Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-07-21
PANAMA CANAL WORK
Situation on Isthmus as Viewed
 by T. P. Shonts.
SAYS WATERWAY WILL BE BUILT

SAYS WATERWAY WILL BE BUILT
 There Need Be No Apprehension Re-
 garding Ultimate Success of Ameri-
 can Plans-Relates Progress In Sam
 itary Work-Better Quarters to Be
 Provided and Food Improved.
 There need be no apprehension on the part of the American people re garding the building of the Panama canal, because the canal will be built, and there are no newly discovered ob- stacles,'' said T. P. Shonts, chairman of the Panama canal commission, as he whirled from his desk to face a Washington correspondent of the New York Herald.
 You realize, of course. that there has recently been a growing feeling of pessimism regarding the outlook for bringing the work to successful con clusion:" the correspondent ventured.
 Of course I do" was the quick re- ply. and that is one of the matters with which the commission is just now concerning itself. We have nothing to conceal because this is great govern ment work We believe the public to be entitled 10 all information about the progress of the construction of the canal. Shat is why Judge Magoon down on the isthmus IS cabling us each day the exact sanitary situation there and that is why we are giving his dispatches to the press exactly as he sends tbem.'
 Tn what way is the commission concerning itself with the recent dis play of skepticism on the part of a portion of the public regarding canal prospects"
 Tn the first place, we are seeking to mend matters on the isthmus so far as our employees are concerned. In say ing this l do not mean in sanitary way. although everything is being pushed in that regard. l will speak about that later. but just now we are doing several things that will have their effect soon. When the work was started think we overlooked other things that were almost of as much ] importance I don't think we quite ! got ready for the work we had in hand before plunging into it.
 | Now. first, I will speak of the feel
 ing that has been growing that it is ' impossible for an American to live on the isthmus. that conditions are in a horrible state and that the work ought 1 to be abandoned. All these things We hear and they come from various sec ! tions of the country. This is traceable
 almost entirely to returned employees ! who have come back dissatisfied.
 great many persons have been em'
 ployed by the commission and have
 gone to the isthmus who should not have been sent there at all.
 They are for the most part men ut terly united to perform any feature { of the work down there, who are moi used to the discomforts of a HQpica
 cline and who are not prepared 10 un
 dergo the hardships of work in the
 field. Most of them are young men i who have been described by one of our officials as mammals boys They went
 to the isthmus thinking it was a sort i of holiday trip or picnic and that
 they were to have little work and good l pay. Others who have gone down 1 there went with the best intentions in
 the world and if they had been proper ! ly handled would probably still be
 there. contented and doing good work
 But when they got 10 Colon there was
 no one to meet them: they were allow
 ed to wander around and shift foT i themselves. became homesick tbe first day and soon returned to the United
 States to roast the canal project. Nearly all the persons who returned | from the isthmus for months declared
 in the press that they had been de ] ceived as to conditions there and had
 been bunkoed by the commission. They
 said alluring prospects had been held 1 out 10 them and that they found that all representations had been false. II ' took us a long time to run down the source of this transformation. The | commission had certainly held out nc
 inducements for persons to go to Colon ! that were not fully borne out by condi | tions there But finally we located ii. ' The enticing advertisements were con. 1 tained in literature sent out by the civil I service commission. This matter had been distributed with the best inten
 tions in inc world. but there was a | back kick 10 il which has done our ef.
 forts to get the right sort of human
 material on the isthmus a serious in l jury.
 Then other mistakes had been
 made. In dispoSing of the men who
 had passed examination and had been
 sent down the right sort of employ.
 ment had not been allotted recall one instance of 2 man who had passed examination as 2 boilermsker. He
 was no doubt very good boilermaker | When he got io the isthmus he was | put to work as msehinist He was
 found not 10 be quite satisfactory as
 a machinist and eventually was dis { charged. We did not hear of this un- ! til the man had got back to the United ' States and came around tO the head { quarters of the commission to find out ] what sort of business men ve were
 anyway.
 There was snotber ease of man