The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1906-12-28
|NESE LABOR MAY
DIG panama CANAL
COMMISSION REPORTS OFFER OF
$500 COOLIES AT Low
RATE.
Whites Most Efficient as They Stand
Climate Best-Negroes Unsatisfac-
tory Because They Work Awhile
and Then Loaf.


Washington, Dec. 21.-The report of
the isthmian canal commission, sent
to congress by President Roosevelt
Thursday, contains this statement:
"On August 20, 1906, the commits
sion issued invitations for proposals
to furnish $500 Chinese laborers for
work upon the canal for a period Of
not less than two years, with the priv
ilege OF increasing the number to 15,-
600. Four bids were presented, Of
which the only two accepting the
commissions terms were also the low.
est. These bids agreed to furnish the
laborers for from 8 to IL cents per
hour, dependent upon the number ac-
tually employed. The selection Of the
bidder has not yet been made.
Negro Laborers Unsatisfactory.
Another years experience with
negro laborers from nearby tropical
islands and countries has convinced
the commission of the impossibility of
doing satisfactory work with them"
says the report. Not only do they
seem to be disqualified by lack of
actual vitality, but their disposition
to labor seems to be as frail as their
bodily strength. Few of them are
steady workers. The majority of them
work just long enough to get money
to supply their actual bodily necessi.
ties, with the result that while the
commission is quartering and caring
for about $4,000 men, the daily effec-
tive force is many thousands less.
Many of them settle in the jungle,
building little shacks, raising enough
to keep them alive, and working only
day or two occasionally as they
see fit. In this way, by getting away
from the commissions quarters, prac-
teal control over them is lost, and it
becomes very difficult for foremen to
calculate on keeping their gangs
filed
1.-THE most serious question in re-
gard to this class of laborers is that
of feeding them, ordinary methods
having failed to induce them to take
sufficient nourishment to give them
the physical strength necessary to en-
able them to work efficiently. To
such an extent is this true that the
commission is seriously debating
whether to make the basis of en-
ployment certain rate per hour and
board, or certain rate per hour, and
deduct a certain fixed amount per
day for board.
"White Men Much Better"
"The experiment with laborers from
northern Spain has proved very sat-
isfactory. Their efficiency is not only
more than double that of the negroes,
but they stand the climate much bet
ter. Since January there have been
about 900 of these at work on the
canal, and of this number not one has
died from disease. They have malaria
in about the same degree as the white
Americans, but not at all to the ex-
tent that the negroes have it, and
there has not been single case of
yellow fever among them.
Their general condition is about as
good as it was in their homes in
Spain, and they stand the climate very
much better than the negroes. The
chief engineer is convinced by the ex-
pertinent that any white man, so
called, under the same conditions, will
stand the climate on the isthmus very
much better than the blacks, who are
supposed to be immune from practi.
cally everything, but who, as mat
ter of fact, are subject to almost
everything
A summary of the other points in
the report are as follows:
Great progress has been made in
housing and providing comforts and
recreation for employees. Fourteen
good hotels are maintained by the
government.
Health is excellent; no deaths from
disease among 5000 Americans in
three months.
Twenty-Five thousand persons en-
ployed; 1852 accepted out of 4,S09
from the United States, who were Of
fered positions during the year.
Excavation work broke all records.
Bids for construction work by con-
tract will be opened January ~.
Dredging done at cost of S.9 cents
a cubic yard
The report is signed by Theodore
F. Shonts, chairman of the commits
sion; Charles F. Magoon, governor
of the canal zone, and John F. Stew
ans chief engineer of the commits