Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1906-12-18


iards thus brought over to work on
the canal has died Of disease, and he of
typhoid fever.
Care Of Employees
Next in Importance to the problem
Of sanitation, and indeed now Of equal
Importance, Is the problem Of securing
and caring for the mechanics, laborers
and other employees who actually do
the work on the canal and the rail-
road. This great task has been under
the control of Jackson Smith, and on
the whole has been well done. AT
present there are some 5000 white EN-
ployes and some 10000 colored en-
ployes on the isthmus. / went over
the different places where the different
kinds of employees were working; I
think I saw representatives Of every
type both at their work and in their
homes: and I conversed with probably
a couple of hundred of them all told,
choosing them at random from every
class and including those who came
especially to present certain grievances.
found that those who did not come
specifically to present grievances al
most invariably expressed far greater
content and satisfaction with the con-
ditions than did those who called to
make complaint.
Nearly 5000 of the white employees
had come from the United States. No
man can see these young, vigorous men
energetiCally doing their duty without
n thrill of pride In them as Americans.
They represent on the average a high
class. Doubtless to congress the wages
paid them will seem high, but as q
matter of fact the only general COM
plant which / found had any real
basis among the complaints made to
me upon the Isthmus was that, owing
to the peculiar surroundings. the cost
of living and the distance from home,
the wages were really not as high as
they should be. In fact, almost every
man l spoke to felt that he ought to be
receiving more money-a view, how
ever, which the average man who stays
at home i'm the United States probably
likewise holds as regards himself. I
append figures of the wages paid so
that the congress can judge the matter
for itself. Later / shall confer on the
subject with certain representative la
Dor men here in the United States, as
well as going over with Mr.. Stevens
the compartive wages paid on the zone
and at home; and [ may then commu-
nicate my findings to the canal COM
mittees of the two houses.
Quarters Good and Satisfactory
The white Americans are employed,
II,
majority in handling the great steam
shovels, as engineers and conductors
on the dirt trains, as machiniStS in the
great repair shops, as carpenters and
time keepers, superintendent and fore
men of divisions and of gangs, and so
on and SO on Many of them have
brought down their wives and families:
and the children when not in school
are running about and behaving pre-
cisely as the American small boy and
the small girl behave at home. The
bachelors among the employees live,
sometimes in small separate houses,
sometimes in large houses; quarters be-
ing furnished free to all the men, mar
ried and unmarried. Usually the.
bachelors sleep two in room, as they
would do in this country 1 found
few cases where three were in a room,
and / was told Of although 1 did not
see. large rooms in which four were
sleeping; for it is not possible in what
is really a vast system of construction
camps always to provide in advance as
ample house room as the commission
intends later to give. In one case,
where the house was an old French
house with leak in the roof, 1 did not
think the accommodations were good.
But in every other case among the
scores of houses I entered at random
the accommodations were good: every
=
ing books, magazines and small orna-,
ments; and in short just such a room
as a self-respecting craftsman would
be glad to live in at home. The quar-
ters for the married people were even
better. Doubtless there must be here
and there married couple, who, with
or without reason, are not contented
with their house on the Isthmus but
never happened to strike such a
couple. The wives of the steam shovel
men, engineers, machinists and car
penters into whose houses / went, all
with one accord expressed their pleas
ure in their home life and surround
ings. Indeed, do not think they could
have done otherwise. The houses
themselves We're eXcellent-bath room,
sitting room, piazza and bedrooms be-
ing all that could be desired In every
house which I happened to enter the
mistress of the home was evidently a
good American housewife and helpmeet,
who had given to the home life that
touch of attractiveness which, of
course, the bachelor quarters neither
had nor could have.
Chinese and Other Labor
OF the nineteen or twenty thousand
day laborers employed on the canal a
few hundred are Spaniards These do
excellent work. Their foremen told me
Indian laborers. They keep healthy
and no difficulty is experienced with
them in any way. Some Italian labor
ers are also employed in connection
with the drilling. AS might be expect
ed, with labor as high priced as at
present in the United States, it has not
so far proved practicable to get any
ordinary laborers from the United
States The American wage workers
on the Isthmus are the highly paid
skilled mechanics of the types mem
toned previously. A steady effort is
being made to secure Italians. and es-
pecially to procure more Spaniards, be-
cause of the very satisfactory results
that have come from their employment;
and their numbers will be increased as
far as possible. 1t has not proved pos
sible however, to get them in any
thing like the numbers needed for the
work, and from present appearances
we shall in the main have to rely for
the ordinary unskiled work partly
upon colored laborers from the West
Indies, partly upon Chinese labor. 1t
certainly ought to be unnecessary to
point out that the American working
man I'm the Tinted States has no con-