The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1906-12-20
Care Of Employees.

teachers were taking in their work anc
their pupils
Care Of Employees.
Next in Importance to the problem OF
sanitation, and indeed now Of equal i'm
portance, is the problem Of securing and
caring for the mechanics, laborers and
other employees who actually do the work
on the canal and the railroad. This great
task has been under the control OF Mr.,
Jackson Smith, and on the whole has
been well done. At present there are
some 5000 white employees and some
$4,000 colored employees on the isthmus.
went over the different places where
the different kinds of employees were
working! / think | saw representatives
Of every type both at their work and IN
their homes; and conversed with prob
ably couple of hundred of them all
told choosing them at random from
every class and including those who came
| especially to present certain grievances
olmost invariably expressed far greater
content and satisfaction with the CON
ditionS than did those VINO called 10
| make complaint.
| Nearly 5000 of the white employees had
come from the United States. No man
can see these young, vigorous men
energetcally doing their duty without
thrill of pride in them as Americans.
They represent on the average a high
q
paid them will seem high, but as mat
ter of fact the only general complaint
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 hiN as they should be. In
fact, almost every man | spoke to felt
that he ought to be receiving more
money-a view, however, which the aver
age man who stays at home in the
United States probably likewise holds
as regards himself. l append figures of
the wages paid, so that the congress can
judge the matter for itself. Later | shall
confer on the subject with certain repre-
sentative labor men here in the United
States, as well as going over with Mr..
Stevens, the comparative wages paid on
the zone and at home; and ! may then
communicate my findings to the canal
committees of the two houses
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 foreman told me that
they did twice as well as the West
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 eX-
pected, 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 men
toned previously, A steady effort is
being made to secure Italians, and es-
pecially to procure more Spanards,
because of the very satisfactory re-
suits that have come from their en-
ployment and their numbers will be
Increased as far as possible. 1t 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 unskilled
work. partly upon colored laborers
from the West Indies, partly upon
Chinese labor. 1t certainly ought to
be unnecessary to point out that the