The Laclede blade., 1906-07-21
groes. All this labor is paid in silver,
which is the money Of the Panamani-

i half as much as gold. All u. 8. cur
rency is reckoned as gold.
All the skilled labor is performed
by Americans and paid for in gold
Machinists, boiler makers, moulden
l. and plumbers receive IS cents pei
; hour gold. Carpenters and painters
56 cents per hour gold. Locomotive
engineers receive $4,000 per month
gold; conductors, $4,000 per month
gold; trainmen, $4,000 per month
gold.' Other skilled labor is paid for
in proportion.
All gold monthly employees receive
six weeks leave of absence each year
with full pay, and in addition can be
sick not to exceed thirty days each
year without loss of pay. The gov
ernment maintains finely equipped
hospitals at Ancon and Colon and
also emergency hospitals and dispen-
saries at each town. All medicine,
hospital and medical attendance is
furnished free for the employees and
their families.
The health conditions are very
good here, there being no more sick
ness than in towns of the same size in
the states.
There are two seasons here, the dry
and the rainy season. The rainy sea-
son is from May Is to December 15.
1t rains some almost every day during
the rainy season. The days are about
like July in Missouri. The nights are
always cool. The dry season is the
cooler of the two, as there is an ocean |
breeze all the time.
The soil here is very rich. Every
thing grows very rapidly. One can
grow all the garden truck here that
grows in the states, and grow it the
year round, and in addition to this
we have all kinds of tropical fruits
such as oranges, lines, bananas, pine
apples, bread-fruit, grapefruit, man
goes, alifgator pearsy PaPias, aaoooa-
nuts, etc.
The tropical jungle in the noun
tains' teens with game such as deer,
wild hogs, mountain lions, catamounts
and wild birds. The streams have
several species of fish-and alligators.
The natives of the isthmus are de-
scendants Of the Aztecs and Spaniards
and are called Panamanian Indians.
They have the Indian trait of not
wanting to do hard labor. They live
in palm-thatched huts and have little
gardens. All farming is done in a
very primitive manner. The only
tool used is the machete, which looks
like corn knife. With this they
fight, cut down trees, spade up the
ground and dig their graves.
Most of the stores, except the COM
are owned and operated by
the Chinese.
There are no roads in this country,
as we term roads. They are all sin
gle trails, as all the freighting, aside
from the Panama railroad, is done by !
individuals and pack ponies. The
negroes here carry everything from a
small parcel to a trunk on their heads.
The Panama railroad was built Z
about fifty years ago and still has the
original ties in the roadbed. These
lies are of mahogany and are SO hard
hat to drive a spike they have first to
bore a hole.
Lying as monument to French
allure, there is from one side of the
sthmus to the other continuous pile
If out-of-date French machinery,
vh ich cost probably more money than
he United States will expend on ma
.hinery to dig the canal.
There could be a great deal more :
written about the Isthmus of Panama
md the work on the canal, but will /.
lot write any more until we see