Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-15
How the Laborers on the Big
Panama Ditch Are Paid
Their Wages
A TRIP ON THE MONEY CAR
Picturesque Scenes Along the Line
When 10000 Silver Dollars are
Dumped Into the Jamaicans' Hats
Expert Chinese Money Counters
Often Employed.

All is not gold that iylitters on the
isthmus. Much of it is ''tin," or MEX"
as the handsome and heavy silver coins
the Panamanian government furnishes
the canal paymaster for laborers'
wages are called, says the Panama cor
respondent Of the New York Herald. 1t
would be just as acceptable by any
other name so long as Uncle Sam buys
the coin and stands behind 1t to the ex-
tent Of paying two Of the cart wheel
dollars for one Of the kind he uses at
home. He uses the smaller dollar In
Panama too when he pays his own
boys in the offices and all skilled white
laborers, and they to the number of
$500 are paid once month about
$25O,0OO in much the same manner as
government clerks are paid in Wash
ington. There are 1900 Of the labor
ers, who are paid 100000 "tin" a
month in fortnightly payments, and
the making thereof has many interest
ing features.
One day on the canal zone pay car
showed what child is the average
West Indian in spite Of his muscular
and rather ferocious appearance. Per
haps the belief that this is SO has much
to do with. the comfort Of the pay
clerks and the safety Of great piles Of
money periodically spread out in the
Jungle before crowds OF these infantile
giants. Not only their honesty, but the
seeming absence Of desire to steal on
the part of the native Panamanian was
demonstrated from tho very start Of
the paymaster with the bulky coin
from the administration building. 1t
was hardly daylight. Cashier Valid
rop's watch gave the hour as o'clock,
and he motioned for drivers of two
double mule trucks to back up to the
curb.
Sixty thousand dollars were ready
for carting to the Panama railroad
station to be put on the pay car for the
'silver men" working at Cristobal,
Gatun, Bohio. Tabernila and San Pa
bio. One Of the three Jamaican zone
policemen went inside to watch the ne
gro boys bring out the bags Of coin,
and the others stood by while the bags
were put on the wagons. A crowd Of
early morning idlers gathered around
and seemed to enjoy hearing the coin
rattle as the bags were thrown down.
The cashier cried 'Sixtyv which
meant that the 100000 had been load
ed and he was ready to start. A po-
liceman got OH each truck, the mules
were whipped up, and the wagons, fol-
lowed by the cashier and the CORE
spondent in one cab and Pay Clerks
Embry, Page and Deveyrie in another,
were soon at the station.
There it was evident that some one
connected with the Panama railroad
had Numbered: The pay car which
should have been in Panama was at
Colon, the other end Of the road. After
some delay, during which the $50, 900 In
coin was on the trucks in the street, 1t
was decided to put the money in the
baggage car of the o'clock train and
transfer it to the pay car at Colon,
where payments would begin instead
of at San Pablo.
Weren't you afraid somebody might
run of with one Of those bags while
they We're standing around in the
street," the correspondent asked the
cashier after the train got under way.
"Not q bit" he replied, with a laugh,
f"but counted them every time they
were moved just the same. Each bag
contains $1,000. It is true, but it
weighs sixty pounds. Silver, you see,
has its advantages. Nobody is going
to carry $1,000 very far without get
ting caught. But there Is not the
slightest danger of losing dollar, not
II bag should break. The crowd
would pick up the coin and hand it in.
If there was raid it would take lot
Of men to carry off the 5000 pounds Of
money, nearly two tons. and then they
would have only $4,000 in our money.
don't take chances, but think these
are the most honest people ever saw"
Chief of Police Stanton agrees to
this, but he thinks the terr0rs of the
jungle and the watch kept on the two
ports has more effect on the morals Of
the zone than early teaching. A bank
er in Panama overheard one big fellow
say to another in the bank the other
day as they observed the low, exposed
counters loaded with gold and silver
coin, "Say, Bill, if we had this in
Cheyenne we wouldn't do q thing to it,
would WEI" "4Ah, what's the useY
replied the other disgustedly. You
can't lug it off the blooming strip"
At a little after II o'clock the pay
car, with TIE coin aboard, was run on
a siding at Cristo.al and three lines Of
laborcrS faced the doors on its side.
Thnsn doors gre in mfrs the men