Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . fs to such a point that itwas easy to place the fault ifwork lagged or blunders mul-tiplied. Col. Goethals first annual report was issued after he had beenin command only three months. covering therefore ninemonths of the Stevensadministration, and wasdated at the end of thefiscal year, June 30, 1907. He reported that80 per cent, of the plantnecessary for complet-ing the work was onthe ground or had beenordered. When he ar-rived the high water-mark for excavating inCulebra Cut was900,000 cubic yards amonth, and since hisrule began it has neverfall
Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . fs to such a point that itwas easy to place the fault ifwork lagged or blunders mul-tiplied. Col. Goethals first annual report was issued after he had beenin command only three months. covering therefore ninemonths of the Stevensadministration, and wasdated at the end of thefiscal year, June 30, 1907. He reported that80 per cent, of the plantnecessary for complet-ing the work was onthe ground or had beenordered. When he ar-rived the high water-mark for excavating inCulebra Cut was900,000 cubic yards amonth, and since hisrule began it has neverfallen below the millionmark, except in May, 1908. It may be notedin passing, that duringthe first two years ofhis administration theaverage for excavation along the whole line exceeded three million cubicyards a month. During the whole administrationof Messrs. Wallace and Stevens only six millionyards had been removed. The contrasting figuresare given not as reflecting on the earlier engineers,but as indicating the rapidity with which the equip-. Inow oy Unacravod & Vndcncood A HEAVY BLAST UNDER WATER THE PANAMA WORK SHOWS GOVERNMENTAL EFFICIENCY 169 ment and efficiency ofthe canal organizationwere increased when thebattle of the levels wasended and the civiliancommission done awaywith. In this report argued vigor-ously against turningover the canal work toprivate contractors — amatter which the Pres-ident had asked him toreport upon in pointed out that thecanal required special equipment for which no contractor could find useafter the expiration of his contract and which there-fore the government might just as well buy and ownitself. The force of this argument became particu-larly apparent as the work approached for the utilization of the plant were sent in-to Congress from every section of the country. Itwas strongly urged that the plant be sent en bloc toAlaska to build rail-roads and open thatrich, but long shut-in. territory to set
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Keywords: ., bookauthorabbotwil, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
