The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-18
THE PANAMA CANAL VW---LIVlNG CONDITIONS
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By Fredric J. Haskin.

by Miss Helen varick Boswell. sha succeeded In interesting nearly all of the women on the Canal Zone. If she nad not, married quarters would not nave been In such great demand, nor housewives So content to stay In the zone. Ihis club work acts as a sort Of safety valve for the women -foll. and since its establishment things have neen going along pretty smoothly
 Ine NationaI Civic Federation sent MISS Gertrude Beeks, Secretary of their Welfare Department. to the Itsi. ms some time ago to inyestigate living conditions. One of her first criticisms was that th- people did not have warm water to bathe in. The temperature of the water is only about seventy-nine at It's coldest and few people could complain at that. But recently, whether by intention or inad- vertence, the water at the shower baths at Empire came in warm, about ntnety-f1ve degrees. Now the bachelors and not Miss Beeks are doing the kicking. They want their cold show. CTS back. In the morning the water has It's normal temperature for about i've baths. and then the warm water begins to flow. It proves better than an alarm clock in getting the bacheI- ors out of bed
 The bachelor quarters are arranged 80 as to insure the greatest comfort. They are two stories high, the lower floor being well up off the ground. A board screened In porch is on both sides and there are windows and doors opposite, so that breeze may always be had. Then there is a shower bath l and the usual toilet room fixtures Most l of the unmarried men live two in a room, and they are usually permitted to arrange things so that friends can | room together,
 Every precaution is taken to make | pleasant things about living on the i Tsthmus IS the inustinesss lt psrcaaes | everything Its half brother rust is no better. They plague ones foot. steps wherever one goes. The Conn mission Is putting In drying rooms wherever possible. When a family has d piano the Commission will put an electric light into 1t, so as to preserve the instrument from mould and rust. All of these little details are cited to | show the manner in which the Com mission deals with It's force.
 There is just now a great deal of complaint among the employees be- cause they are required to go all the way to the States to spend their six weeks vacation. The expense Is heavy. | and in many instances it takes as much I to spend six weeks all told. It Is the policy of the Commission to require the | employees to go to a cool climate, on the ground that a vacation in the tor | rid zone has little benefit to offer. There is a movement on foot to allow them to go to Costa Rica and Jamai- l ca's climate will also probably be in- quired into. This would give the em- ployes an opportunity to go to a recu- perating place in a short time and at l little cost.
 The advantages which are enjoyed by canal employees is shown when com pared with outsiders. American beef costs the outsider nearly double as much as 1t does the employe; American beer costs him 25c per bottle. Cigars which sell at the outside stores for 16c and 200 are sold in the Commis- sary to employees for Sc. When the outsider goes to Panama from New York he puts in $s5 or $90 for the trip. The canal cmploye gets 1t for S2J Laundry rates to the outsider ar dou- ble or more than double, what they are at the Commission laundries Room and board at the Tivoli is $7.75 a day to the outsider. To the canal em- ployes 1t is just about one-half. Colonel Goethals sized up the living conditions on the Isthmus to a dot when he said.
 "It is paternalism run mad, but if We are to dig the canal it is necessary Copyright, 1908. by Frederck J. Has,
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 TOMORROW-THE PANAMA CA MAI. VTT-AMUSEMENTS