The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-07
ID GUARD HEALTH OF ALL EMPL0YES Chairman Shonts Tells of Con-
 dition on lsthmus VERY FEW FEVER CASES Wages on the Whole Are Better Than Those Paid for Similar
 Work In the United
 States.
VERY FEW FEVER CASES

washington. July 6-Life on the isth- mus of Panama is to be made healthfuI. comfortable and enjoyable before the real work Of digging the canal is begun. &C., coroing to an announcement of policy made today by Chairman Shonts of the Panama canal commission. MT. Shonts said:
 our hrst duty is to create sound un- deriving conditions This Is now vastly more important than the moving of dirt. The men must have suitable houses in healthy surroundings; they must have suitable transportation facilities to get to and from their work .fld they must nave opportunity for recreation afforded them. It will be the policy of the com mission to- provide these essentials as quickly as possible and to increase the working force aside from the mechanics necessary to provide these necessities, only as fast as the facilities indicated can be furnished. The commission re- alizes that Its adherence to this policy will result in the actual handling of less quantities of material temporarily, but 1t also knows that with healthy un- deriving conditions vastly more will be accomplished later on at less cost and less friction.
 Will Give Actual Conditions.
 ''It will also be the invailable policy of the commission to give to the public the actual conditionsp as they exist on the isthmus without any attempt either to colQr or to conceal. So much has been said by the press of an exaggerated char acter about health conditions there that it may be wise to recapitulate the facts regarding yellow fever.
 There have been between 5000 and TO- 900 employees on the isthmus since the dis ease first appeared in May. During that month there were twenty canal employees stricken and two death. In June thirty canal employees were stricken and there were four death, two of these dying be- ing Americans appointed in the United States and two persons appointed locally on the isthmus. There were also three cases of fever among employees of the Panama railroad company and no deaths. During the month of July up to the pres ent there have been no new cases and there Is only one employe under treat ment.
 "As an evidence of the consideration the creation of health conditions is now receiving 1t may be well to state that 12Is per cent of the total number of employees are assigned to that work under Governor Magoon.
 Wages Are Good.
 'In regard to the wages paid and the 6 Sta atafn bau laft because of reduction in salaries, the fact that wages instead of having been re- duced have been very considerably in- creased in every branch of the service on the isthmus Curing the life of the pres ent commission It will be the fixed prac- tice of the commission as far as practical to fill the higher and more desirable po- sitlons by the promotion of deserving em- ployes. The entrants, or beginners salary for the clerical positions such as book keepers, stenographers. typewriters. etc., is $l500 year and for draftsmen from $l50O to $200O
 'The wages received from the outdoor railroad positions are from 10 to 25 per cent higher than those paid in the United States. switch engineers $125. helpers S75; track foremen ss3 to s100 and supervisors sl50 to s175 a month. All the mechanical tradesmen. such carpenters, black smiths, machinists, etc, receive 56 cents and hour. In addition all employees are furnished quarters or allowed 15 per cent in pay in lieu thereof and are given six weeks leave of absence a year on full pay "As to the amount of work actually done. complete reports have not been re- ceived as yet at this office, although the acting engineer cables the same have been sent. But in order to know exact ly what has been done and what the actual condition of the work now is the commission has sent two of its members to the isthmus to make a personal ex- animation of the ground and make a for nal report on their investigation. "A cablegram received from Governor Magoon today reports no additional cases of yellow fever and no deaths and only one case under treatment on the 18th | mus of Panama"