, 1886-06-25
CONSTRUCTING THE PANAMA CANAL.
What a Returned Empioys says of tn

What "A Returned Employe Says of this
Extravaganza and MIsmanagement.
Mr.. A. =. Smith, Of Salem, who for the
past fifteen years has lived in South
America, and more recently has been EN-
ployed as an engineer by the Panama
Canal company, has just returned from
Aspinwall, and tells an interesting story
in regard to the method of prosecuting
the work on the great De Lesseps ANAL.
II was making my way home from
C~athagenia," said he to a reporter, "but,
attracted by the financial inducements
offered by the Panama company, ! went
to Aspinwall, and Immediately secured
employment ms IN engineer in that city.
l remained a number of weeks, and
should probably be there to-day, but
that fell a victim to the yellow fever,
and on my recovery, finding that l could
not stand the climate, l packed my
chattcls for home. During my stay l
thoroughly inspected the canal, walking its
entire length of fifty-four miles.
"At present the outlook is bad, very bad.
A great deal of money is being wasted,
and II wouldalmost seem as IL it were cul-
pably wasted. That portion of the canal
thus tar completed is at the eastern end,
and is n stretch about eleven miles long.
Here the country is low and fiat, the
banks rising scarcely six feet on an aver
age above high water mark, and the land
is mostly of Il clay formation. Through a
country of this kline a cut eighty feet in
width has already been made for a dis
lance, as | have stated, of eleven miles.
While forests nave been cleared away. and
other cuts have been made at various
points along the ~ffty-four-mile line of the
proposed canal, yet little more than the
eleven miles already referred to has been
accomplished, for reasons which l will
make clear to you later on. For another
half-dozen miles the diggers and dredgers
Will have comparatively easy work, be-
cause, for about that distance, the general
character of the soil is similar to that al
ready encountered. But harder work re-
mains behind. About seventeen miles
from the coast foot hills will be encoun-
tered, and the great mountain chain
which runs through the continent from
Alaska to Patagonia, is just beyond. OF
course, that point has been selected
for the bed OF the canal where the
mountains are the lowest. but cuts of 800
feet-and there will have to be several
such-are no trining matter, and can not
be accomplished without great expense
and considerable time. On every hand
may be seen evidences Of mismanagement
and gross extravaganza. Money is liter
ally thrown away and signs of "jobs" are
more plentiful han mosquitoes in July.
Much of the work Is let out by contract,
and all sorts and kinds of people secure
the contracts"
what sort Of men are the employees
"The very scum of the EARTH" replied
Mr.. Smith. Most OF them are blacks,
who receive 81 per day, equivalent to
something like $1.6D in our money. This
means afiiuence to these men, and all
higher grades of labor are paid proportion
ately. But the money is the only possible
inducement, and the wages must neces-
sarily be high to attract men to a region
which will in all probability prove fatal
to them if they remain there long. So the
men and the women who come are the
very lowest and vilest. Convicts and out
laws and prostitutes make up a large per-
centage of the sojourners there, and
murder and arson are common. Police
regulations are a farce, and justice is
almost impossible to obtain. Boston
Herald Interview.