The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1906-12-21
tLbEkINh MD FRIDAY MORNING DECEMBER 2L Y6

and so on. Many of them have brought
down their wives and families, and the
children when not in school are run
nlng about and behaving precisely as
the American small boy and small girl
behave ut home. The bachelors among
the employees live smetimes in small
separate houses, sometimes in large
houses, quarters being furnished free
to all. married and unmarried. In one
case, where tie house was an old
French hou e with leak In the roof |
did not think the accommodations
were good. But in every other case
among the scores of houses | entered
at random TIE accommodations were
good. eve"y room was neat and clean.
usually having books. magazines and
/ small ornaments and. in short. lust
I such room as Il self respecting crafts
man would he glad to live in at home.
The quarters for the married people
We're even better. Doubtless there
must he here and there a married cou-
! pie who, with or without reason, are
not contcnted with their house on the
! iSthmuS, but | never happened to strike
such couple.
Food SuppIieS-A Thirty Cent Meal.
The housewives purchase their sup
/ plies directly or through their hus-
bands from the commissary stores of
! the commission. All to whom | spoke
agreed that the supplies were excel
! lent, and all but two stated that there
! was no complaint to be made. These
, two complained that the prices were
7 excessive as compared to prices in the
! states. On investigation | did not feel
! that this complaint was well founded.
! The married men ate at home. The I'M
married men sometimes ate at private
/ boarding houses or private messes, but
more often, Judging by the answers of
those whom | questioned, at the gov
/ eminent canteenS, or hotels, where
the meal costs 30 cents to each en-
ployee. This thirty cent meal struck
! me as being as good meal as we get
in the United States at the ordinary
hotel in which fifty cent meal is pro-
vided. | myself took dinner at the La
I Boca government hotel, no warning
whatever having been given of my
coming. There were two rooms, as
generally in these hotels. In one the
employees were allowed to dine with
out their coats, while in the other they
had to put them on. The thirty cent
/ meal included soup, native beef (Which
! was good, mashed potatoes, peas,
beets, chilli con carne, plum pudding.
tea. coffee, each man having as much of
each dish as he desired On the table
there was bottle of liquid quinine
tonic which two-thirds of the guests,
as | was informed, used every day.
There were neat tablecloths and nap
kins.
My meal was excellent, and two
newspaper correspondents who had
been on the isthmus several days in
formed me that it was precisely like
the meals they had been getting else
where at other government hotels
! No Cause For Complaint About Food.
came to the conclusion that, speak
ing generally, there was no warrant
for complaint about the food, though
doubtless it grows monotonous after
awhile. Grumbling about food is a
common trait everywhere. On this
very trip on one of the warships q sea
man came to complain to the second
watch officer about the quality of the
cocoa at the seamen's mess, saying that
it was not sweet enough. 1t was point
ed out to him that there was sugar on
the table and he could always put it
in, to which he responded that that
was the cooks business and not his! !
think that the complaint as to the food
on the isthmus has but little more
foundation than that of the sailor in
question.
Chinese and Other Labor.
OF the 10000 or 10000 day laborers
employed on the canal few hundred
are Spaniards. These do excellent
work. Their foremen told me that
they did twice as well as the West
India laborers Same 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 ordi-
nary laborers from the United States
The American wageworkers on the
isthmus are the highly paid skilled me-
chanics. A steady effort is being made
| IN Sacurn Italians and aSnpciallv t0
procure more Spaniards. 1t has not
proved possible, however, to get them
in anything like the numbers needed
for the work, and from present ap-
pearances we shall in the main have
to rely for the ordinary unskilled work
partly upon colOred laborers from the
West Indies, partly upon Chinese la
Dor 1t CERTAIN ought to be unneces-
Tary to point out that the American
workingman in the United States has
no concern whatever in the question
as to whether the rough work ON the
isthmus. which is performed by aliens
in any event, is done by aliens with
a black skin or by aliens with vel
low skin. Our business is to dig the
canal as efficiently and as quickly as
possible. provided always that nothing
is done that is inhumane to any labor
ers and nothing that interferes with
the wages of or lowers the standard Of
living of our own workmen. Having
in view this principle, l have arranged
to try several thousand Chinese labor