Doubtless to i congress the wages paid them will | seem’high, but as a matter of fact the . only general complaint which I found | had any ‘real basis among the com- plaints made to me upon the isthmus was that, owing to the peculiar sur- roundings, the cost of living and the distance from home, the wages were really not as high as they should be. In fact, almost every man I spoke to felt that he ought to be receiving more money—a view, however, which the average man who stays at home in the United States probably likewise holds as regards himself. 1 append figures of the wages paid. so that the congress can judge the matter for it- self. Later I shall confer on th~ - | Ject with certain representative labor men here in the United States, as well as golng over with Mr. Stevens the comparative wages paid on the zone and at home; and T may then com- municate my findings to the canal committees of the two houses. The white Americans are employed, some of them in office work, but the majority in handling the great steam shovels, as engineers and conductors on the dirt trains, as machinists in the great repair shops, as carpenters and timekeepers, superintendents and foremen of divisions and of gangs and {80 on and so on. Many of them have | brought down their wives and fam- ilies; and the children when not in | school are running about and behav- Ing precisely as the American small - boy and girl behave at home.- The jbachelors among the employes live, | Bometimes in small separate houses, rometimes in large -houses; quarters | being furnished free to all the men, married and unmarried. The housewives purchuse their sup- plies directly, or through their hus- bands, from the commissary stores of the commission. All to whom I spoke ,ngreed that the supples were excellent, and all but two stated that there was Do complaint to be made; these two complained that the prices were ex- cessive as compared to the prices in the States. On investigation I did not feel that this complaint was well ‘loqndpd. The: married men ate at — bome. The unmarried men sometimes ute at private boardinghouses, or pri- vate messes, but more often, judging by the answers of those whom I ques- tioned, at the government canteens or hotels where the meal costs 30 cents to each employe. This 30-cent meal struck me as being as good a meal as we get in the United States at the or- dinary hotel n which a 50-cent meal 1s provided. v Chinese and Other Labor. Of the 19,000 or 20,000 day laborers employed on the canal a few hundred are Spaniards. These do excellent work. Their foremen told me that they did twice as well as the West In- dian laborers. They keep healthy and no difficulty 1s experienced with them in any way. Some Italian laborers are also employed in connection with the drilling. As might be expected, with labor as high priced as at present in the United States, it has not so far proved practicable to get any ordinary laborers from the United States. The American wageworkers on the isthmus are the highly paid skilled mechanics of the types mentioned previously. A steady effort is being made to secure Italians, and especially to procure more Spaniards, because of the very satisfactory results that have come from their employment; and their numbers will be increased as far as possible. It has not proved possible, however, to get them in anything like the numbers needed for the work, and from present appearances we shall in the main have to rely, for the ordinary unskilled work, partly upon the col- ored laborers from the West Indies, partly upon Chinese labor. It certainly ought to be unnecessary to point out that the American workingman in the United States has no concern what- ever in the question as to whether the rough work on the isthmus, which is performed by aliens in any event, is done by aliens from one country with a black skin or by aliens from an- other country with a yellow skin. Our business is to dig the canal as effi- clently and as quickly as possible; provided always that nothing is done that is inhumane to any laborers, and nothing that interferes with the wages or lowers the standard of living of our own workmen. Having in view this principle, I have arranged to try sev- eral thousand Chinese laborers. This is desirable both because we must try to find out what laborers are most efficient, and, furthermore, because-we' should not leave ourselves at the mercy of any one type of foreign la- bor. At present the great bulk of the unskilled labor on the isthmus is done by West Indian negroes, chiefly from Jamaica, Barbados and the other Eng- lish possessions.: One of the govern- ors of the lands in question has shown an unfriendly disposition to our work and has thrown obstacles in the way of our getting the labor needed; and it is highly undesirable to give any out- siders -the impression, however ill founded, that they are indispensable and can dictate terms to us. The West India laborers are fairly, but only fairly, satisfactory. Some of the men do very well indeed; the bet. ter class, who are to be found as fore- men, as skilled mechanics, as police- men, are good men; and many of the ordinary day laborers are also good. But thousands of those who are brought over under contract (at our expense) go off into the jungle to live, or loaf around Colon, or work so badly after the first three or four days as to cause a serious diminution of .the amount of labor performed on Friday and Saturday of each week. The negroes generally do their own cooking in sheds proyided by the gov- ernment, but I believe that ultimately the government itself must feed them. Work of Construction. I have now dealt. with the hyglenic conditions which make it possible to employ a great force of laborers, and with the task of gathering, housing and feeding these laborers. There re- mains to consider the actual work which has to be done; the work be- cause of which these laborers