Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-12-27

department officers do in the various
States and cities.
Just at present the health showing on
the isthmus is remarkably good-so much
better than in most sections of the Unit !
ed States that | do not believe that it
can possibly continue at quite its present
average. There has been for the past six
months a well-nigh steady decline in the
death rate for the population of the Zone, |
this being largely due to the decrease in
deaths from pneumonia. which has been
the most fatal disease on the isthmus. In
October there were ninety-nine deaths of
every kind among the employees OF the
isthmus. There were then on the rolls
$500 whites, seYen-eighths of them being
Americans. OF these whites but two died
of disease, and as it happened neither
man vas an American. OF the 1000
white Americans, including some 1,2O0
women and children, not a single death
has occurred in the past three months.
whereas in an average city in the United
States the number of deaths for a sim
liar number of people in that time would
have been about thirty from disease. This
very remarkable showing cannot of course
permanently obtain, but it certainly goes
to prove that if good care is taken the
isthmus is not a particularly unhealthy
place.
In Panama and Colon the death rate
'0D 0ASo bNIh SAIotly ACuuICu, lhi5 bNihS
directly due to the vigorous work of the
special brigade of employees who have
been inspecting houses where the stego-
myia mosquito is to be found and de-
s~troying its larva and breeding places,
and doing similar work in discriminating
the malarial mosquitoes-in short. in
performing all kinds of hygienic labor.
The sanitation work in the cities of
Panama and Colon has been just as i'm
portant as in the Zone itself, and in
many respects much more difficult.
Criticism Is Unjust.
Care and forethought have been exercised
by the commission, and nothing has reflect
ed more credit upon them than their re-
fusal either to go ahead too fast or to be
deferred by the fear of criticism from not
going ahead fast enough. 1t is curious to
note the fact that many Of the most severe
critics of the commission ~criticise them for
precisely opposite reasons, some complaining
bitterly that the work is not in a more adj
Tanced condition, while the others complain
that it has been rushed with such haste
that there has been insufficient preparation
Tor the hygiene and comfort of the en-
ployes. As a matter of fact neither criti-
cism is just. 1t would have been impossi-
BILE to go more quickly than the commission
has gone for such quickness would have
meant insufficient preparation. On the 9th
er hand, to refuse to do anything until
every possible future contingency had been
met would have caused wholly unwarranted
delay. The right course to follow was eX-
actly the course which has been followed.
Every reasonable preparation was made in
advance, the hygienic conditions in especial
being made as nearly perfect as possible
while on the other hand there has been no
timid refusal to push forward the work be-
cause Of inability to anticipate every posi-
bic emergency, for, of course, many defects
can only be shown by the working of the
system in actual practice.
In addition to attending to the health of
the employees, it is of course necessary to
| nr0Vldp for nn1ipinU the /Anp This iG Gnna
by a police force which at present numbers
over 200 men. About one-fifth of the men
are white and the others black. Inasmuch
as so many both of the white and colored
employees have brought their families with
them, schools have been established. For
the white pupils white American teachers
are employed for the colored pupils there
are also some white American teachers, one
Spanish teacher, and one colored American
teacher, most of them being colored teach
ers from jamaica, Barbados and st. Lucia.
There seemed to me to be too many sa-
looms in the Zone but the new high-license
law which goes into effect on January l
next will probably close four-fifths of them.
Resolute and successful efforts are being
made to minimize and control of sale of
liquor.
Next in Importance to the problem of san
i~tation, and indeed now of equal Importance,
is the problem of securing and caring for
the mechanics, laborers, and other employees
who actually do the work on the canal and
the railroad. This great task has been IN
der the control of Jackson Smith, and on
the whole has been well done. AT present
there are some 5000 white employees and
some 10000 colored employees on the 18TH
mus. | went over the different places
where the different kinds of employees We're
working l think l saw representatives of
every type both at their work and in their
homes and | conversed with probably a
couple of hundred of them all told, choosing
them at random from every class and in
Guiding those who came especially to pre-
sent certain grievances.
Proud of the Americans.
Nearly 5000 of the white employees had
come from the United Staes. No man can
see these young, vigorous men energetically
doing their duty without a thrill of pride in
them as Americans. They represent on the
average a high class. Doubtless to Congress
the wages paid them will seem high, but as
a matter of fact the only general complaint
which l found had any real basis among the
complaints made to me upon the isthmus
was that, owing to the peculiar surround
ings, the cost Of living, and the distance
from home, the wages were really not as
high as they should be. In fact, almost
every man l spoke to felt that he ought to
be receiving more money! view, however,
which the average man who stays AT home
in the United States probably likewise holds
as regards himself.
The white Americans are employed, some
of them in office work, but the majority in
handling the great steam shovelS, as engi-
neers and conductors or the dirt trains, as
machinists in the great repair shops, as car
penters and timekeepers, superintendent,
and foremen of divisions and of gangs, 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 behaving precisely as the Amer
lean small boy and small girl behave at
home. The bachelors among the employees
live, sometimes in small separate houses,
sometimes in large houses quarters being
furnished free to all the men, married and
unmarried. The housewives purchase their
supplies directly, or through their husbands,
from the commissary stores of the commits
sion. All to whom / spoke agreed that the
supplies were excellent. and all but two
stated that there was no complaint to be
made these two complained that the prices
were excessive as compared to the prices IN
the States.
l came to the conclusion that, speaking
generally, there was no warrant for CON-
plant about the food.
The Labor Question.
Of the nineteen or twenty thousand DAY
laborers employed on the canal, a few nun
work. Their foremen told me that they
did twice as well as the West India labor
ers. They keep healthy and no difficulty is
experienced with them in any way. Some
Italian laborers are also employed in con-
nection 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. Inc
American w~age-workers on the isthmls
are the highly paid skilled mechanics OF the
| " pes m6UllOueu previously. a phSoNs -
fort is being made to secure Italians, and
especially to procure more Spaniards, be-
cause of the very satisfactory results that
have come from their employment; ana
their numbers will be increased as tar as
possible. # has not proved possible, how
ever, to get them in anything like the num-
bers needed for the work, and from pres
ent appearances we shall in the main nave
to rely, for the ordinary unskited work,
partly upon eolored laborers from the west
Indies, partly upon Chinese labor. IL Ger.
tainiy ought to be unnecessary to point out
that the American workingman in the
United States has no concern whatever ID
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 en-
GENTLY and as quickly as possible; provlaeo
always that nothing is done that is 1nhu-
name to any laborers, and nothing that IN
~terferes with the wages of or lowers the
standard of living of our own workmen.