Show PROBING OF THE j PANAMA CANAL I Chairman Closely Questioned by Democratic Members of Senate Committee I I II CONTRACT WHO HAVE RAiL RAiLROAD RAILROAD ROAD CONNECTIONS Washington March P chairman or of the tho canal commIssIon toda today t resumed his testimony before the son ate on inter oceanic canals Senator had haa haar r ad tim tho protest or of HUdgins Dumas of New York to President nt lt against the manner in Which the corn com commIS mIS ar had been granted tu to Jacob E Markel of Omaha and Ing their discontinuance on the ground that the they had bad beon r d Into The N New w York firm said dald the tho pro Uro In connection with the thO letting of the contract wore were irregular Intimating collusion and a predisposition to award It to Markel Mr said the pres president president ident had referred this protest to hIm and iso be rend read the reply he had made to the presIdent The Th documents were made I pUblic at the time Could Not Be Canceled The change Hudgins and Dumas ma made in their bids after c certain conditions had be beOn n called to their attention said Mr made their bId higher than that of Mr lr Markol Referring to Mr ShoaLs reply to the president wh wherein it was stated that the commission had the right t to caneSi the Market contract upon gic me Ing thirty days Mr Asked Mr to point out In the contract the right or of Mr tro showed that at the tituS tim th the cor tract was let there was no way In which the contract could be cancelled as long as the concessIonaire lived up to the terms of th the concession The Tho witness s was at length concerning the differences between n th tho Markol Marko and the Hudgins Dumas Dumus tilds tid Little Attention Was Paid Reverting again to the lI rk l con tr ct Mr 11 said suld he understood the right of cancellation as he had stated In his letter to the presIdent hut that ho he had not analyzed It from a legal pOint of view Was Vas It not your our duty to do B Basked so asked Mr I suppose it was but I then under understood understood stood it as I sara sam before replied Mr P however I had little to do with preparing th contrACt That was done dono b by Mr Ross Do you Intend to continue your con connection as president or of th the Clover Lean Leaf asked Mr That depends replied the witness On what 1 Well said the witness tho president spoke to me about that and I told hun hlin that on account of m my large holdings I did not want to give up the presidency presidency dency I talked with President Roose v lt more frankly than I am talking with you I did not want to embur man rass him He said he thought there would be no objection to holding the piECe if I served without salary that thatis is if I was merely a nominal president dent dont Rests With Roosevelt Then YOU U dont know what your our in intentions intentions ue are asked Mr Taliaferro The president will t ll mc inc what he warts wants me to do I suppose replied th thIn the witness In tl to a number of QuestIons Mr said that he was now going to get rId of his interest in the Clover CloverLeaf Leaf but he did not know how these would terminate Mr II Taliaferro asked Mr lIr for names of and their railroad connections ThE witness mentioned him himself himself self as connected with the Clover Leaf route Agent Ross the JIll 1111 nois Central Auditor Benson the South Southern era ern Pacific and Chief Engineer Stevens the Rock Island Mr lIr Taliaferro attempted to show that all of the officials named had had bad In Intimate intimate relations with transcontinental lines Mr said sald that the Clover Loaf was not in Any way associated with transcontinental lines 5 but the oth other r mentioned might be regarded regard d as asrel rel related t d to although they would flat fiot bo be so called In railroad parlance Cable Question In referring to communications with of on the Isthmus Mr spoke of cable char charges 08 Do you ou not think the government should have Its own cable b between tween the 1 points of the canal zone zono and the StatEs he was asked I do and I have repeatedly recommended mended It said Mr |