are gath- ered together—the work of construct- ing the canal. This is under the di- rect control of the chief engineer, Mr. Stevens, who has already shown ad- mirable results, and whom we can safely trust to achieve similar results in the future. The work is now going on with a vigor and efficiency pleasant to wit- ness. The three’'big problems of the canal are the La Boca dams, the Gatun dam and the Culebra cut. The Cule bra cut must be made, anyhow; but of course changes as to the dams, or at least to the locks adjacent to the dams, may still occur. The La Boca dams offer no problem, the bottom material being so good that there is a practical certainty, not merely as to what can be achieved, but as to the time of achievement. The Gatun dam offers the most serious problem that we have to solve; and yet the ablest men on the isthmus believe that this problem s certain of solution along the lines proposed; although, of course, it ne- cessitates great toil, energy and intelll- gence, and although equally, of course, there will be some little risk in con- nection with the work. The risk arises from the fact that some of the mate- rial near the bottom Is not so good as could be desired. If the huge earth dam now contemplated is thrown ucross from one foothill to the other we will have what is practically a low, broad, mountain ridge behind which will rise the inland lake. This artifi- cial mountain will probably show less seepage, that is, will have greater. re- straining capacity than the average natural mountain range. The exact lo- callty of the locks at this dam—as at the other dams—is now being deter- mined. In April next Secretary Taft, with three of the ablest engineers of the country—Messrs. Noble, - Stearns and Ripley—will visit the isthmus, and the three engineers will make the final and conclusive examinations as to the ixact site for each lock. Meanwhile the work {s going ahead without a break. The Culebra cut does not offer such great risks; that is, the damage liable to occur from occasional land slips will not represent what may be called ma- jor .disasters. The work will merely call for intelligence, perseverance and executlve capacity. It is, however, the ‘work upon which most labor will have to be spent. The dams will be com- posed of the earth taken out of the cut and very possibly the building of the locks and dams will take even jonger than the cutting in Culebra ‘tself. Main Work at Culebra. The main work is now being done in the Culebra cut. It was striking and impressive to see the huge steam shov- els in tull play, the dumping trains car- rying away the rock and earth they dislodged. In the rainy season the steam shovels can do but little in dirt, but they work steadily in rock and in the harder ground. There were some twenty-five at work during the time I was on the isthmus and their tremen- dous power and efficiency were most impressive. As soon as the type of canal was de- clded this work began in good earnest. The rainy season will shortly be over and then there will be an immense in- crease in the amount taken out; but even during the last three months, in the rainy seasom, steady progress is shown by ‘the figures: In August 240; 000 cubic yards, in September 291,000 cubic yards and in October 325,000 cuble yards. Passing through the cut the amount of new work can be seen at a glance. In one place the entire side of a hill had heen taken out re- cently by twenty-seven tons of dyna- mite, which were exploded at one blast. On the top notch of the Culebra cut the prism is now as wide as it will be; all told, the canal bed at this point has now been sunk about 200 feet below what it originally was. It will have to be sunk about 130 feet farther. Throughout the cut the drill- ing, blasting, shoveling and hauling are going on with constantly increas- ing energy, the huge shovels being pressed up, as if they were mountain howitzers, into the most unlikely look- ing places, where they eat their way into the hillsides. Critics and Doubting Thomases. It is not only natural, but inevita- ble, that a work as gigantic as this which has been undertaken on the isthmus should arouse every species of hostility and criticism. The condi- tions are so new and so trying and the work so vast that it would be ab- solutely out of the question that mis- takes should not be made. Checks will occur. Unforeseen difficulties will arise. From time to time seemingly well settled plans will have to be changed. At present 25,000 men are engaged on the task. After a while the number will be doubled. In such a multitude it is inevitable that there should be here and there a scoundrel. Very many of the poorer class of la- borers lack the mental development to protect themselves against either the rascality of others or their own folly and it is not possible for human wis- dom to devise a plan by which they can invariably be protected. In a place which has been for ages a by- word for unhealthfulness and with so large a congregation of strangers sud- denly put down and set to hard work there will now and then be outbreaks of disease. There will now and then be shortcomings in administration; there will be unlooked for accidents to delay the excavation of the cut or the brilding of the dams and locks. Each 'such incident will be entirely natural and, even though serious, no one of them will mean more than a little extra delay or trouble. Yet each,, when discovered by sensation mongers and retailed to timid folk of little faith, will serve as an excuse for the belief that the whole work is be- ing badly managed. Experiments will continually be trled in housing, hy- giene, in street repairing, in dredging and in digging earth and rock. Now and then an experiment will be a fail- ure; and among those who hear of it a' certaln proportion' of doubting Thomases will at once believe that the whole work is a failure. Doubt- less here and there some minor