Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-01-22
4 QUESTION or LlBoR

In his address before the Cincinnati
Chamber of Commerce. Chairman
Shonts of the Panama Canal commits
sion said that the character of the labor
employed on the isthmus is a chief fac
tor as to the time and cost of building
the canal. There is no insuperable diff
! fculty. he stated. from the engineering
point Of view, but the matter of getting
what will be considered in this country
! anything like an ordinary class of labor
/ is a serious problem. The employment
OF oriental labor is rendered difficult
because of the laws which hedge about
its use. lie explained that the effect
of these laws is practically TO make
orinetal labor prohibltive in the CON
struction of the canal. As to Italian
labor, experiment with it has not been
satisfactory the Italians quickly sue
cumbing to tropical fevers. The negroes
of the West Indies are indolent and
have not to exceed one-third of the eff
ficiency of ordinary labor in this coun-
try.
Chairman Shonts stated that arrange
| ments are being made to experiment
with labor from the north of Spain,
but it is not probable that if this labor
should prove to be satisfactorily eff
cient anywhere near enough of it can
he secured to supply the demand. As
to obtaining labor from the United
hn haH xx-biln tho
present prosperous conditions in this
country continue. Besides, laborers here
! fear the danger from disease on the 18TH
mus. 1t was thought that the govern
ment would be able to enlist in the canal
work a considerable number of the ne
groes of the south, but those people
are even more averse than the whites to
going to the isthmus. 1t has been APP
parent from the beginning of the under
| taking by this government that the Ia
Dor question would be the most diff
| cult TO deal with. The French company
had great deal of trouble of this kind
| and although the United States has
greatly improved conditions of living on
| the isthmus, so that the danger from
| disease there is comparatively slight
| and is also paying labor better than did
the French company, the labor problem
remains the most troublesome and per-
picking of any with which the commits
sion is at present confronted.
When the work is in full progress
there will be required between 10000
and 10000 laborers. Undoubtedly they
will be secured, but in order to get them
the government may have to offer
higher wages than it is now paying.
with other inducements. Chairman
Shonts thinks that the best that can he
done is to let out the work by contract,
advertise and secure the lowest bidder,
who will be nothing more or less than
an agent. HE will secure the labor,
deposit the money required by the gov
eminent Of the country from which the
laborer comes necessary to the support
of his family while he is away, and adj
vance the money for the necessary
transportation. All this is to be in
cluded in the cost of the labor delivered
on the isthmus in addition to the
agents remuneration, making it very
high priced" Perhaps this plan would
have the desired result but it is by no
means certain that It would prove en-
tirely successful. At all events, it seems
that it will have to be tried, since the
efforts Of the commission to obtain the
needed labor have been to a large ex
tent unavailing and there appears tc
be no prospect of better results from
further efforts on the part of the com
mission