The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-01-21

prove useful TO look back over the
eighteen months of our activity; to
pause for a moment and take an OBJ
eTVat1on from a standpoint which is
neither that of an officehOlder nor of
an offlceseel1er, much less that of a dis
\ appointed contractor or invaided Ia
boreF
- have had abundant opportunity to
near the views of opposing witnesses,
out / have also been in a position to
examine on the spot many things which
nave SO far been conspicuous by their
absence in sO-called official and au-
Inor9tative reports.
me strictly engineering or technical
dl1lculties in the way of building the
canal have vanished, If they ever ex-
lsted- These difficulties are magnified
now and then at the instigatiOn of pow
erS who have other interests to serve
Inc canal should prove boon TO the
railways of this country no less than to
the community at large, and yet many
railways are credited with systematic
obstruction to the waterway for rea-
sons analogous to those which make
the proprietor of livery stable say
uncomplimentary things about chauf-
feurs.
We must also make allowance for a
generous amount Of professional jeal-
ouSy which induces one engineer to
speak sitghtingly Of competing col
league
The Culebra cut and the even more
dreaded Chagres river have nothing in
u1nstcaliy discOuraging to such Of our
many practical engineers as have had
10 do with analogous work in our own
country under conditions somewhat, but
not wholly, dissimilaT from those pre-
va1ling today at Panama. Today the
canal IS a feasible project, provided We
have the three cOnditions-MONEY,
LABOR. AIOAINISTR ALTON.
We have, fortunately for as, money
enough.
There is plenty of labor to be had for
the asking
The administration that Is reflected
IN our great railways and that chal-
lenges the admiration Of the world for
economy and efficiency is on all sides OF
Us waiting for call from Washington.
II II
On Nov. of this year the chairman
OF the isthmian canal commission, Mr.
shonts, made a speech. which was re-
ported in full in the CHEZ paper Of
Panama, and which bore all the dis
tlnSuishing marks of a statement pre-
pared by the official authority for the
purpose of warming the enthusiasm of
otherwise lukeWaTm shareholders
This gentleman. along with many in
similar positions. holds UP to public
ScoTn those who do not see things
through his official glasses. This meth
Oh has its merit up TO a certain point,
but not beyond
Certain officials treat our serious in
terests il pleasant, airy manner as
surfing Us one day that the Filipinos
are our mos loyal and happy subjects:
on the next day that our military or
ganizatioa is the most perfect in the
world; on the next that nothing can
Surpass the splendid work done on the
isthmus of Panama by self-sacrificing
pOl1tic1dnS-and other engineers.
This IS not saying that our luminarieS
round the White House would whiting
ly do q wrong.
But they have generated an atmos-
pheFe in Whlch the Ten commandments
walk z3S-where Elasticity of the
moral vertebrate seems to suggest bow
ing acQua ntanCe with kindred chronic
complaints a present affecting some of
my Christian fellOW-citizens who are
missionaries Of life insurance corpora
tons.
In the famous speech Of Chairman
ShontS is a strange sluT upon our col
ored feIlOW-cltiZens: Unless a much
greater efficiency can be developed
than can be developed at present we
shall have TO look elsewhere for our
labOri"
Does MI -Shonts know that all the.
labor al the tSthmus is negro? Must
we believe that negro labor is a failure
and in the one spot of all others where
1T should meet with the highest re-
gard?
On landing at Colon I started Tor a
stroll of inquiry and soon fell into con-
versation with a splendid specimen of
manhood, a negro such as would have
been recruited with pride into the
Tenth United States cavalry. He said
THAI he was trying TO get back to ia
q = Gir z
with difficulty. his system weakened by
n1alariOus fever.
Naturally I expressed surprise that
he should be returning to Jamaica
when the cry Of Colon was for negro
laborl He said he came here for work,
but had been deceived-he found the
place unfit TO live in; he found that the
wages which had been promised to
him, Sl.50 in gold, were paid in silver
equal to 10 cents; he found that these
wages were not paid punctually, but
after two weeks and sometimes more
He was well-dressed, self-respect-
Ing negro, and his words would have
impressed Mr.. Taft could he have
spared time for independent inquiry.
I asked him why he did not sail on
the morrow rather than wait five days
for a Leyland steamer; he answered
me that the next steamer was already
crowded with "deckers," and he could
not afford any but a deck passage, hav-
ing used up all his money by reason of
his fever And indeed the Jamaica ne
gro spoke truth-the steamer which
sailed next day took away 4e0 negroes,
Rll returning TO Jamaica in disgust.
Not long after this was in Jamaica
and spoke on this subject not only with
the governor, Sir Alexander Swetten-
ham, but also with the chief Justice. Sir
Fielding Clarke, both men of the first
rank in their respective spheres and
both competent witnesses. They both
confirmed what / had heard from dOz-
ems on the isthmus, and what is denied
by official authority in Washington,
namely, that the negroes are returning
from the canal in pOTtentOus numbers.
in spite of the fact that nominal wages
there are twice or three times higher
than in the adjacent British islands.
But the negro is a man who thinks
more of fair treatmen than wages.
The story of Jamaica I heard on good