Bisbee daily review., 1904-07-01
Conditions Down
 In Panama Zone
STRANDED MEN ARRIVING THERE AND COMPELLED TO PICK UP A LIVING AS BEST THEY cAN-MosT PLENTIFUL
 THING IS Ex-
 CHANGE.

David Stewart, a mechanic. who re- gently returned from Panama. is in the city and tells some interesting stories regarding conditions there, says the Chihuahua Enterprise. While away he visited Peru. Costa Rica and Colon. Men are coming into Panama all the time in search of work" said MT. Stewart. They seem to have only a vague idea of conditions as they real i ly exist and are under the impression that the work of digging the canal is actually going on and that they only | need to apply for work to be received with open arms Some come with barely enough money to get them there and when they become strand ed they are compelled to pick up a liy- ! ing as best they can. Some of them get work on the wharf about one day out of five, while others are in semi-staryed condition. Living costs from 75c to q per day silver and they receive $2 per day in the same coin for work on the wharf Workmen. | mechanics. and clerks of all classes have been waiting on the Isthmus for months for the work to begin. I
  yinced that it would be many moons before the work would actually start. In the meantime the government will have house cleaning and prepare the way for future work"
 The little railroad running across the Isthmus, AZ miles long, pays more money to the mile than and other road in the world. The fare across is $S gold. but at one time 1t was s25 gold Freight of every description is shipped across the Isthmus by this road; lead and various kinds of ore and metal also find their way by this route. Eight, ten, and sometimes i5 trains a day each way are run carrying from 35 to 45 cars to the train.
 Twenty government engineers are now on the ground with outfits and it was reported just before I left that 40 more were enroute from the states. Nearly all of the work done by France has filled in again, in some places being hardly wide enough to admit small canoe. Evidence of graft is seen on every side. The United States government has not fully decided whether to build the canal to sea level, thereby making a i cut 260 feet deep and nine miles long, | or to make 90-foot lock of the same l length. The latter will cost $50 .000.- | 900 more than the latter one.
 The most plentiful thing in the country is money exchange. When l went there. it was 13 500, but they have succeeded in establishing a stationary at 12,000 for six months It costs sS0 for a drink. and nights lodging with supper and breakfast Is s2O0 The merchants, where Pana- ma currency is use. positively refuse to receive it in exchange for a pair of shoes, as it would take an extra room in which to keep their wealth. Right in Panama, of course, silver is in use to great extent.
 "A man can starve to death with American gold in parts of the country. The natives know little or nothing of the use of gold; they seem to know 1t is valuable, but 1t requires such a great amount of their cheap money | to change a five-dollar gold piece they do not care to bother with it."
 MT. Stewart has in his possession about $40 of Panama currency which cost him 40 cents gold. He is of the impression that when, the work begins it will attract a large crowd of workmen, people seeking invest ments and other classes and that the country will be overrrun.