Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-12-17

married and unmarried.
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 excellent,
and all but two stated that there was
no complaint to be made; these two
complained that the prices were ex-
cessive as compared to the prices In
the States. On investigation did not
feel that this complaint WIS we'll
founded. The married men ate at
home. The unmarried men sometimes
ate at private clearinghouse, or pri
vate messes, but more often, Judging
by the answers of those whom ques-
toned, at the government canteens or
hotels where the meal costs 80 cents
to each employe. This 30-cent meal
struck me as being as good meal as
we get in the United States at the or
binary hotel in which a 50-cent meal
Is provided.
Chinese and Other, Labor.
OF the $4,000 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 In
dian laborers. They keep healthy and
no difficulty is experienced with them
In any way. Some Italian laborers are
also employed in connection with the
drilling. AS might be expected, 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 wageworkers on the isthmus
are the highly paid skilled mechanics
of the types mentioned previously. A
steady effort is being made to secure
Italians, and especially to procure
more Spaniards, because of the very
satisfactory results that have come
from their employment; and their
numbers will be increased as far as
possible. It has not proved possible,
however, to get them in anything like
the numbers needed for the work, and
from present appearances We shall in
the main have to rely, for the ordinary
unslilled work, partly upon the col
ored laborers from the West Indies,
partly upon Chinese labor. It certainly
ought to be unnecessary to point out
that the American workingman in the
United States has no concern what
ever In the question as to whether the
rough work on the isthmus, which is
performed by aliens in any event, is
done by aliens from one country with
black skin or by aliens from an:
other country with a yellow skin. Our
business is to dig the canal as eff
GENTLY and as quickly as !, possible:
provided always that nothing is done
that is inhumane to any laborers, and
nothing that interferes with the wages
or lowers the standard of living of our
own workmen. Having in view this,
principle, have arranged to try sew
eraI thousand Chinese laborers. This
Is desirable both because we must try
Ito find out what laborers are most
efficient, and, furthermore, because We
should not leave ourselves at the
mercy of any one type of foreign la
Dor. At present the great bulk of the
unskilled labor on the isthmus is done
by West Indian negroes chiefly from
Jamaica, Barbados and the other Eng
lish possessions. One of the, govern;
ors of the lands in question has shown
an unfriendly disposition to our work
and has thrown obstacles In the way
of our getting the labor needed and It.
| Is highly undesirable to give, any out
! siders the impression, however i'll
! founded, that they are indispensable
J and can dictate terms to us. =. S
t The West India Iaborers are fairly,
/ but only fairly, satisfactory. Some Of
the men do very well indeed; the bet
ter class, who are to be found as fore
men, as skilled mechanics, as police
men, are good men; and many Of the
ordinary day laborers are also good.
But thousands of those who are
brought over, under contract lat our
expense) go off into the jungle to live
or loaf around Colon, or work so badly
after the first three or four days as tic
cause a serious diminution of the
amount of labor performed on Friday
! and Saturday of each week.
/ The negroes generally do their own
! cooking In sheds provided by the gov
eminent, but believe that ultimatel.
i the government itself must feed them
4, a. Work of Construction. ".
have now dealt with the hygieni,
4 conditions which make it possible t,
employ a great force OF laborers. an.
with the task OF gathering, housinl
y and feeding these laborers. There re
( mains to consider the actual Worl
which has to be done; the work be
cause Of which these laborsrs are gath
cred together the work OF construct
Ing the canal. This Is under the d
Z rect control of the chief engineer, MI
i Stevens. who has already shown &C
mirabie results. and whom we ca,
safely trust to achieve similar result
4 IN the future,
The work is now going on with
I vigor and efficiency pleasant to wi
L ness The three big problems oil th
/ canal are the La Boca dams, the Gat,i
dam and the culebra cut The Gul,
1 IRA cut must he made anyhow. hit Z