Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1885-06-24

and Ill treatment is exaggerated an hun
dred-fold, and great many of such com |
plants have not even a shadow |
for a foundation. Men ship on
board a steamer at New Orleans
without a cent, the contractors here |
obligatingh THEMSELVES for their trans
portation. When the ship arrives
at this port the men are of course counted
to see whether or not the boat claims
more transportation than she is really
entitled to. After that ia done the men
are apportioned off to the sub-contractors
by the agent of the general contractors,
and each one is charged with the trans
portation of the men who go to his
camp, and he is responsible to the gen.
eral agent for same, and in order to save
himself he needs must charge each man.
Many of these men leave the contractors
to go into other portions of the republic
before they have paid their transporta-
ton. Must the contractor simply pay
man S fare for him to come to this coun-
try just for a pleasure tripP do not
think impartial justice would require
that. The only resource left for the
contractor is to apply to the local authori-
ties to prevent men from thus leaving;
and if they have already gone, then it be-
comes necessary for the authorities to
send soldiers after them TO bring them
back. In one of the articles that has
fallen under my notice particular stress
seemed to have been laid upon the fact
that bare footed soldiers were sent after
the runaways. Unfortunately, that is the
only kind that they have in this portion
OF the country, and L suppose that the
government hardly thinks that it would
be justified In expanding money in the
"a La hn.fc nr1o- go th.o
feelings of few men who try to defraud
the railroad. When any man has been
arrested a. the instance of contractor or
foreman, he has trial before judge at
st. Thomas or Livingston. If it is proven
that he is in debt to the company, then
he is forced to go back to work, and, ii
necessary, he has a soldier to accompany
him, and is compelled to work tc pay the
cost of the case as well as his former in
debtedness. If the judge decides that he
has had adequate cause for leaving, or
that he owes nothing, then the contractor
has to stand the expenses. If any man
makes complaint that he has been i'll
used by foreman, or that he cannot get
money that is due him, then the com
andante cites said foreman, or party that
the complaint is filed against, to appear
before him, and the charges are fully in
vestigated, and if sustained, the
party is fined, or compelled to pay
the Indebtedness, as the case may
be. As to the food that the
men get, it is rough, but wholesome
They have such things as railroad men
and laborers generally have in the States
such things as salt meats, beans, rice,
potatoes, flour bread, etc. Porterhouse
steaks, English mutton chops, etc, are
made conspicuous by their absence from
all tables alike. Now, as to the sickness
and treatment Of sick men. The dis
eases with which we have to deal are sim
liar in their nature to the diseases of
the Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas
swamps, the greater portion of the sick
ness being due to malarial influences,
which produce the simple intermittent
and remittent fevers, which yield
promptly to treatment if taken at their
outset, but if no attention is given to
them then they are liable to eliminate in
pernicious malarial fevers, which are
quite as serious as cases of q similar ma
! ture found in the States. [ am employed
as physician on the road-or on this
twenty miles of it-and endeavor to give
as good service as is compatible with the
circumstances by which we are surround
ed. When not deferred by sickness, or
| serious cases, | make a round trip, on
foot impossible to use horse or mule
here on account of there being no roads,,
over the twenty miles every ten days,
| carrying medicines with me for imme-
date use, and sending medicines
back, that l find needed, by the cargo
| men, upon my return to the port. The
| hospital shock is located one-half mile
from the port. 1t is made on the order
of the rest of the shocks, only covered
with plank. l have. had on an average
twelve patients in this hospital since !
took charge on February 10th, and there
have been only two deaths in itsince that
date. The fare that we have for the sick
is not what l would select, were it posi-
BILE to get better, but this is Central
America, and not the States. | have had
all of the medicines needed-a stock of
drugs that would have been selected to
practice generally, in a locality of this
kind, by one who intended entering into
private practice. The prescriptions
are compounded BY a competent druggist
guinine, OF course, is more generally used
than any other drug, because of its eff
cacyi in the treatment OF nalarial troubles,
but as for 'stuffing" men with it, the
idea is absurd, it would be entirely too
expensive, you know 1t costs as much
as - and 50 an ounce here. The burial
of men simply in blankets, without
collins, seems to crate rather harshly on
some sensitive nerves. 1t is done, not
from choice, but from necessity, as there
are no such things as planks or boards
fifteen or twenty miles IN tho interior,
and no chance to ges them there, conse-
quently when man is unfortunate enough
to die, the only thing TO do is to wrap him
up in his blanket and lay him away to rest
beneath the shade of the waving monaco
tree, where he will doubtless sleep as
sweetly as though no were placed 10
marble tomb in some fashionable eeme-
terry. The idea of stripping the dead of
their clothes and exposing them for sale
in the commissary bears the lie on the
face Of it, for if it were known that such
was the practice no ons would purchase
clothing from the place. When the
United States maa -ofwar Swatara visit
ed the port for the purpose of relieving
the destitute and sick, they came, as the
officers told me, expecting to find several
hundred starving and dying men. They
brought with them hundreds of pounds
of bread, crackers, etc., and large stock
of medicines, but they found it unneces-
sary to relieve the hunger of single man,
nor was it necessary to soothe the pain OF
suffering humanity. Instead of carrying
from the port hundreds Of sufferers, the
oficers only accepted forty as needing re-
lief Thirty eight more we're taken on at
the town of Livingston, where they had
gone after getting through with their
work on the road. saw several Of the
Swatara destitutes return e the works
By the last steamer.
Since the Swatara wac here the COM
pany has offered sick men free trans
poFtation back to the States which .they
have refused, preferring, as they said, to
stay in the hospital here, get well and go
back to work. To sum the question up,
it amounts to this. This is a wild, un-
tanned coast, offering none of the luxuries
and comforts of civilized land, and men
coming here must expect and be pre-
pared to undergo hardships not met with
in the States. The managers, contract
ors, engineers and sub-contractors are all
clever gentlemen. The men employed as
general thing are good, Woodworking
men, who give good work and get their |
money for it. OF course there are occa-
sional fuses between men and foremen-
there are disputes over work between the |
contractors and station men, but no more |
so here than on any other line of con-
struction. The reports published SO