The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-07-05
THE PANAMA CANAL.
A Rosy View of observation-disclosures
Work Already Completed.

81 am satisfied that the French mean
business with the Panama-canal scheme"
said one of the Granada's passengers to a
Chroicle reporter, yesterday. 81 had shared
the opinion prevalent in the East and to
some extent on the Pacific coast, that the
whole affair might be a gigantic stock job
bling scheme, and naturally this would lead
one to regard the operations with a critical
if not prejudiced eye"
'Is there large amount of actual work in
progressT" inquired the reporter.
What has already been accom- piiShed is
surprising. l can only describe what l saw
at Aspinwall and Panama and en- route
across the isIhmus. Statistics? None what
ever, and do not believe that the general
reader cares to burden his mind with them.
anyway. At Panama you can get statistics
by the square yard from persons who have
no means of knowing anything about them.
But at the Canal Company's office, am told,
you get only French politeness, the most
general of generaiities, and that's all. The
fact is, the policy appears to be go right on
with the work and let it show for itself"
''In general way, then, what has been ac-
complished thus far?''
THE work has been largely of prelim-
mary character. The difficulties have not
been underestimated, and all OF the earlier
operations have been with a view
Aspinwail a large tract of swamp ground
near the mouth of the canal has been filed in
and scores of comfortable wooden dwellings
built. This littie French village has at once
an air of comfort and of permanency. AT
many points on the line of the canal, clear
across to Panama. you will note comfortable
verandaed dwellings for the use of the en-
gineers aud other subordinate officials. Ev-
erything indicates that they have come to
stay. At Panama the largest hotel building,
about the size of the Lick House here, has
been leased and IS occupied as the eompany's
headquarters, and there is hum of life and
activity around the place which suggests the
idea of a beehive in active operation"
docs the traveller across the Isthmus see
much OF the work."
'"All along the route for the line of the
canal follows that of the railroad quite
closely nearly all the way. You will remem-
Der that the Chagres river is to be utilized
for a very considerable distance. At several
points huge dredging machines are at work.
Passing further on, where the canal leaves
the river, it enters a rolling country. That
is where the work laid out is simply amazing.
The preliminary work appears to be nearly
completed all through You can trace the
line of the canal by the brown belt of dead
trees and underground that the ak and
machete have leveled. to rot in the tropical
sun or await the torch CHANGING from the
car window, you ansee against a dark-green
hillside the CLEAN of yellow earth. From
it across the gully an embankment is
being pushed, and across on the
opposite hillside there is another yellow
gleaEi of an excavation and another embank-
ment stretching itself across to meet the
other. 1t is like a railroad building On an
immense scale, and you must consider, too,
that there can be no grades. " alter will find
its level The canal must be level-no
grades there And it certainly strikes one
as an anomaiy-this running of q canal on
the top of an embankment, and some are
colossal in extent At one point l was told
by a contractor that the embankment be-
tween two elevations will have a superficial
area of forty-two acres, with height vary
ing from 30 to 100 feet. Besides this actual
digging which you see at many points you
can trace other operations of various kinds
following the preliminary stage of the
work"
'Is the work wholly by contract"
Il am so informed. There are many large
contractors and host of smaller ones. The
larger contractors are Frenchmen and Ameri-
cans, and they sublet short sections in
some instances to natives resident in the
locality. For illustration, at a certain point
there may be small village, with twenty to
fifty natives. Some enterprising fellow is
selected from among them as g sub-contrae
tor and he employs his friends aud neigh
bors. They are working, then, right at their
own doors, and they work cheaply and con-
veniently to themselves. One contracting
firm, who have taken a section of over four
miles, find this plan to work excellently"
But the native labor supply is not suf1i-
cient?"
Certainly not, and our French friends
have shown good Judgment in reinforcing it,
You will remember that when the Panama
railroad was constructed white laborers,
principally Irish, were brought down from
the United States. They died like sheep,
and no one who knows anything of the facts
will question the belief that every tie in that
railroad represents a human life. On the
canal work-that is the heavy part, the exea-
vating-I saw few white faces other than as
overseers. Natives have been secured
from all the surrounding country and
very many negroes from Jamaica and
other of the West India islands. 1t is
admitted that they do not accomplish
as much work per man as white
men, but they endure the climate, ami their
steady work counts in the aggregate The
canal managers, I am told. have been agreea-
bly, surprised in the results they have
achieved in maintaining an effective working
force"
Then the stories of great amount of
sickness and consequent interruption of op-
eratons are overdrawn?'
That is my impression, and it is sustained
by the statement of Panama physician con-
versant with the facts He said that of over
1000 men in the employ of the company
only per cent are in the hospitals, and the
death ratio for months had scarcely ex-
ceeded that of cooler countries, with
workmen similarly exposed to climatic
changes. The managers, it should be
said, have left nothing undone to meet the
possible exlgency of sickness among the EN-
ployes. There axe hospital accommodations
at various points, and at Panama. on a
breezy hillside overlooking the town, are
great hospital buildings, conducted on the
best principles and with cots for several hun
dred.'
What are your general impressions of the
work."
Favorable. 1t must be evident to any
one that there is life and vim in it. There
have been mistakes, of course, as there must
be in the preliminary stages of all great en-