Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-17

storekeeper Doubtless there must be many
complaints against Americans; but thos@
to whom I spoke did not happen to make
any such complaint to me- There was M
complaint of the housing; / saw but ond
set of quarters for colored laborers which,
| thought poor, and this was in an old
French house. The barracks for unmarried
men are roomy, well ventilated and clean,
with canvas hunks for each man. and a
kind of false attic at the top, where the
trunks and other belongings of the differ
ent men are kept. The clothes are hung on
clotheslines, nothing being allowed to bd
kept on the floor. In each of these big
rooms there were tables and lamps. and
usually a few books or papers, and in al
most every room there was a Bible; the
books being the property Of the laborerS
themselves. The cleanliness of the quartera
is secured by daily inspection. The quar-!
tiers for the married negro laborers were
good They were neatly kept, and in all
most every case the men living in them,
whose wives or daughters did the cooking
for them. were far better satisfied and OF q
higher grade than the ordinary bachelor
negroes Not only were the quarters in
which these negro laborers were living
much superior to those in which i am in-
formed they live at home, but they were
much superior to the huts to be seen IN tho
jungles of Panama itself. beside the railJ
road tracks; in which the lower class Oh
native PanamanS live, as well as the negro
workmen when they leave the employ of
the canal and go into the jungles. single
glance at the two sets of buildings is
point of comfort, cleanliness and healthful-
ness of the government houses compared
with the native houses.
Negroes Do Their Own Cooking.
The negroes generally do their own cook
ing the bachelors cooking in sheds pro-
vded by the government and using their
own pots. In the different camps there
was wide variation in the character of
these cooking sheds. In some where the
camps were completed, the kitchen or cook
ing sheds. as well the bath rooms and
water closets, were all in excellent trim,
while there were board sidewalks leading
from building to building. In other camps
the kitchens cook sheds had not been
floored. and the sidewalks had not been
put down, while in camp the bath
houses were not yet up. In each case,
however, every effort being made to
hurry on the construction. and l do not
believe that the delays had been greater
than were inevitable in such work the
laborers are accustomed to do their own
cooking but there much complaint,
especially among the bachelors, as to the
quantity, and some as to the quality. of
the food they got from the commissary de-
partment, especially as regards vans On
the other hand, the married men and their
wives. and the more advanced among the
bachelors, almost Z invariably expressed
themselves as entirely satisfied with their
treatment at the commissary stores; ex-
cept that they stated that they generally
could not get yams there. and had to pur-
chase them outside. The chief complaint
unavoidable that the prices should be
higher than in their own homes and after
careful investigation / came to the con-
clusion that the chief trouble lay in the
fact that the yams. plantains, and the like
are rather perishable food and are very