New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-11

thirty feet day. that 1t will be completed at the
end of the dry season. He reports however, that
IL VIII De 1mpracticable to undertake permanent
domestic or house sewer system for Colon until
the commencement of the permanent improvement
of the city. He further reports that model quar-
ters fer the negro laborers in Colon with concrete
floors and shower baths, rapidly approaching
completion
FOOD AND WATER SUPPLY
The government is charged with Indifference as
to the food supply of the laborers The mere as
sertion that in market house visited by the writer
there not shown in the preservation OF
meats and OF other articles of food therein exhib-
tied for sale is made the basis for general
ization that the government is Indifferent to the
food furnished to it's employees The slightest ex-
animation by any anxious to find the truth
would have shown the elaborate, anxious and most
careful preparation for the receipt of meats and
other foods. their proper preservation and their
being furnished at reasonable prices to the en-
ployes of the railroad company and of the canal.
The writer OF this article makes the following
statement:
Mr. Taft promised officially that by December /
Colon would have splendid water supply There
is to-day water supply in Colon. Mr.. Taft does
injustice to his countrymen by treating fppantly
questions involving human life by the thousands
We all children or fools. We do not need
reports which read like the circulars of doubtful
land companies
In the first place. I have no recollection of MAX
ing any official statement to when water would
be furnished for Colon All that have said was in
my annual report, under date OF December 8, 1905
and in address at st. Louis on November IS
1905. that reservoirs being constructed for
Colon. together with a water pipe system The
writer says that there is water supply at Colon
Mr.. Stevens says there is. 1t should be borne In
mind that Colon and Cristobal. although is in
the canal and the other is in the republic of
Panama, are parts of the settlement and that
Cristobal is not five minutes walk from the centre
of Colon. In dispatch from Governor Magoon
on January. s. 1906, l advised that Of the two
temporary reservoirs for Colon and Cristobal
supply completed November l and the
other in the latter part of December: that the
total capacity is that of S0.000.000 gallons. amply
sufficient for the present dry season; that 900 feet
OF permanent mains have already been laid and
that the remaining 1900 feet being laid at the
rate of four hundred to five hundred feet daily:
that there six tanks. with total capacity of
5000 gallons. held in Cristobal in case
OF accident that complete permanent distribution
system will be completed by May l; that the pres
ent Panama Railroad water system, which is
furnishing water for Colon from a reservoir
Brazos Brook, will be connected with the perma-
feed mains before January 10, and free public
distribution stations will opened then, supplying
all of Colon: that the Colon people secur
ing water from tanks. as in years past, and from
the public hydrants in Crstobal, and that perma-
nent water mains, including fire service. will be
completed on the principal streets in Colon by the
end dry season. April 15 supplying the entire
city; that there is no scarcity of water in Colon;
that permanent reservoir capacity of 500O00000
gallons is under construction, with two permanent
standpipes one of 100000 and the other of 10000
gallons capacity, under contract to be completed
by April l.
Complaint is made of the rents in Colon 1t is
quite possible that the rents in Colon high.
The railroad company owns the fee of large part
of the lands in Colon which are let on short leases
a system adopted before the government took
charge of the canal and railroad property. This
has resulted in the construction by mddlemen OF
very poor houses and the letting of them at ad-
vanced rents. A plan has been approved by
the commission for the renting of such railway
property as can be safely leased terms of years
sufficiently long permit the erection of permanent
structures
TREATMENT OF NEGROES.
The next class of charges is concerning the treat
ment of the negroes. The first accusation is that
negroes have been invited to the isthmus by
statement that they would receive 81 so gold where
when they brought the isthmus they
paid, not 81 so gold, but 70 cents gold. This
charge is made the authority of negro whom
the writer of the article met in the street. We do
not know his name and it does not appear that the
writer of the article knew his name or anything
about him, except that he negro well dressed.
The answer TO the charge is that it is not
that the rates of wages well advertised through
out the islands of the West Indies 10 cents gold
hour for day of eight hours which may be
increased by diigent work to 10 cents hour and
other statement is authorized made.
It is said that great prejudice exists against
groes in the railroad management, and that ii is
exerted against them to their harm in every way
possible. The this is that the charge is
true, as Mr.. Stevens testifes. and any one who
has been the isthmus with UMPIRE JUDGED eye
and ear will corroborate him in this statement.
The writer of the article renews a charge, long
ago completely refuted, of the mistreatment of
certain boatload of Martinique negroes, who were
brought to the isthmus. and who required to
be vaccinated upon landing. They declined to land
if they were to be vacctnated. They therefore
refused the right to land by the quarantine
thorities. Thereupon the owners of the ship de
manded the fare back to the place from where
they had come which the unable to pay
or refused to pay. The captain of the ship then
demanded that they be taken of the ship which
they had right further TO occupy. This done.
they were vaccinated and then they were received
as employees by the Canal Commission. The official
report of this transaction. including that of
French Consul. who investigated the matter, is
appended hereto
It is said that the negroes are leaving the 18TH
mus in portentous numbers because of mistreat-
ment. AS a matter of fact, Mr.. Stevens testif1es
that just before the holidays great number of
laborers returned to the islands whence they came.
This has been the custom ever since the beginning
OF the French construction. Many of the laborers
leave their families, and because transportation is
cheap are able to go back and then return. If any
such desertion the sthmus by the laborers was
at hand there certainly would be other evil
dence than the unsupported testimony of the writer
Of this article. AS a matter of fact ii has been
possible TO bring the number the payroll up
1909 iaborers, and TO maintain that number.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
Finally the writer of the article charges that the
administration justice in the zone is antf-negro
oppressive and ridiculous He bases his charge on
accounts of two trials given him by two laymen
without any investigation himself, without inter