Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-07-22

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There are many contractors working
Tor the Canal Company. SAYS writer IN
Harper's Weekly. The Canal Company
furnishes all the plant. charging six per
cent. interest on its cost. The contrac-
tors, i i said, deposited $500, 900 as
security.
The machinery aud labor are drawn
from many countries The locomotives
are Belgian and American. the steam
shovels and derrick Americans the
dumping cars almost exclusively Belgian
and French. The large cars hold six
cubic meters zach; the small Ones, Or
push cars, hold half a meter each.
The contractors do the work for the
company under the direct supervision of
the engineers Of the company, who are
distributed among the sections. and re-
port daily to its head ONCE Dir Ding
Ter, the director general, visits all sec
tons.
Jamaica furnishes nearly three-fourths
Of the laborers, and nearly al the
blacks. The remainder are a very much
mixed company. At one canal camp
the EmperadOr section-no less than
eight languages are spoken-English,
Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portu
guese, Chinese, and Hindustani.
The men are lodged i'm comfortable
barracks furnished by the company. A
common laborer gets from 81 % 90 81. so
day in Colombian currency, of which
81 Is worth seventy eight cents in gold.
In bis native ''Ise Of Streams for harder
work the Jamaican laborer would re-
ceive all the way from cd. to Ia. Cd Eng
lish money, or from Is TO 274 cents.
Hence the popularity of the work with
the men The Jamaicans are excellent
laborers il properly handled. The fire.
men and engineers, also JamaicaDs. earn
from 81 TO S. a day. These negroes are
the only laborers who can work IN ouch
pcstilential climates without imminent
risk of being stricken down by malarial
disease, Tho levers cut off other work
men ia hundreds. White laborers disap-
pear like snow before July sun.
The Colon riots, and the feeling of
which those riots were symptom, have
sent home nearly 1000 Jamaicans, men
imported at cost varying from $40 to
SIS each. The Carthagenian, a native
Indian. is the natural foe Of tho peaceful
Jamaican. Labor riots have occurred,
and will occur In one such riot at
Matuchin, in April, 1898, eighteen ia
maicans were killed outright and many
were wounded. The Carthagcnian is a
bold, bad man, who does fearful cutting
with his native machete, sword-like
knife. This race hatred will be source
of great trouble to the company.
The canal company have madea faith
full attempt TO house their men we'll, and
try and keep them in health. Good bar
racks aud houses are furnished them free
OF cost. They feed themselves To
provide against the sickness and very
heavy death rate u magnificent system of
hospitals has been erected on and around
the base Of Mount Aeon, on the Panama
side. In the vast hospital city there
erected nearly seventy buildings can be
counted, all of the highest class, and
we'll adapted to tropical conditions. In
short, it is city in itself. with gas,
water, residences. ana chapels. The
distance from the porter's lodge to the
upper wards is over half mile. Exten-
sive stables permit carriages for the staff
surgeons. Physicians and Sisters of
Charity. aided by regiment of blacks,
take the very best care of the sick. In
erecting this vast system of hospitals NJ.
De Lesseps has given the world a proof
Of his knowledge Of the deadly trop-
les" So far, it is said, over So, 600, 900
has been expended on this site alone, and
when the writer left Panama new build
lngs were going up. For this fore
al
his employees M. De Lesseps deserves the
warmest praise. lie may build the canal,
with time and money; he cannot alter
the deadly climate of country justly
called in England the grave of the Eu.
ropean.
The death rate on the Panama side of
the lsthmus before the arrival of new
fuel for disease was sixty per 1000 in
some years to eighty in others. The real
death rate among canal men is not gem
orally known to the world. Without
giving the exact figures government
and consular in my possession. may
say that it was 100 to ITO per 900 last
| year.
With time, with men, with money in
fabulous sums, NJ De Lesseps can COM
pletc the canal; and If It Is done ii 1898
he will have executed wonders. After
four years work, and the expenditure Of
over 500, 00O, 900 gold, but a twentieth
is done. admitting the accuracy and full
ness of the company's figures. That
such waterway, IL ever completed. viii
be valuable possession for mankind,
oil will admit. That It will ever pay
even one per cent. on outlay is very
doubtful in the minds of those who
have watched and studied the problem.
and who are as familiar with the statis-
tics Of the worlds tonnage as even the
sauguine protector Of the Panama canal
/ hfnsself