The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1906-12-18

and so on and SO on. Many of them
have brought down their wives and
families; and the children when not
in school are running about and be-
having precisely as the American
small boy and small girl behave at
nome. The bachelors among the en-
ployees live, sometimes in small sep
arate houses, sometimes in large
houses; quarters being furnished free
to all the men,, married and unmar-
ried. Usually the bachelors sleep two
in a room, as they o do in this
! country. 1 found a few cases where
three were in a ROOM; and / was told
of, altlo / did not see, large rooms
in which four were sleeping; for 1t
is not possible in what is really a vast
J system of construction camps always
to provide in advance as ample house
room as the Commission intend lat
er to give. In n case, Wnere the
house was an old French house with
a leak in the roof, | did not think the
accommodations were good. But in
every other case among the scores
of houses / entered at random, the ac-
cOmmodatiOnS were goOu; every room
| was neat and clean, usually having
books, magazines, and small Orna-
ments; and in short just such a room
as a self-respecting craftsman would
be glad to live in at home. The quar-
tiers for the married people were even
better. Doubtless there must be here
and there a married couple who, with
or without reason, are not contended
with thei house on the IsthmuS; but
l never happened to strike such a
couple. The wives of the steam-shovel
men, engineers, machi1ists, and car
penters into whose houses l went, all
with one accord exprest their pleas
ure in their nome life and surround
ings. Indeed do not think they could
have done otherwise. The houses
themselves were excellent-bathroom
sitting room, piazza, and bedrooms be-
ing all that could be desired. In every
house which l happened to enter the
mistress of the home was evidently
a good American housewife and help
meet, who had given to the home life
that touch of attractiveness which, of
course, the bachelor quarters neither
had nor could ave
No Cause for Complaint About Food.
l came to the conclusion that,
speaking generally, there was no war
rant for complaint about the food.
Doubtless it grows monotonous after
awhile. Any man accustomed to han
ding large masses of men knows that
some Of them, even tho otherwise very
good men, are sure to grumble about
something, and usually about heir
food. Schoo1boys, college boys and
boarders in boarding houses rake
similar complaints; SO do soldiers
and sailors.
Moreover, l vas given to under
stand that n real cause of complaint
r-o- 4Ho& ~ fh@ Lo4~1- ~
liquor is served, andsome of the drink
ing men. therefore, refused to go to
them. The number of men using the
Government hotels is steadily increas
ing.
Chinese and Other Labor.
OF the nineteen or twenty thousand
day laborers employed On the canal,
a few hundred are S~paniards. These
do excellent work Their foremen told
me that they did twice as well as the
West India laborers. They keep health
ly n no difficulty is experienced with
them in n way. Some Italian lab
orers 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 high
ly 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 re-
suits that have come from their en-
ployment; and their numbers will be
increased as far as possible. 1t has
no. proved possible, however, to get
them in anything like the numbers
needed for the work, and from pres
ent appearances we shall in the main
have to rely, for the ordinary IN
skilled work, partly upon colored la
borers from the West Indies, partly
upon Chinese labor. 1t certainly ought
to be unnecessary to point out that
the American workingman in the I'm
tied States has no concern whatever
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 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 as possible
provided always that nothing is done
that is inhumane to any laborers, and
nothing that interferes with he
wages of Or overs the standard of
living of our own workmen. Having
in view this principle, I have arrang- |
ed to try several thousand Chinese
laborers. This is desirable both be-
cause we must try to find out what
laborers are most efficient, and, fur
tnermore, because we should not leave
ourselves at the mercy of any one
type of foreign abor. At present the
great bulk of the unskilled labor on