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Sanitary Inspector Mitchell informs his superior, Chief Sanitary Inspector LePrince, that he has not had any difficulties with the pail closets. The pails are emptied every night and also in the middle of the day when they are full.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-22
Sanitary Inspector Quayle reports to his superior, J. A. LePrince, that he has not had any trouble keeping the pail closets clean. A complaint made to headquarters was investigated and determined to be unfounded.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-22
Sanitary Inspector Rayon reports to his superior, J. A. LePrince, that the night soil pails are regularly emptied and are rarely full. There were a few problems in the past, but they have already been addressed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-22
Sanitary Inspector A. B. Tucker informs his superior, Chief Sanitary Inspector J. A. LePrince, that there has been no overfilling of the pail closets. In two instances he found that access to the pail closets was inconvenient, but this has been remedied.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-22
Chairman Shonts, head of the Isthmian Canal Commission, responds to allegations by Lindon W. Bates, an American civil engineer, that work on the canal is moving too slowly, and that the commission is mishandling funds and overspending. Shonts asserts that preliminary progress has been made, and that the plan is still in the early stages where visible progress is not evident.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-10
Sanitary Inspector Everett Frederick Quimby informs his superior that he has inspected the condition of “pit, pail, and flush closets” and has found the labor camps amply supplied in every instance.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-21
Sanitary Inspector Jennings reports to his superior, Chief Sanitary Inspector LePrince, that he has examined all the pit and pail closets in his Districts. The closets were clean and disinfected, and the pails were less than half full at eleven o’clock.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-21
Secretary of War Taft sends Isthmian Canal Commission Chairman Shonts his recommendations for Shonts’s board resulting from a conversation between him, Elihu Root, and President Roosevelt. Taft does not think Jackson Smith should be included since he is not an engineer and the board has to include an Army and a Navy engineer. John Ripley Freeman is a good choice since he works well with John F. Stevens. Taft ends his letter by listing potential names for the board.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-31
Secretary of War Taft reports on his progress and assessment of conditions on the campaign trail. He is traveling to Omaha, Nebraska, and from there to Idaho. He has had success in Ohio, but the state elections there may be in jeopardy because of disputes between two factions of Republicans. The situation in Illinois is good. Although Taft thinks his trip may do some good, it is more from his presence than his speeches, as he does not feel comfortable with the short talks he has to give. Taft also writes about the possibility of receiving the Republican presidential nomination in 1908, and thinks that the people would prefer to nominate Roosevelt again, with Taft a very distant second. He believes the Democratic party is rather apathetic about the election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-31
Secretary of War Taft corrects an omission in his previous letter to President Roosevelt regarding the composition of the Isthmian Canal Commission.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-01
W. Leon Pepperman, Chief of the Office of Administration for the Isthmian Canal Commission, encloses an abstract of the estimates for appropriation submitted by Theodore P. Shonts, Chairman of the Commission. Secretary of War Taft suggested the estimates be sent to President Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-29
Chairman Shonts informs the Isthmian Canal Commission that the request for proposals for construction of the Panama Canal was issued, and that they will open bids on December 12. He asks the Commission to send him any additional plans or specifications which might help the bidders create accurate bids.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-10
Chief Engineer John F. Stevens prefers Chief Counsel Richard Reid Rogers’s plan for financing the Panama Canal to that proposed by the engineer John Francis O’Rourke. Stevens cautions Panama Canal Commission Chairman Shonts that the Culebra Cut is “such a mix-up” that there will no doubt be complications in the construction project, and so they should avoid financing based on progress estimates.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-02
Chief Engineer Stevens opines on the nature of the government contracts for those building the Panama Canal; he thinks the plan suggested by John F. O’Rourke, a railroad engineer who is one of the bidders, to be “misleading and dangerous.” Stevens says that, in his experience, when dealing with contractors it is necessary “to be ‘as wise as a serpent, and apparently as harmless as a dove.'”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-25
Theodore P. Shonts notifies President Roosevelt that the Purchasing Officer for the Panama Canal Commission found that by inviting new bids he could get a lower price on sheet lead of domestic production. Shonts would like Roosevelt to approve a rule “where bids submitted on materials of foreign production are lower than on material of domestic production,” that after adding duty to the bids received on foreign materials, the award should be made to the materials of foreign production.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-17
John F. Stevens discusses contracts and contractors for the building of the Panama Canal with Chairman of the Panama Canal Commission Theodore P. Shonts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-18
Theodore P. Shonts, Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, discusses options for selecting the contracting firms that will be working on the Panama Canal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-14
Secretary of War Taft informs President Roosevelt that he is forwarding papers regarding changes to the canal construction at Sosa Hill that were approved by John F. Stevens. While Taft recommends that Roosevelt approve the changes, he thinks Roosevelt should speak with F. P. Stearns, an expert in water systems engineering, before giving his approval. Stearns can come to Oyster Bay to speak with Roosevelt later in the week.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-10
Secretary of War Taft sends the changes for plans at Sosa Hill to William Loeb. Taft tells Loeb that President Roosevelt will want to use it when he meets with F. P. Stearns.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-11
Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) Stevens has received a telegram from ICC Chairman Shonts, presumably prompted by an article by Poultney Bigelow in the Cosmopolitan, asking whether employees of the Panama Railroad Company or Canal officials own land in Colón. Stevens asks William Grant Bierd, General Manager of the Panama Railroad Company, for a list of those who own land in this town and if any leases have been made within the last year so that he can advise Shonts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-06