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

called thoroughfare of Colon.
AT present writing there is not sin
gle drainage canal made at Colon-the
very first need Of a swampy communi-
". The dredge which I saw stuck in
the mud was also turned the wrong
way; but that is a detail, save as it in
dicates the presence of political or am
ateur engineers.
first-ciass machine man (white)
came here ten days ago and was put
to work at 800 (goldl a month in the
Culebra cut Soon afterward a fiabby
young man was brought UP TO him and
introduced as his future chief! 1t soon
transpired that said habby young man
had never had any practical expert
ence whatever-had come down here
with political protection and had been
given a job as engineering inspector at
a salary $50 larger than that of the
thoroughly trained man first men
toned.
But does this young gentleman know
nothing Of the jOb2" asked my friend
in amazement.
'fWeIl. no. We expect you will teach
him!" was the answer Of the engineer
ing chief.
Ny friend laid down his tools and
handed in his resignation, and is now
working for a private company at dou
bic his previous salary.
One day 1 stopped to chat with
| Well-dressed, intelligent and energetic
negro who was managing a gang of
fellow Africans in a street near the
American pOstOfice. They were dig
! ging up the street. He was encourag-
ing his men, and they answered him
cheerily. They obviously liked him,
and worked we'll under him. He wore
clean collar, a black Derby hat and
good suit of clothes-an educated and
prosperous sample of his race. He told
me that he had been here seven months
from Jamaica, and was doing his best
to deserve promotion. The cost of liv-
ing was high and the wages not as
/ much as had been originally promised,
but his main grievance was that as a
| man of color he received no encourage
ment FOR his work; no one seemed to
| care whether he got good work out Of
his men or nOt-all the white men
about him were trying to see how little
| they could do, each for himself.
/ Next day | came to the same place
for another chat. He was not there. A
white man wanted his job and had got
! it, That white man was sitting on the
cUTbstone, looking more like a worth
less tramp than a foreman. His head
had sunk between his knees and he
was in a comfortable doze The gang
Of negroes had also lost all interest in
! their work and were listlessly seeking
/ called foreman.
At present the work at Panama re-
Sembles an army of recruits without
any commander, or rather with a dozen
ones, who spend their time I'm COM
! handing and cOuntermanding. Our
/ Panama patriots are kept busy in find
! ing occupation for young men with DO
| litical affiliations who amuse them
selves by playing the doctor and the
/ engineer. the foreman, the inspector,
the general boss.
Y
/ While we IN Colon are compelled to
live in a swamp, each incoming vessel
is boarding by two young medical men,
| who do their best to delay commercial
! intercourse by insisting upon a series
of alleged tests regarding the health of
passengers, obliVious of the patent fact
that any one arriving I'm good health Is
pretty sure to be down with some form
of disease within a few hours-thanks
| to local conditions
| Shortly before my arrival there en-
| tered Colon shipload of colored pas
sengers from the French West Indies
| They were forbidden to land unless vac
| Cinated. The doctors would not permit
/ their being Vaccinated otherwise than
on their arms, where the scar would
! interfere with their manual labor for
/ a week or more. These negroes there
| fore refused to land.
| They were still further discouraged
! regarding Panama when they were told
/ that they would have to live in a
| swamp and that their wages would be
| paid, not in gold. but in silver. The
| agents of the company refused to take
! them back-ordered them to leave the
! ship. They. protested that they had
/ been cOaxed to this port under false
! pretences and therefore insisted upon
} their right to go back. The French con-
/ sui came at the instance of the COM
! pany and also failed in his efforts TO
! induce his fellow Frenchmen to disem-
! bark into this unbiblicaI pool. The
/ company cut off their supply Of food
| for twelve hours. But even this did not
! break the spirit of these citizens Of the
| French republic, Finally brute force
! was invoked, The police was turned in
| on them with clubs. Many were
/ maimed-and finally all were turned
adrift into the swamp-a fate little bet
/ ter than death.
! This outrage upon human nature has
made deep impression throughout the
! West Indies.
| At CorOzal, three miles from Pan
anna, was taken by an official of the
canal company to see a magnificent no.
tel erected by our government 1t was
| a splendid edifice and cost, of course
! a corresponding sum of money. But it
| was deserted.
! Our political architect, builder, san
/ itary inspector and engineer had placed
| this hotel IN a depression of land which
! became a lake, or, rather, vast hog
| wallow, when ii rained. and conse-
/ quently II was a breeding ground for
! pestilence.
! Why did he build here? This land
| has been known intimately for at least
| fifty years The isthmus has been a
! highway of travel since the days of
| Charles Y.
Yet In this year 1905 an engineer rep
| resenting the most practical nation on
earth locates in a we'll known swamp
| a hotel intended 10 protect our en-
| ployes from the alleged deadly climate
/ of Colon or Panama.
This is merely a sample. At Panama
I had a talk with an American engineer
representing the most important cleo
| trio company in America He had been
| many months on the iSthmus.
! He told me that the big new dredges
/ at the Cuipbga cIIt did not do % nor