been helped by the Quartermaster's Department of the Army in that way occasionally.

Senator HOPKINS. I want to ask you another question or two, if it does not interrupt the thread of your discourse, regarding this paper, which I see is called the "U. S. Government Advertiser." What is the understanding among the trade? Is it that this paper is published by the United States Government?

Mr. Ross. No, sir; they know that it is a private concern. A few people write to me occasionally with the idea that it is a Government paper, and want to know to whom they should apply to have it sent to them, but as a rule nearly all the people know that it is a private

concern.

Senator HOPKINS. Does this paper favor certain large concerns that furnish supplies to the Government, do you know, in the way of its advertising, or in any of the articles that appear in it, or is it all advertising?

Mr. Ross. It is nearly all advertising, you see. There is very little in it except advertisements and notices of the awards made after public openings. I think it is purely a commercial proposition. I have never heard of any large bidders for Government materials being interested in it, and their representatives never evidence any interest in the bids of any particular people at all.

Senator MORGAN. On a page of this paper that you have submitted to the committee, which is not numbered, I notice a memorandum in pencil, and I want to know whether that is a part of the statement that you submit. The memorandum reads: "This contract transferred to Panama Railroad and Steamship Company."

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir; "Panama Railroad Company."

Senator MORGAN. Yes. The contract appears to be "Fairmont Coal Company, coal, $185,000." Is that $185,000?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Senator MORGAN. "Advertised twenty-nine days," etc.-advertised in various papers.

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Senator MORGAN. Why was that contract transferred to the railroad company?

Mr. Ross. Because Mr. Stevens and Mr. Shonts, who were on the Isthmus at the time that coal first started to go down there, thought it would be better not to have the Commission receiving coal and the Panama Railroad receiving coal also; that it would be likely to cause unnecessary confusion and bookkeeping, and it was thought best to have either one or the other receive all the coal used by the two concerns the railroad and the Commission. As the railroad was in better position to handle it and had been handling it for a good many years, after talking the matter over with Mr. Stevens, Mr. Shonts asked me to have the contract which the Commission had made for coal turned over to the Panama Railroad, and the Panama Railroad is handling it and furnishes the Commission with coal. It is a better arrangement, for this reason: That the coal is unloaded and put on the Panama Railroad Company's property there and they use it indiscriminately. Their engines use it, and when they want to furnish the Commission any, they load it up and weigh it and deliver it to the Commission. There is less bookkeeping about it than there would be if the Commission furnished them with coal.

Senator MORGAN. What was the date when this contract was transferred?

Mr. Ross. It was transferred about the 1st of October.

Senator MORGAN. Of what year?

Mr. Ross. Of 1905.

Senator MORGAN. From that date forward the purchases of coal for the consumption of the canal authorities and for use in the canal work have been made by the railroad company?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. This was the only purchase of coal ever made by the Commission. The Panama Railroad Company had always purchased the coal before.

Senator MORGAN. This was the only one made?

Mr. Ross. This was the only one made.

Senator MORGAN. I notice several others in here that appear to be purchases. I do not know whether they were before or after that date.

Mr. Ross. This is the only purchase of coal the Commission has ever made. These other purchases were for different materials.

Senator MORGAN. No; this is coal in the various places here, I think. Let me see a moment.

Mr. Ross. You will not find any other coal, Senator. That was the only purchase of coal ever made by the Canal Commission.

Senator MORGAN. What is meant by transferring the contract? Mr. Ross. The Panama Railroad assumed the contract.

Senator MORGAN. Yes; it assumed the contract. You made the contract?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Senator MORGAN. And turned over the payment and the receipt of the coal?

Mr. Ross. They made their invoices against the Panama Railroad instead of against the Isthmian Canal Commission.

Senator MORGAN. So that it was a mere transfer of the transaction? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Senator MORGAN. And from that time forward the Panama Canal Company furnished all the coal?

Mr. Ross. The Panama Railroad Company.