ras- cality will be uncovered; but as to this I have to say that after the most painstaking inquiry I have been un- able to find a single reputable person who had so much as heard of any serious accusations affecting the hon- esty of the commission or of any re- sponsible officer under it. I append a letter dealing with the most serious charge, tha of the ownership of lots in Colon; the charge was not ad- vanced by a reputable man and is utterly baseless. It is not too much to say that the whole atmosphere of the commission breathes honesty as it breathes efficlency and energy. Above all the work has been kept absolutely clear of politics. I have never heard even. a suggestion of spoils politics in connection with it. f I have investigated every complaint brought to me for which there seemed to be any shadow of foundation. In two or three cases I came to the conclu- sion that there was foundation for the complaint and that the methods of the commission 'in the respect complained of could be bettered. In the other Instances the complaints proved ab- solutely baseless, save in two or three instances, where they referred to mis- takes which the commission had al- ready itself found out and corrected. Slanderers and Libelers. So much for honest criticism. There remains an immense amount of reck- less slander as has ever been pub- :llshed. Where the slanderers are of foreign origin I have no concern with them. - Where they are Americans I feel for them the heartlest contempt and indignation; because, in a spirit of wanton djshonesty and malice, they ,are trying to interfere with and ham- | ser the execution of the greatest work of the kind ever attempted and are seeking to bring to naught the efforts of their countrymen to put to the credit of America one of the giant feats of the ages. The outrageous accusations of these slanderers con- stitute a gross libel upon a body of public servants who, for trained in- telligence, expert ability, high charac- ter and devotion to duty have never been excelled anywhere. There is not 2 man among those directing the work on the isthmus who hag obtained his position on any other basis than merit alone and not one who has used his ‘position in any way for his own per- tonal or pecuniary advantage. Plan to Build by Contract. After most careful consideration we have decided to let out most of the work by contract if we can come to satisfactory terms with the contrac- tors. The whole work is of a kind suited to the peculiar genius of our people; and our people have devel- oped the type of contractor best fitted to grapple with it. It is of course much better to do the work in large part by contract than to do it all by the government, provided it is possible on the one hand to secure to the con- tractor a sufficient remuneration to make it worth while for responsible contractors of the best kind to under- take the work; and provided on the other hand it can be done on terms which will not give an excessive profit to the contractor at the expense of the government. After much consid- eration the plan already promulgated by the secretary of war was adopted. This plan in its essential features was drafted, after careful and thorough study and consideration, by the chief engineer, Mr. Stevens, who, while in the employment of Mr. Hill, the pres- ident of the Great Northern railroad, had personal experience of this very type of contract. Mr. Stevens then submitted the plan to the chairman of the commission, Mr. Shonts, who went carefully over it with Mr. Rog- ers, the legal adviser of the commis- sion, to see that all legal difficulties ‘were met. He then submitted copies of the plan to both Secretary Taft and myself. Secretary Taft submit- ted it to some of the best counsel at the New York bar and afterwards I went over it very carefully with Mr. Taft and Mr. Shonts and we laid the plan in its gemeral features before Mr. Root. My conclusion is that it combines the maximum of advantage with the minimum of disadvantage. Under it a premium will be put upon the speedy and ecomomical construc- tion of the canal and a penalty im- posed on delay and waste. The plan as promulgated is tentative; doubt- less it will have to be changed in some respects before we can come to a sat- isfactory agreement with responsible contractors—perhaps even after the bids have been received; and of course it is possible that we can not come to an agreement, in which case the government will do the work it- self. Meanwhile the work on the isthmus is progressing steadily and without any let up. A single Commissioner Desired. A seven headed commission is of course a clumsy executive instrument. ‘We should have but one commissioner, with such heads of departments and other officers under him as we may find necessary. We should be express- ly permitted to employ the best engi- neers in the country as consulting engineers. I accompany this paper with a map showing substantially what the canal ‘will be like when it is finished. When the Culebra cut has been made and the dams built (if they are built-as at present proposed) there will then be at both the Paclfic and Atlantic ends of the canal two great fresh water lakes, connected by a broad channel running at the bottom of a ravine, across the backbone of the Western Hemisphere. Those best informed be- lieve that the work will be completed in’ about eight years; but it is never safe to prophesy about such a work as this, especially in the tropies. Confident of Ultimate Success. Of the success of the enterprise I am as well convinced as one can be of any enterprise that is human. It is a stupendous work upon which our fellow countrymen are engaged down there on the isthmus and while we should hold them to a strict accounta- bility for the way in which they per- form it we should yet recognize, with frank generosity, the epic nature of the task or which they are engaged and its world wide