Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-06-22
NO. so.


for every laborer, and at few points
IL Is said the clerks merely keep tab
on each other. A lot of young civil
engineers who went down with the
idea that they were to do important
work are holding such jobs as pit
foremen-directing a gang Of negroes
how to move dirt from a steam shov-
el, etc."
What does 1t cost to make a trip
from New York to Colon?"
"A first-class passage costs $50
each way; second-class $40. The
government pays the way Of en-
ployes going down, but not returning.
II, however. one has been there eight
months he can get a rate of $40
each way to New York. The men
who come down the Pacific coast,
landing at Panama, must sign con-
tract TO work two years because Of
the expense in transporting them.
A man from California has twenty
seven days wages due him when he
arrives, having been on the road that
length of time. From New York
down is only seven or nine days"
Panama and Colon Wide Open
What about drinking and gam
bling on the isthmus."
well, in the towns of Colon and
Panama, over which the United States
has no control, everything goes wide
open-Sundays as we'll as week days.
Gambling is conducted in a public
manner and in these towns there are
a great many bar-rooms. The license
tax Is $S4 a year. The bar-rooms In
the canal zone pay $500 year, and
there Is no open gambling. There
are 1000 or more people In the town
Of Culebra and It has sixteen saloons,
four of which are conducted by Amer
leans and the remainder by Chinese
and Spaniards. A drink either in the
canal zone or in the Panama towns
is somewhat expensive, for whisky
costs 20 cents (gold) drink and beer
25 cents a bottle. A man Is fool to
drink whisky in that climate, but
many Of them from the United States
do it. One Of my carpenters got
drunk one day, was sick the next and
taken to the hospital where he died
the following day. If there is any one
to claim the remains they will be
shipped home, but otherwise they are
inferred on the isthmus."
Twenty-Five Years to Dig Canal.
"Well, when do you think the canal
will be completed?"
"In about twenty-five years. Work
has not yet really begun. but when it
does Uncle Sam will put 1t through.
Some Of the natives who saw the
French start and give II up assert that
the same will be done with the pres
ent effort, but Of course Americans
don't believe anything of the kind.
The canal will be built. but IL will take
time. The waste Of the French Is
really appalling. All along the route
Of the canal can be seen millions OF
pieces Of machinery and material that
was never put to any use. Some Of
the engines have been rugged up by
the present force and set to work, but
the greater part Of the stuff Is
worthless pile Of rust"
"You say you left the isthmus on
June 4th?"
"Yes, l missed the boat I intended
to take and had to spend two nights
in Colon. I left there on the 4th,
reached Kingston, Jamaica, on the
7th, and sailed the same day on
fruit boat for New York, where we ar
rived about four o'clock on the morn
ing Of the 18TH"
Not a Victim of Disgust.
The young man whom I have been
quoting was not what might be term
ed a victim of disgust, but frankly
stated that he was disappointed with
conditions as he found them; that he
would not have gone in the first place
had he known what he knows now.
In the first place, the climate did not
agree with him and the pay, whils
seemingly good, would not net him
more than he could make at hcme.
At present, he said, the rainy season
was on, and such rail- we never saw
in this country, for 1t simply fell In
sheets. AS to the manner Of conduct
ing the canal work, he said there was
a great deal of red-tape. For that
reason he said he preferred to work
with his tools at fifty-seyen cents an
hour to being foreman. IF anything
was found not according to specif-
cations" said he, 1.-The chief engineer
would report II TO the chief Of the bu-
reau Of construction, he would call
on the superintendent and he In turn
would refer the matter to me as fore
man and I would have to explain how
Il occurred. Then there was the CHIEF
architect and he was as mean as could
be about the rough frame houses that
we were building"
There are a few boa constructors on
the canal zone, and while from eight
feet upward In length, they Will not
bite. There is, however little coral
snake Of beautiful color whose bite Is
generally fatal. However, neither Is SO
plentiful as to prove menace.
The canal zone, said my informant,
Is strictly policed-in fact, 1t Is over
done, and in some cases the canal en-
ployes resent the action Of the zone
police. A lot of marines recently
landed at Colon and camped not far
away to remain until after the forth
coming election. "A native policeman
Is as scared as death Of one Of these
United States Marines" I was told
I c. H., in Charlotte Observer.