Senator MORGAN. The Panama Railroad Company, I mean, furnished all the coal for all the operations in which coal is used on the Isthmus?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. I might explain a little further there, as long as we are on that subject. That was a contract made for 50,000 tons of coal of a different grade from what they had been using before, and on that account we made a provision that we would take 10,000 tons of coal, and if it proved to be satisfactory and better for us all around as to price and quality, both being considered, we would take the remainder of the 50,000 tons, but if not, if the first 10,000 tons was not satisfactory, we would not have to take more than the 10,000 tons. That coal went down to the Isthmus, and a very careful test was made as compared with the coal we had been using before; and even though this coal was purchased about 30 cents a ton cheaper than the other coal, the test showed that it was more expensive to us; it cost us more money than the other coal did, because we did not get the results out of it that we did out of the other coal. By that time we had

shipped down about 4,000 tons of this coal, and, while they could have compelled us to take 10,000 tons if they wanted to, they allowed us to cancel the contract, and allowed us to take less than 10,000 tons. Senator MORGAN. Where is the Fairmont coal mined?

Mr. Ross. That is mined in West Virginia.

Senator MORGAN. West Virginia?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Senator DRYDEN. Does the Commission pay the railroad company just the same price for this coal, no more and no less, that it costs the railroad company?

Mr. Ross. The Commission pays the railroad company just the actual cost of the coal, the freight down there, and the cost of handling it there; so that it really does not make a particle of difference. If the railroad company did not handle it, they would have to handle it.

Senator MORGAN. They buy coal from the railroad just as they would from any private company?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Senator MORGAN. Delivered at the place?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. I saw a statement the other day to the effect that the Panama Railroad practically had a monopoly of the coal business down there. I do not understand that there is any reason why they have a monopoly. Any dealer in Colon that wanted to buy a cargo of coal and send it down there could do it.

Senator MORGAN. That had reference to the supply of the Government. The Panama Railroad Company does supply the Government with all of the coal it uses?

Mr. Ross. It supplies the Canal Commission; yes, sir; and they supply the naval vessels that want to go in there for coal.

Senator MORGAN. Then, besides that, they have an open market, if they want to engage in it, to sell to the cities of Panama and Colon? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. There is no reason why a dealer in Colon, for instance, if he wanted to go into the coal business on his own account, could not get a cargo of coal down there.

Senator MORGAN. Yes; he can get the coal from anybody he wants to; but practically, I suppose, the Panama Railroad Company supplies the markets of Colon and Panama with coal.

Mr. Ross. I do not know about the towns of Colon or Panama, whether the merchants get coal from us or not. I do not think they do. The steamship lines get coal from us on the Colon side, and the Pacific Mail does on the Pacific side. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company, I think, use Australian coal.

Senator HOPKINS. That comes, I suppose, from the fact that the railroad company can handle it with greater facility and can fill the orders more quickly than a company either at Colon or at Panama for the steamship lines?

Mr. Ross. Yes; and then the Panama Railroad Company pays more attention to the quality of coal they purchase than the ordinary dealer down there would, and they get a better grade of coal.

Senator MORGAN. Mr. Chairman, I have been looking over this list of purchases and prices and advertisements, and so forth, and it seems to cover the whole field of purchases there generally. I think it would be a very useful document to be printed as a separate document

by the Senate and allowed to go to the country; and if there is no objection to it, I will ask that the chairman be requested to ask the Senate to print this as a separate document.

The CHAIRMAN. You do not desire it to go into the record at all?

Senator MORGAN. No; I think it had better be printed as a separate document by the Senate and not encumber the record with it. We have very little use for it, but there are other people who will have a great deal of use for it.

Senator ANKENY. This last purchase of coal contained what proportion of Pocahontas?

Mr. Ross. That last purchase of coal was Fairmont coal.

Senator ANKENY. It did not include any Pocahontas?

Mr. Ross. Not any Pocahontas. The Panama Railroad Company's last purchase of coal was Pocahontas coal.

Senator HOPKINS. In purchasing coal I suppose you have the same tests that the Navy Department has, or practically the same?

