Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-04-25

thrown out Of work and famine stared
| them IN the face. Those who had
| aocked here from the English West In
| dies. hred by fabulous wages, were
cared for by the government and sup
| piled with daily rations, until money
was furnished to pay their passage
home. In spite OF present poverty,
these happy-go-lucky children OF Ham
seem perfectly contented, singing
laughing and dancing the careless hours
away. Just now they are greatly elat-
ed at the prospect of an American canal
and are building extravagant hopes on
the return Of flush times.
A MODERN BABEL.
The roofs OF Colon are mostly tiled,
the upper half OF each house projecting
far out over the sidewalks, with avn
ng-shaded varandas above. A large
share Of the home-life goes on In these
veTandas, regardless of the public
eye" Some certain flowers blooming in
boxes bird cages, women sewing, chill
dren romplng and maids pursuing their
household yocations; others are piled
with tubs, pots and refuse Of all sorts.
In some Of them washings are going
ON and the clothes tapping In the
breeze; or ironing is in progress and
skirts and chemises spread out to air.
all these making queer study of the
cty's principal street. There Is a con
seje municipal, or town hall, large
iron market house, a calaboose always
fulD, a tolerable theater. electric lights
and several hurches--Roman Catholic,
Episcopal Methodist and Jewish A
newspaper called THE Isthmus," is
published three times week, In the
three languages most spoken in this
modern Babel. There are secret soce-
ties without number, Masons, odd Eel
lows, Forresters, x. P's. and organiZa-
lions Of darker secrets Of African ORR
gin, There are half dozen hotels no
end Of boarding houses and fondtas;
and shops, saloons aud restaurants
are all turned out of doors during
the day on account of the excessive
heat, | notice with amusement that
some Of the drinking places bore no
other advertisement than number Of
little round tables set on the pavement
outside, each table appropriately paint
ed with flight Of swallows. Beggars,
Of course, abound, and disease, deform-
ity, vice and filth I'm every form. Lep-
rosy walks abroad unhindered and 1t Is
not uncommon to receive your change,
your mail. even your food from scaly
hand that ought to be In a lepers' asy-
lum.
You must not miss a drive all around
the island. via the Paseo Coral, or
Coral Promenade as the beach road
is called Part Of II borders the trop-
ical forest, whose exuberent vegetation
springs out Of the dense, serpent-ln-
Tested. pestilential swamp which sur
rounds Colon on three sides. The drive
is worth taking (eyen at s. an hour in
a springess coach that threatens every
minute to go to pieces, like the dea-
cons one-horse chaise), for the occa-
sional long stretches Of beautiful shell
strewn beach, with the ocean dashing
its spray upon it and glimpses OF the |
hills that form the back bone Of the |
lsthmus, and the yerdent swamps that !
show a series Of small islands between |
ManzaniIlo and the main land.
ENTRANCE TO THE CANAL.
You must also see the Atlantic en-
trance 10 the celebrated French canal |
upon which work was commenced just |
70 years ago You md 1t on the main
land, behind the island upon which Col
on is situated but the island has been |
so built out In this direction that II the
great ditch is ever completed, Colon
will be on It's eastern terminus, IN the
same way that Suez Is the Red Sea
terminus of that canal. There are acres
and acres of warehouses and workshops
md cottages for the laborers and hous-
IS for the officers, all made Of wood,
ong deserted and mostly in rulns-un-
ike those Of the Railway company,
which knew itself to be no fraudulent
bubble but a permanent fixture and
built in the beginning sub
itantial structures of brick and iron
)h, the pity of IL! The proceeds of
$50 600. 600 of dollars In bonds, the hard
armed savings Of the thrifty poor of
france, sunk In this great useless mud
lolel The most astonishing stories are
ret told concerning the methods of rob-
,ery practised by the canal Company's |
tticlals. Everybody seems TO have stol-
N prodigiously, except perhaps, the
ather of the whole scheme, NJ Ferdl-
and de Lesseps, who must have been
lind as bat --culpably bllnd-not TO
ave had more Intimate knowledge of |
he methods Of his managers. His son.
4. Herbert de Lesseps is known here
IS the Prince Of Thieves, who must
ave gotten away with al least 20. 600 700
RAGS Of other peoples money. Mean
'hile the death rate along the narrow
eek Of land among those employed In
igging the canal, was simply appalling
far worse, as those who survive de-
lare, than the world was ever permit
ed to hear Of. The companys hospi-
ais containing a thousand beds. were
filled. and only those who
'ere able TO travel were sent there-not
fraction Of the number that persisted
liserably by the wayside. or the 80
lsters Of charity sent from France for
eryice In these hospitals. all but three
led OF "chagres fever" and I'm less
han tiye years so Of the hospital doc
,rs Joined them in the land OF Shad-
VS.. In sober truth. the whole 18TH
nus Is one vast graveyard. Besides the
lany cOnsecrated Gods acres" are
Vulnerable trenches filed 10 the brim
in Wondering bones. and thousands
Isolated graves scattered all over the
eautiful wilderness. Most Of the vic
ms We're young men. hundreds frc>I
ON college filled with high hopes and
iger aspirations. Pray heaven that
ne gruesome history may not be re-
Gated III America undertakes IA nnish