in the one case he _gets_ the increment, while in the other
case he _pays_ it. Obviously, a larger advance would be justified in one
case than in the other.

ALASKA.

One of the first recommendations made by me in my report of seven years
ago was that the Government build a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks in
Alaska. Five years ago you intrusted to me the direction of this work.
The road is now more than two-thirds built, and Congress at this
session, after exhaustively examining into the work, has authorized an
additional appropriation sufficient for its completion. The showing made
before Congress was that the road had been built without graft: every
dollar has gone into actual work or material. It has been built without
giving profits to any large contractors, for it has been constructed
entirely by small contractors or by day's labor. It has been built
without touch of politics: every man on the road has been chosen
exclusively for ability and experience. It has been well and solidly
built as a permanent road, not an exploiting road. It has been built for
as little money as private parties could have built it, as all competent
independent engineers who have seen the road advise.

Edwin F. Wendt, of the Interstate Commerce Commission, in charge of
valuation of the railroads of the United States from Pittsburgh to
Boston, after an investigation into the manner in which the Alaskan
Railroad was constructed and its cost, reported to me as follows:

In concluding, it is not amiss to again state that after the full
study which was given to the property during our trip, we are
satisfied that the project is being executed rapidly and
efficiently by men of experience and ability. It is believed that
it is being handled as cheaply as private contractors could handle
it under the circumstances.

The road has not been built as soon as expected because each year we
have exhausted our appropriation before the work contemplated had been
done. We could not say in October of one year what the cost of anything
a year or more later would be, and we ran out of money earlier than
anticipated. It has not been built as cheaply as expected because it has
been built on a rising market for everything that went into its
construction--from labor, lumber, food supplies, machinery, and steel to
rail and ocean transportation. I believe, however, it can safely be said
that no other piece of Government construc