The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-29
GOOD PROGRESS AT PANAMA
SHOVEL MEMS STRIKE THE ONLY
RECENT SETBACK.
Men Who Lost Places Disputed With Labor
UnlOR's Course Great Need or Shelter
for LabOrers Health OF the Canal
Zone Observation-Disclosures Dirt Fly.

UnIOn's Course Great Need OF Shelter
for LabOrers Health OF the Canal
n Notwithstanding Dirt Fly.
from Colon to-day were l.. N. Pierce and
G. G. Thornton. Both dicusssed condition
in the Canal Zone.
1.-THE question of suitable quarters for
laborers brought to the Canal Zone by the
Panama Railroad Company is an all i'm
portant one that is being sadly overlooked"
said Mr.. Pierce. "On April II, a French
liner brought in several hundred laborers
from ~Guadaloupe. There was absolutely
no arrangement made in advance for
quarters or food and eighteen were sent
direct 10 the docks at Colon without food.
and worked all day. with the result that
when their days work was at an end they
were so weak they could hardly stand up,
THE chances for business On the Isthmus
are very bright. Healthful conditions
exist everywhere; in fact. there are no cases
Of yellow fever reported. and every precau-
ton is being taken. The greatest number
of the deaths is among the Jamaica, Marti-
nique and Barbadian negroes,
Work on the cana is progressing. The
only delay recently was due to the strike
in the middle Of the present month of the
steam shovel engineers and crane men.
Seventy-fve Of these walked out because a
concession in wages was not granted.
They asked $500 a month. as against $40,
which they were drawing. The United
States Government took the stand that it
would not be controlled by a labor union
and dismissed every one.
Col. Cocktails told the strikers before
the meeting that 1t was not the policy OF
the United States Government to make
men work for less money than they really
fixed were, in the Judgment OF men who
ought to know, fair compensation. The
petition was sent to Washington and de-
olined by Secretary Taft. The men: after
shutting down the work for a week, lost
their places and the concessions in steam
ship rates that the United States Govern
ment secures for its employees.
Nearly every steam shovel man who
quit work when approached on the sub
ject expressed a feeling Of disgust at the
action taken by the labor union.
Most Of the lumber used on the Isthmus
at the present time is purchased by the
United States Government, as all Of the
land in Colon is owned, by the Panama
Railroad Company and has to be leased
from the company before a building can
be erected. No effort is made TO erect
permanent or substantial buildings. The
demand for groceries and other imported
goods is very brisk, but all should be care
fully inspected before they are sent there
Il nave just completed my fourth trip
to the Canal Zone. And the improvement
in the sanitary conditions and cleanliness
since ! first went there, a year ago last
March, is phenomenal, p" said Mr.. Thorn
ton. The amount of work done on the
canal in the Culebra cut is beyond the COM
prehension OF the average layman. The
forces employed start in to cut through a
hill 100 feet high, and the work Of the steam
shovel only can take in twenty feet in height
at a time. To see them load a fiat car of
$4,000 pounds capacity, with an apron on
one side fourteen inches wider mar the
car, which is loaded ia two minutes by
actual timing, is proof conclusive that they
can handle some dirt in a single day. I
went through the Culebra cut and picked
up in front of one steam hovel at a depth
OF fifty feet below the surface Of the ground
blue hardened clay Of semi vitreous forma-
ton and oyster shells. This was probably
125 feet above the level of the sea and $50
feet below the summit Of Culebra cut,
or Gold hill, which is the highest part of
the cut