Mr. Ross. Of course the Panama Railroad has had quite a long experience with coals and has had tests in actual service of a number of different grades of coal-Pocahontas, New River, and this recent test of Fairmont coal. The Navy Department has been making tests of coal for a good many years, and I have looked over a large number of their tests of coals from all over the country. They make chemical analyses of coal all the time at their navy-yards and tests in actual service in their stationary engines. In 1898 they sent an inquiry to the commander of each vessel in the Navy and asked him to give them the result of his experience as to which American coal had proven to be the best for all purposes. They received 123 answers, and out of that number 117 said they preferred Pocahontas coal; two of the remaining six said they preferred either Pocahontas or New River; another man said that he preferred bituminous coal. [Laughter.] He was not very specific about it. Another one said that, on account of the type of the boilers on his vessel, he preferred anthracite coal; and as to the other two, I have forgotten what they said.

Senator MORGAN. What year was that?

Mr. Ross. Eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. But that sort of report really does not amount to much, because, out of the 117 men who said they preferred Pocahontas coal, there might have been three-quarters of them that had not used anything else very much, so that such a report is not conclusive.

Senator HOPKINS. I have had the impression that the Navy Department subjected the coal to chemical tests.

Mr. Ross. Yes; they do.

Senator HOPKINS. And the impression that I have had all along is that their tests are of the highest and most useful character in determining which class of coal should be purchased.

Mr. Ross. They are. The Panama Railroad has been purchasing Pocahontas coal for some time.

Senator MORGAN. Up to date you have had no use there for coal except for steaming purposes, have you?

Mr. Ross. The principal use we have for coal, of course, is for use in stationary engines and in locomotives.

Senator MORGAN. Yes. That is all for steaming purposes.

Mr. Ross. Very little is used for any other purpose down there.

Senator MORGAN. You do not need any for domestic comfort? Mr. Ross. No; we do not need any for fires in caboose cars or for heating buildings down there. [Laughter.]

Senator TALIAFERRO. I notice you left a copy of this proposal with the Danish legation and with the German embassy and with the French embassy?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Senator TALIAFERRO. What was the object of that?

Mr. Ross. We send them to all of the embassies that want them, and we also send them to the British consul at New York. They have a commercial man, a commercial agent, practically, at New York, and we send them to him at his request. These representatives of the different countries call the attention, I presume, of some of the large concerns in their countries to the articles for which we are in the market to see whether or not they want to bid on them.

Senator TALIAFERRO. The purpose of this, then, is to get foreign bids?

Mr. Ross. Yes; if they want to bid. We do not advertise abroad, but a great many of the large concerns in Europe have agents in this country, just as a great many of the largest concerns in the United States have agents abroad, and we do get quite a great many bids on foreign materials; but they are made by American houses.

Senator TALIAFERRO. They are made on this side?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Senator MORGAN. Have you received any bids from abroad fo steel rails manufactured in the United States?

Mr. Ross. No, sir.

Senator MORGAN. You have not?

Mr. Ross. No, sir; I have tried to purchase foreign rail a number of times before when I was with the Illinois Central, not so much because we expected to get a better price, but because we could not get as good a delivery as we wanted from the mills in this country. I made several efforts to get foreign rail, but they could not give any better delivery than we could get at home, and the price, on account of the duty, was considerably higher. I recently took the matter up with the agents in this country of about the largest steel-rail concern in Germany, and they said that their orders were so heavy that they could not promise delivery inside of three or four months at the shortest.

Senator TALIAFERRO. What do you mean by the duty making the foreign rails higher?

Mr. Ross. I was talking about the duty on rails coming into the United States at that time. Of course, there would be no duty on rail going to the Isthmus. I thought possibly we might get some competition on that last lot of rail from abroad, but I understand they are pretty well loaded up on orders over there. The Japanese Government and others have been buying a good deal of rail from Germany.

Senator TALIAFERRO. You say you do get bids from foreign houses on some of these articles, where the articles are manufactured in this country?

Mr. Ross. No, sir; I do not know of any cases of that kind.
Senator TALIAFERRO. I understood you to say that.

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