Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-04-17
BIBLES AND PLAYING CARDS
Important Items of the Supplies for
Workers on the Panama
Canal.

DSNCh-up, auNlfOh Pitths ooihO Va
any other game of cards dear to the
heart of the soldier of fortune, pro-
vided he be in the employ of the gov
eminent, may be played at the eX-
pense of Uncle Sam, who has laid in
a large supply of playing cards and
Bibles for the use of the men who will
construct the big ditch. The Bibles will
probably be used by the leaders of the
Sunday services to be held in the canal
zone, while the playing cards will be
I utilized as one form of those amuse-
ments of which the commission speaks
as so essential TO the maintenance of
contentment and discipline among the
men suffering from the enervating eli
mate of the tropics.
1t appears from the press dispatches
that Miss Shonts, a sister of the chair
man of the commission, intends to
urge a temperance crusade on the
isthmus and she will probably now be
reinforced by the followers of the
various anti-vice societies SO soon rs
they discover that playing cards have
been purchased with Uncle Sans
money for the edifcation of his work
men.
Among other interesting stores that
have been laid may be mentioned 4
number of guinea pigs and a large col
lection of white mice. which are to be
used for experimental purposes by the
surgeons in their search for microbes.
germs and other things of that sort. In
anticipation of the possible needs Of
the medical division of the canal staff.
these purchases have provided for a col
lection of wooden legs of assorted sizes.
The extensive purchases for the canal
have been completed for the present.
although acquisitions for material arc
being constantly received, but chiefly
for small lots of miscellaneous supplies.
The commission has purchased or or
dered $4,000 pounds of blasting pow
der and 617 800 pounds of dynamite to
be used in removing rocks on the line
of the canal. Thirty million feet of
lumber has been purchased. about 49,
900, 900 feet coming from the Pacific
coast. The paving of the city of Pan
anna has required the purchase of 1900
900 paving brick, whilo $500, 600 brick
are to be used in the construction of
buildings and quarters for the work.
men.
Besides the engines used by the Pana-
ma railroad. 100 locomotives have been
bought for ~excavating work: also 1900
fiat cars and several hundred dump cars.
The fiat cars are uses for excavating,
and are unloaded by rapid machines,
which scrape the earth from a whole
train in short order. Spreaders are then
used to remove the earth from the rail-
road track, upon which the cars are
operated. To build these e~Xcavating
lines 5000 tons of steel rails and 1854 900
cross ties, upon which the rails will be
laid, have been bought.
The subcommittee of the board OF
consulting engineers were in session all
Of the day recently and made such head
way that they expect to be able to sub
nit a tentative report bearing upon the
whole proposition at the meeting of the
full board next Tuesday. The figures
with which these committees have dealt
in their consideration of the canal
problem have been almost staggering
to the layman.
If the lock system is adopted. as seems
almost certain, these figures show that
the series of locks required to lift ships
up to the highest level in the Culebra cut
will be made up of compartments aggre-
a,.;,o, Hoo, 4u,n tl;rJ, @f , milo i'm
length, and each lock 300 feet in width
The pressure on locks of such huge d.
mansions would be something enor-
nous. One set of gates would be 80 ieet
high and $50 feet broad, and welsh
800, 900 pounds. The board estimates
that it would require at least seven
years time to construct these LUCAS
alone.