Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-27
WORK ON THE CANAL
Col. GoethaIs Reports Details
of Operations.
COST NEARLY $4,000, 900
Hired Labor Under Government Su-
pervision Favored.
HOUSING CONDITIONS BETTER
Sanitation of the Zone and the Cities
Of Colon and Panama-Providing
Schools and Dwellings.
HOUSING CONDITIONS BETTER

Full details of the work done on the
Panama canal during the fiscal year 1907,
with showing of what has been accom-
! plished since the project has been III
American hands, are given in the annual
report of the isthmian canal commission
This Is the first official report Of opera
| tons on the isthmus since construction
| work has been in charge of army engt-
| neers, and Is signed by Lieut.. Col. George
w. Goethals, chairman of the commission
and chief engineer. There is no reference
| in the report to the proposition which has
been brought forward to extend the width
of the locks to no feet to meet the devel-
opment of shipbuilding, and that will be
| made the subject of a special communi-
| cation from the commission. A strong
position is taken for a continuation Of the
policy of doing the work by hired labor
| instead of by contract, step at One time
seriously considered by the admfnfstra-
| ton, and many arguments are presented
| to justify the commission in It's concfu-
| sion that the canal can be built better,
cheaper and more quickly by the govern
ment.
AS bearing on the question of the suita-
bility Of the foundations for the proposed
| lock sites, the report quotes from the con-
illusions of a board of consulting engl-
neers who made a personal examination
of the material at the lock sites and which
found that all of the locks OF the dlmen-
sions then proposed ian eighty-hve-ioot
| level canal would rest on rock OF a
character that should furnish a safe and
stable foundation. -
Cost Of Operations.
| A detailed statement of appropriations
and expenditures shows that SO COS, 56S.5S
| have been appropriated for the construc-
| ton of the canal between the Atlantic
and the Pacific oceans, and that Of this
amount, at the close Of the fiscal year,
| total of $4s. 2S5, 11O37 was expended. The
project adopted by Congress was esti-
mated by the board of consulting engi-
neers to cost $139. 7O5. 200, exclusive Of san
| itation and expenses of the zone govern
-nent; the estimates submitted did not
contemplate or provide for waterWorks,-
sewers and paving in Panama and Colon.
made necessary to secure improved health
conditions, nor is any provision made
for the re-equipment Of the Panama rail-
road. The principal items of expense are
stated as follows: Construction and en-
cheering $89, 49,. 40S. Of which 26S2
ment, 81. 81s 277; sanitation. s.. $50 208. and
miscellaneous 1894, 127. The balance avail
able July last is stated at 81, 323.4 5S.
Government Control Of Work.
Col. Goethals devotes considerable
space in his report to consideration Of
the relative advantages of the contract
system and the system Of hired labor
under government supervision in the CON-
struction Of the Panama canal and gives
his judgment in favor Of the latter sys
tenn '@The relative advantages, Of. the.
two systems" says he. ARE very DIFF
ferent today from what they were two
years ago, and were different then from
what they were when the; work. was first
tons on the isthmus there can be no
doubt. at this stage of the work as to
the advisability Of continuing 1t by hired
labor. ,.. i-~ q.
TT is estimated that 80 per cent of the
entire plant needed for the construction
Of the canal has been purchased or con-
tracted for. Machine shops have been
erected and equipped for making all need
or still required for the work. So far
therefore, as the plant and its care and
repair are concerned, the government is
better equipped to carry. on the: work
advantageously and economically than
Many thousand employees have been
secured, and an effective working organi-
cation has been perfected, and the re-
cruiting system put in operation Is ca
pable of furnishing more labor than can
be advantageously used. The employees
are well sheltered and, in. general, we'll
fed: the salaries paid are satisfactory
and the work is progressing smoothly. A
change from these favorable conditions
in the method Of prosecuting the work
would disorganize all existing conditions
and would undoubtedly increase the esti-
mated cost and time Of completing the
canal.
''The conclusion that the work can be
done better, cheaper and more quickly by
the government has been reached only
after free and full discussion by the va
rious members of the Commission and
construction work, and after careful con-
sideration Of all sides Of the proposition"
The Labor Supply. -.
In a chapter on labor supply Col Goeth-
ais says that the skilled labor numbering
4, 4O4, Is recruited in the United States,
and the unskilled force is brought from
the West Indies and Europe. Recruiting
agents are located in Barbados and Mar
Unique, and a representative in Paris,
France, to keep in touch with European
labor conditions and with European emf
ration. June 30, 1905, there were on
the canal work 500 Europeans and
1925 West Indians. June &c. 1907, there
were 4,317 Europeans and IA, COS West In
dams. To maintain this force of laborers,
and also provide the Panama railroad
force of about 5000 laborers, $3.50 Euro
pednS ana IO,Sfl west INDIANS were
brought to the isthmus-an average of
nearly 1900 men per month-to meet the
demands of the work for common labor
during the year.
The total force of skilled and unskilled
laborers Of the isthmian canal commission
and Panama railroad June 3d. 1905, was
| 49, 600. and June 3d. 1907, it was 20, 4s6
An increase in the total of 10000 men.
During this period 20,S S4 men were brought
to the isthmus from the United States,
Europe and the West Indies. The labor
problem is still an unselved one, but the
| experiments of the past year with
diversity of races and nationalities have
| improved the efficiency of the force and
promise to make the term of service
| longer.
+ Considering the large increase in the
skilled force and the number of women
and children provided for during the past
year. the number of people from the
United States in quarters now, as COM
pared with the close of the last fiscal
year, is just about doubled, but they are
all better and more comfortably housed
than at this period last year The con-
gestion in the quarters of the common
| 1oh hos