The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1906-12-19
Continued from Page Four.

vate messes, but more often. Judging
by the swe Of those whom | ques-
toned. at the government canteens or
hotels where the meal costs 80 cents
to each employee. This 3o-ceat meal
struck ine as being as good a meal as
we get in the United states at the or
binary hotel in which a 50-cent meal
is provided.
Chinese and Other Labor.
OF the 10000 n 10000 day laborers
employed on the canal a few hundred
are Spaniards. These do excellent
work. Their foremen told me that
they did twice as we'll as the West In
dian laborers. They keep healthy and
no difficulty Is experienced with them
in any way. Some Italian laborers are
also employed in connection with the
drilling. AS might be expected, with
labor as high priced as at present In
the United States, it has no SO far
proved practicable to get any ordinary
laborers from the United States. The
American wageworkers IN the isthmus
are the highly 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 results that have come
from their employment; and their
numbers will be increased as far as
possible. 1t has lot proved possible,
however, to get them in anything like
the numbers needed for the work, and
from present appearances we shall In
the main have to rely, for the ordinary
unskilled work. partly upon the col
ored laborers from the West Indies,
partly upon Chinese labor. 1t certainly
ought to be unnecessary to point out
that the American workingman in the
United States has no oncern what
ever 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 II country with
a black skin or by aliens from an
other country with a yellow skin. Our
business is to dig the canal as eff
GENTLY and as quickly as possible;
provided always that nothing Is done
that is inhumane to any labOrers, and
nothing that interferes with the wages
or lowers the standard of living of our
own workmen. Having in view this
principle, | have arranged to try sew
eral thousand Chinese laborers. This
Is desirable both because we must try
to find ont what laborers are most
efficient. and. furthermore. because We
should not leave ourselves at the
mercy Of any one type of foreign la
Dor. At present the great bulk of the
unskillcd labor on the isthmus is done
by West Indian negroes, chiefly from
jamaica, Barbados and the other Eng
fish possessions. One of the govern
ors of the lands in question has shown
al unfricndiy disposition to our work
and has thrown obstacles in the way
of our getting the labor needed; and it
is highly undesirable to give any out
siders the impression, however i'll
founded, that they are Indispensable
and can dictate terms to us.
The West India laborcrs are fairly,
but only fairly, satisfactory. Some Of
the men do very we'll indeed; the bet
ter class. who are to be found as fore
men, as skilled mechanics. as police
men, are good men; and many of the
ordinary day laborers are also good.
But thousands Of those who are
brought over under contract tat our
eXpense) go of into the jungle to live.
or loaf around Colon, or work SO badly
after the first three or four days as to
cause a serious %diminution of the
amount Of labor performed OF Friday
and Saturday of each week.
The negroes generally do their own
cooking in sheds provided by the gov.
eminent. but | believe that ultimately
the government itself must feed them.
Work Of Construction.
have now dealt with the hygienic
conditions which make 1t possible to
employ Il great force of labOrers. and
with the task of gathering. housing
and feeding these laborers. There re-
mains to consider the actual work
which has to be done: the work be-
cause of which these laborers are gath
cIeu ~OStlueI--tuc WOIN Ol CouStIuCt'
ing the canal. This is under the di-
rect control of the chief engineer. Mr..
Stevens. who has already shown ad'
mirable results. and whom we can
safely trust to achieve similar results
in the future.
The work is now going ON with q
vigor and efficiency pleasant to wit
ness. The three big problems OF the
canal are the La BOca dams. the Gatuu
dam and the Culebra cut. The Guile
bra c II must be made, anyhow; but OF
course changes as to the dams. or a,
least to the locks adjacent to the dams
may still occur. The La BOca dams
offer no problem. the bottom materia
being so good that there Is a practica
certainty. not merely as to what cal
be achieved. but as to the time o
achievement. The Gatun dam offer
the most serious problem that we hav
to solve: and yet the ablest men O.
the isthmus believe that this problel
Il certain OF solution along the line