Whether contract employees or government workers would build the canal was controversial. Bids for the canal's construction were opened in January 1907, and Knoxville, Tennessee-based contractor William J. Oliver was the low bidder. Stevens disliked Oliver, and vehemently opposed his choice. Although Roosevelt initially favoured the use of a contractor, he eventually decided that army engineers should carry out the work. According to the book "The Panama Canal: An Army's Enterprise", Goethals made such an impression on William Howard Taft, then Secretary of War, that Taft recommended him as an engineer for the Panama Canal. Stevens, frustrated by government inaction and the army involvement, resigned from his position.