Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-04
Work Constantly Going On.


The nature of the soil. being bottomless
sand for the greater part Of the distance.
makes 1t necessary to keep gangs Of men
and dredges constantly at work. An aver
age of 1900 natives and 1900 foreigners
are on the regular pay roll, but that is not
as formidable a force as it sounds, because
one Irishman with pick and shovel can
do much work In day a dozen
Arabs with their antiquated tools and
methods.
They carry the earth in baskets and usu-
ally scoop it up with their hands. 1t is as
serted by the engineers who are familiar
with the history of the construction of the
canal that at least one-third of the orig
inal excavation was done In that way. A
whatever and only part of them with bas-
kets were employed for several years, and
thousands Of them did no more than pick
up the sand by handfuls and carry 1t over
the bank wrapped In their cotton robes.
Thousands persisted from hunger, fever
and exhaustion. for they were worked In
the most cruel manner, without shelter
food or medical attendance, until the indig-
and his associates to adopt a more humane
policy and prohibit the brutality that had
been practiced by their contractors.
The story Of the Suez canal Is full of hor-
rers and scandals. The extravagance and
corruption that attended every step of the
work surpassed even that of the Panama
canal. but the promoters were fortunate
enough to avoid such an explosion and ex-
posture as occurred in the latter case
study Of the facts In the case destroys ali
respect for De Lesseps and his assistants
who appear to have been guilty of every
crime against their fellow men that the
circumstances allowed them to commit
bribery, murder faisehood, robbery. swim
ding and enough more to make their ex-
perience with perditIon permanent
The construction gangs. under the pres
U nat yUynl ed
ana sheltered In barracks built upon the
same plan as those occupied by the soldiers
of the Egyptian army, and are as comfort
able as the climate and other conditions
will permit. They have the most improved
modern machinery. implements and tools
furnished them, and are divided into gangs
uiser the control of European bosses The
managers say. however, that the Arabs are
incapable of performing manual labor Hike
white men, and cannot Use ordinary tools
There isn't a wheelbarrow between the
Mediterranean and the Red sea. The
workmen will not use them. They insist
upon shopeiing earth into baskets and car
rying 1t upon their heads. That Is the
habit of all oriental peoples. The expert
ence of railway builders in India, China
and to certain extent In the SPANISH
American countries has been similar.
Cost Of the Canal.
The cost Of the canal up to December 81,
1909. including brides, steaiings, salaries
original construction. improvements and
maintenance has been SIT, s97, 206. and, ac-
cording to the best Judgment of disinterest-
ed engineers It could be reproduced for
one-third Of that money by the use OF
modern methods and improvements and by
neering problem The construction was
| simple and easy. There are no grades to
| oyercome. The highest altitude between
the two seas ID only sixty-dvs feet. and the