The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1906-12-21

American wOrkin STAn In the United
States has no concern whatever III the
question as to whether the rough work
on the isthmus. which is performed by
aliens i'm any event, is done BY aliens
from one country with a black skin
or by aliens from another country
with a yellow skin. our business is
to dig the canal as efficiently and as
quickly rs possible: provided always
that nothing is done that is inhumane
to any labOrerS. and nothing that in
terferes with the wages of or lowers
the standard of living Of our own
| workmen Having in view this prin-
! ciple | have arranged TO try several
| thousand Chinese lahOrers. This is Ge-
| sirable both because we must try to
! find out what labOrerS are most eff
! aient. and. furthermore. because We
! should not leave ourselves at the
! mercy of any one type OF foreign
! labor. At present the great bulk OF
| the unSkilled labor on the isthmuS is
| done by West India negroes. chiefly
! from Jamaica. Barbados, and the other
| English possessions One Of the gov
! crnors OF the lands in question has
| shown an unfriedly disposition 10 our
! work and has thrown obstacles in the
way of our getting the labor needed;
| and u ia highly undesirable to give
| any outsiders the impression, however
! i'll founded. that they are indiSpensa-
! hlr and can dictate terms to us.
The West India laborers are fairly.
! nut only fairly, satisfactory. Some of
| the men do very well indeed; the bet
! ter class. who are to be found as fore
! men, rs skilled mechanics. as police
! men, are good men: and many of the
! ordinary Aav rahnrsrS are ala" good
! But thousands of those who are
| brought over under contract (at our
| eNpense) go off into the jungle to live
! or loaf around Colon. or work 50 bad
| " aftnr the first thrnn four DAYS
| "a ,tt,,,s ion, Of
the amount Of labor performed on Fri
| day and Saturday Of each week. |
| questioned many of these Jamaica
| labOrerS rs to the conditions of their
| work and what, 4 any changes, they
| wished I received many complaints
| from them, but as regards most Of
these complaints they themselves con-
| tradiCted one another. In all cases
! where the complaint was as TO their
treatment by any individual it proved
on examination that this individual
was himself West India man of color,
| either policeman stOrekeeper, or
| an assistant StOrekeeper. Doubtless
there must be many complaints against
! Americans: but those to whom / spoke
| did not happen to make any such com
| plant to me.
Work Of Construction.
The work is now going on with a
| vigOT and efficiency pleasant to wit
ness. The three big problems OF the
canal are the La Boca dams, the Gatun
| DAM and the Culebra cut. The Guile
bra cut must be made, anyhow; but
| of course changes as to the dams or
at least as TO the locks adjacent to
the dams, may stln occur The La
BOCa dams offer no particular prob
| lem, the bottom material being so
good that there is practical certain
~, not merely as to what can be
achieved. hut as to the time of achieve
ment. The Gatun dam offers the most
serious problem which we have to
solve; and yet the ablest men on the
| isthmuS believe that this problem is
proposed; although. of course it ne
CessitateS great toll energy. and in
telligcDce, and although equally, Of
course. there will be some little risk
in connection with the work. The risk
arises from the fact that some of the
material near the bottom is not so
good as could be desired. II the huge
earth dam now contemplated is thrown
across from one fOothill to the other
we will have what is practically a
low, broad. mountain ridge behind
| which will rise the inland lake. This
artificial mountain will probably show
less Seepage, that is. will have greater
restraining capacity than the average
natural mountain range. The exact To-
cality of the locks at this dam-as at
termined. In April next Secretary
Taft, with three of the ablest engin-
GERS of the country-MeSsrS. Noble
Stearns and Ripley-will visit the
isthmuS. and the three engineers will
make the final and conclusive exami-
nations as to the exact site for each
lock. Meanwhile the work is going
ahead without break.
| The Culebra cut does not offer such
great risks; that is. the damage liable to
occur from occasional land slips will net
represent what may be called major dis.
asters. The work will merely call for In
telligence, perseverance, and executive
capacity. 1t is, however, the work upon
which most labor will have to be spent
The dams will be composed of the earth
taken out of the cut and very possibly
the building of the locks and dams will
take even longer than the cutting In
Culebra itself.
In cuIebra Cut.
The main work is now being done In
the Culebra cut 1t was striking and
impressive to see the huge steam shovels
in full play, the dumping trains carrying
away the rock and earth they dislodged
The implements of French eXcavating
way from the line of work, though of ex.
celent construction, look like the veriesi
toys when compared with these new
steam shovels, just as the French dump,
| ing cars seem ike Toy cars Wnen COM
pared with the long trains of huge cars
dumped by steam plows, which are now
in use. This represents the enormous
advance that has been made in machin'
cry during the past quarter of CEN
fury. No doubt quarter of century
hence this new machinery, of which we
are now so proud, will similarly seem OIL,
of date, but 1t is certainly serving its
purpose we'll now. The old French cars
had to be entirely discarded. We still
have in use few Of the more modern
but not most modern. cars. which hold
but II yards of earth, They can be EN-
plQyed on certain lines with SHARP
curves But the recent cars hold from
Is to 80 yards apiece, and instead of the
old clumsy methods Of unloading them
a steam plow Is drawn from end to enc
Of the whole vestibuled train, thus i'm
mensely economizing labor. In the rainy
reason the steam shovels can do but
little In dirt. but they work steadily II
rock and In the harder ground. There
were some rs at work during the time
was on the isthmus, and their tremendou:
power and efficiency were most impress
sive.
New Records for Excavation.
AS soon as the type Of canal was de-
cided this work began in good earnest
The rainy season will shortly be over anC
then there will be an immense increase IL
the amount taken out; but even durins
the last three months, in the rainy sea
son, steady progress Is shown by thu
figures: In August $4,000 cubic yards
in September, 29l,000 cubic yards, and II
October. $4,000 cubic yards. In October
new records were established for thu
% I'LL t.,sI 4 Il