New-York tribune., 1906-12-18

having tried 1t in one or two streets finding -
not appropriate.
The result of the investigation of this honess
complaint was typical of what occurred when
plants made TO me. That
complaints Not is where the complaints
Well Founded. were not made wantonly
/ maliciously. they airnosI
l always proved due 70 failure TO appreciate tho
| fact that time was necessary in the creation and
| completion OF the titanic work in a tropic
! wilderness. IL is impossible TO avoid mis-
| takes in building giant canal through Jungle
| covered mountains and swamps, while at the
same time santa ting tropie cities. and providing
| for the feeding and general care of from twenty
| to thirty thousand workers The complaints
brought me. either OF insufficient provision in
caring for some of the laborers, or of failure to
| finish the Davements of Colon. or of failure to
supply water, or of failure 70 build wooden side
| walks for the Of the laborers in the rainy
| season. on investigation proved. almost without
| exception, to be due merely TO the utter inabtl-
| ity of the commission to do everything at once
| For instance. IL was imperative that Panama.
! which had the highest death rate and where the
| chance OF q yellow fever epidemic was strong
| est. should be cared for first; yet most of tho
| complaints as to the delay in taking care Of
| Colon due TO the inability unwilling
ness to appreciate this simple fact. Again. az
| the thousands of laborers are brought over and
| housed, IL is not always possible at the outset
| To supply wooden walks and lighthouses. be-
4 cause other more vital necessities have to BE-
| met: and in consequence. while most of the
| settlements have good bathhouses. and. to
/ large extent at least, wooden walks, there are
plenty of settlements where wooden walks
i have not Yet been laid down. ard I visited
i where the bathhouses have not been provided.
| But in this very settlement the frames OF the
lighthouses are already UP. and in every
the utmost effort is being made TO provide the
wooden walks. OF course. in some OF the new
est camps tents are used pending the building
| of houses. Where possible. I think detached
| houses would be preferable TO the semi-detached
houses now in general use.
Care and forethought have been exercised BY
the commission, and nothing has reflected mora
credit upon them than their refusal either TO
; go ahead too fast TO BE-
Unjust deferred by the fear OF
Criticism. criticism from not going
ahead fast enough. 1t is
curious to note the fact that many of the most
| severe critics of the commission crticise them
for precisely opposite reasons. some complaining
bitterly that the work is not in more ad-
vanced condition. while the others complain
I that it has been rushed with such haste that
| there has been insufficient preparation for the
| hygiene and comfort of the employees. As a
matter of fact neither criticism is lust It would
/ have been impossible to go quicker than the
commission has gone, for such qucknesS would
! have meant insufficient preparation on tha
other hand. to refuse 10 do anything until eveIS
possible future contingency had been met would
have caused wholly unwarranted delay Tho
right course tC follow exactly the course
which has been followed Every reasonable
preparation was made in advance. the hygienio
conditions in especial being made as nearly per-
feet possible; while on the other hand. there
has been timid refusal 10 push forward the
| work because of inability to anticipate every
possible emergency. for. of course many de-
fects can only be shown by the working of tho
system in actual practice.
4 In addition TO attending to the health OF the
employees. IL is of course necessary TO provide
/ for policing the This dOne by police
| force which at present numbers more than two
| hundred men, under Captain stanton About
| One-ffth of the men are white and the others
! black. In dl1erent places questioned some
| twenty thirty OF these men. taking them at
| random. They were fine set physically and
/ in discipline. With one exception all the white
4 men I questioned had served i'm the American
| army. usually in the Philippines. and belonged
/ to the best type of American soldier Without
I exception the black policemen whom I ques-
i toned had served either in the British army OF
| in the Jamaica or Barbados police. They were
4 INafx-
| Well Who're possible the policemen are used TO
/ control people OF thei~ own color, but in any
! emergency no hesitation is felt in using them
1 indiscriminately
/ Inasmuch many. both of the white and
| colored employees, have brought their families
\ with them schools have been established. the
/ school service being under Mr.. OCOnnor. For
\ the white pupils white American teachers
! employed; for the colored pupils there are also
\ some white American teachers. one Spanish
| teacher. and one colOred American teacher most
! or them being colOred teachers from Jamaica.
/ Barbados and ST. Lucia. The schOOlrooms We're
/ good. and it was pleasant thing to the
/ pride that the teachers were taking in their
/ work and their pupils.
| There seemed 70 me to be too many saloons
| in the zone: but the new high license law which
| goes into effect on January 1 next will prob
| ably close four-Gfths of them Resolute and
| successful efforts are being made to minimize
and control the sale of liquor
The cars on the passenger trains the
! fsthmus are divided into fist and second class.
| the difference being marked in the price OF
tickets. AS rule. second class passengers are
colored and first class passengers white. but In
every train which there were number
of white second class passengers. and on two
of them there were cOlored first class passen-
gers
Next in importance to the problem of sanita-
ton, and indeed of equal Importance is the
problem of securing and caring for the mech
anics. labOrerS and other
Care or employees who actually do
Employees. the work the canal and
the railroad. This great
task has been under the control OF Mr. Jackson
Smith. and the whole has been well done.
AT present there are some six thousand white
employees and some nineteen thousand colored
ferent places where the different kinds OF en-
ployeS were working: I think representa-
tlVeS or every type, both at their work and I'm
their homes. and 1 coversed with probably a
them at random from every class and Including
those VINO came especially 70 present certain
grievances. I found that those who did not
come specifically to present grievances almost
satisfaction with the conditions than did those
who called TO make complaint.
Nearly five thousand OF the white employees
had come from the United States No man can
see these young, vigorous eEergetically do
ing their duty without thrill Of pride in them
as Americans. They represent on the average q
high class Doubtless to Congress the wages
paid them will high. but matter OF
had any real basis among the complaints made
10 me upon the iSthmuS was that. owing TO the
peculiar surroundings the cost of living and
the distance from home. the wages were really
not as high as they should be. In fact. almost
every spoke TO felt that he ought TO be
cetving more mOney-a view. however. which the
average who stays at home In the United
States probably likewise holds regards him.
that the Congress can Judge the matter for it
self Later I shall confer on the subject with
certain representative labor men here in the
United States as we'll going with Mr..
he DrYlDar fiyYaW w nal he