| Show VIOlATION OF INSTRUCTIONS Canal Gom Commission sion ought Bought 1 teril MR DRAKES EXPLANATION HOUSE COMMITTEE NEW LEAD I A I Feb dIe de WASHINGTON V V caring daring Its Investigation of the Panama Railroad company last week the specIal of the committee on il and foreign commerce tod today struck I a new lead which wa was With vigor In a n examination of Vice President E A Drake and Alfred fred An Anderson derson purchasing agent of the road I It developed that for six months be begInning beginning gInning early carly in lIay May of last year the railroad company had acted as the purchasing agent for the Isthmian can canal al aJ commission and that a a total ot oi 15 worth of had been pur purchased chased in thI manner munner without public advertisement for tor bids ThIs Is regarded as a violation ot or paragraph four of President R ose vels letter of Instructions to the com coin commission mission under date of May 9 1904 which makes i it the duty or of the commis commission sion to make and cuse cause to be execute executed after due advertisement aU all necessary for any and an all kinds ot of en and construction works Drakes Explanation In detailing to the committee how howIt r i It happened that the railroad had made i for the commission Mr r rr r said that shorty after the rail railroad ai roal road property was transferred or the stock had been acquired and prior to the transfer of te road to the gov government emment General Davis and I Brook Brooks requested certain supplies foi or 1 which they made requisition ot of Ad AdmIral Admiral mIral Walker chairman of the corn com commission mission The chairman had recently heel been elected a director he continued and an anns wa ns at the office and wih with the general genera I idea Idea that the railroad was about to ti become a part cf Ef the 5 property he Ralpd availed himself ot of Us Its fit fa dutIes for purchasing supplies Not Emergency Supplies These were called ma materials querIed Mr Townsend At t that time tte they were not an answered answered Mr Drake who then gave gae a dIe de tailed account of the class of a purchased a large part of which was wa S lumber A hurr hurry order from General Genera 1 DAVIs for varIous as a specie 1 order wa was fUe filled In making these these purchases the of core of the road followed the e whIch alwa always s had been pursued name ly asking bids b by leter letter from severa firms In this case a list of eighty seven firms was made up from a much Ii larger list ot of frs and al all S bought were from these firms Jn n em emergency cases no bids r were C asked The fIrt first 1800 worth orth of sup plies were paid for directly b by the ri road after fer which the commission paid pal U the bills Were Told to Apply While no instructions were received receive d fr for the purchase or of sU from any an y particular ular firs firms for members ot of the th E canal Mr r Drake said that tha the list HEt of firms from which the bids bid t were asked was increased largely b application or of others who said the had been told b by members of the com commission cot L mission to apply Aked Asked what meni mem I hers bers had made sue such suggestIons he Ii mentioned Commissioner CommissIoners I Harrod and Becker Hecker Did you OU purchase any lumber In California asked Mr Towns d ad ding that he understood that was where Mr 11 wa was from We had bids from California he replied but ha had not accepted any up to the time the mater matter wa was taken out of our hands b by Mr Ir Cheaper But No Good I It was as stated later that an order for between two and five feet of lumb lumber r had been placed on the Pacific coast b by the canal commission Mr lIr Drake said Mr 1 Grunsky had cont contended that Pacific coat coast lumber was cheaper and just as good 11 Mr Drake said his fifteen years eRr experience with lumber in the tropics hud had led him to the opinion that the porous character or of Pacific coast lumber unfitted it for use in Panama He understood however that the lumber was cheaper Although questions were asked a as to whether D O 0 Mis Mills was Interested In the Cal Call fornia lumber purchase 11 Mr Drake had no information on the subject No were aked asked from the norh north central states It being the poley policy of the purchasing department of the road to get Its supplies to the Atlantic or southern seaboard Consid erble lumber was purchased adjacent to and shipped from New Orleans and Florda Florida port ports Questions Intended to develop that the great quantities of material bought were not needed for emergency Y work failed ot of b by the SpecIfIcations ions Changed He sid said that the specifications for lumber which had been made up ip through long years ears of experience re regarding garding requirements of the Isthmus were changed by Chief Chie En Engineer Engineer Wallace who adopted the sped spec or of the Illinois Central Centred Rai Rail Railroad road company and thereby greatly Jy in increase increased gea crease creased the cost ot of lumber Jumber Mr Anderson who vho made these pur purchase purchases chase chases gave detailed InformatIon con earning them Mr r Drake In to a question as to whether he was aware pf Df the In of President Roosevelt re regarding garding galding the l of supplies said that he was and ced called the same to the attention or of the canal commission Admiral Walker had told him that the purchase purchases were not coverd covered by that order as they were emergency re r Mr 1 Drake maintained that from 25 to 3 3 per cent had been s saved ed t to the government In the pur chases made by the railroad |