importance. They are doing something which will re- dound immeasurably to the credit of America, which will benefit all the world and which will last for ages to come. Under Mr. Shonts and Mr. Stevens and Dr. Gorgas this work has started with every omen of good for- tune. They and their worthw asso- clates, from the highest to the lowest, are entitled to the same credit that ‘we would give to the picked men of a victorious army; for this conguest of peace will, in its great and farreach- ing effect, stand as among the very greatest conquests, whether of peace or of war, which have ever been won by any of the peoples of mankind. A badge is to be given to every Amer- lIcan citizen who for a specified time has taken part in this work; for par- ticipation i it will hereafter be held to reflect honor upon the man partici- pating just as it reflects honor upon a soldier to have belonged to a mighty army In a great war for righteous- ness. Our fellow countrymen on the isthmus are working for our interes and for the national renown in th. same spirit and with the same effi- clency that-the men of the army and navy work in time of war. It be- hooves us in our turn to do all we can to hold up their hands and to aid them in every way to bring their great work to a triumphant conclusion. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. POSSIBILITY OF WAR GERMAN OFFICIAL CIRCLES EA. GERLY DISCUSS AMERICAN- JAPANESE RELATIONS. PLAN OF CAMPAIGN MAPPED OUT ALL EXPERTS AGREE THAT JA- PAN WOULD SEIZE THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. Berlin, Dec. 17.—The relations be- tween the United States and Japan excite extraordinary interest both in government and in diplomatic circles here. Emperor Willlam discussed the question with several persons recently and is thoroughly informed regarding President Roosevelt’s personal views on the subject. It is believed that Russia’s more resolute attitude against Japan's requests for trade and colonization rights on the Amur river and in Siberia and for fishery priv- ileges on the adjacent Russian coasts is partly due to the discussion of the California school question between the United States and Japan. The Rus- sian foreign office has been subjected to steady diplomatic pressure on the yart of Japan in the effort to obtain ‘these farreaching rights. The result is that the idea has been created at the Russian foreign office that Japan might make her ambitions the oceca- sion for a renewal of the war with Russia. This idea pervaded the con- versations which the Russian foreign minister, M. Iswolsky, had with the government officials and others whom he met here on the occasion of his visit to Berlin six weeks ago. M. Iswolsky met many prominent people here and talked with extraordinary freedom. Among German military and naval officers the possibility of a conflict between the United States and Japan has been quite freely discussed and the professional views appear to agree that Japan would take the Philippine islands and place upon the United States the necessity of conducting across the Pacific prolonged sea and land campaigns which would call for immense expeditions against great natural obstacles. It was known here in June that the British admiralty had considered theoretically the pos- sibility of war between Japan and the United States as likely to occur within twenty-five years and some of the Brit- ish naval men are reported to have expressed the belief that the contest ‘would occur within five years. In any case it is certain that several Euro- pean foreign officials are at present making inquiries regarding the tem- per of the Japanese people and the government of Japan. STORY PROM PTTY DENIED. Reported That Garrison in Hawaii Would Be Increased. - San Francisco, Dec. 17.—The Exam- [ iner publishes the following dispatch from Honolulu: The officers of the transport Thomas have announced that two regiments are to be rushed immediately to the 1sland in anticipation of trouble with the Japanese. They absolutely refuse to give out any of the details bearing on the call for troéps or the reason why the government feels that the sol- diers of the United States army are necessary in the islands, which are at this time overrun by the little brown men. It is understood that the mikado was extremely anxious to secure pos- session of the island of Lanai, which is private property. This island is fifty miles from Honolulu and could be used as ad excellent naval base against the United States by any for- eign power. It has two splendid har- bors of sufficient depth to accommo- date a large fleet of war vessels. Attorney George D. Gear has se- cured an injunction against Governor Carter and Land Commissioner Pratt to prevent their selling the islands to a syndicate. "It is understood that the syndicate represents the Japanese government, or people who ultimately expect to dispose of the island to Japan. Washington, Dec. 17.—It is stated at the war department that no order has been issued for the dispatch of additional troops to the Hawaifan isl- ands, nor is any suchorder contem- plated. MANY KISSES EXGHANGED. Norway's King and Queen Guests of Emperor Willlam. Berlin, Dec. Queen Maud and Crown Prince Olaf of Norway arrived at Potsdam during the morning from England and were re- celved at the station by Emperor Will- jam, the empress, the crown prince and crown princess, the other sons of the emperor, Princess Victoria and a large number of military and naval officers and courtiers. When the spe- clal train drew up at the platform the emperor advanced and warmly wel- comed King Haakon, kissing him on both cheeks. The emperor then kissed the hand of Queen Maud and hoth the Brln;;eror and empress, kissed Prince af. ‘. Urgent Deficiency ‘Bill Passed. « Washington, Dec. 17.—The wurgent ' deficiency bill, carrying an appropria- tion of $581,000, was passed by th the day.** ORI T house during 17.—King Hnfion, ¥