The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-20

Empife, Caual Nohe, Suis
 lakes eighteen tons of silver and about i.5oo pounds of gold to pay on the canal force each month. It takes i've men thres full days. workins nearly eleven hours a day. to nand across the counter enough money 70 settle the monthly bill for skilled la Dor. Money is handled like so many brick. or so much sand. It loses all interest to the pay clerks. and they cease even to make 1t A subject oh jest. Pay day begins on the morning of the twelfth and lasts until the eve ming of the fifteenth of each month. Before this time the pay uckess natS ..ts all been made out in accordance Witn The accounts of the time keeper; ana the Panamanian silver has been count. ed out and wrapped up in packages or S5 and multiples thereof.
 If you happen to be in Empire about 8 o'clock in the morning on the twelfth of any month and are awake you will see half dozen lanterns nov fnr from different points towards the disbursing ofice. And then you will hear the rumble of half dozen wagons going in the same direction. over in the distance Gold Hill and Culebra Mountain stand like lone sentinels guarding the Isthmian strong pox. IT won were not initiated you might
 
 freebooters of the old Spanish Main had planned raid on the several mii. lion dollars of gold and silver stored there. But 1t ia only the pay force go- ing to load the pay car. The vauiLs IT which the money Is stored arc maee 3I concrete in which are eznbedded an sorts of old iron, from sleei raiis - horseshoes, to give 1t security.
 The vault doors are opened, eho while a dozen Zone policemen. armed to the teeth, stand round ana see " well done. a half dozen brawny span iards carry the gold and silver out .o the wagons. The bags or sllver' Ss szsa holding si.ooo. weigh a.sy.ssSnss sS sn pounds each, The gold Is carried in bage having s2s. s.o0o in each. Six tons of silver and about s150.o0e la gold arc carried out into the wagons. and then tha jack- o' -lanter parade proceeds 70 the nay car a half mile In the oistance. The money is loaded into IL. ana Dy sunrise, all hands are ready TOT eEeah fast. This is eaten In sniI.s, nA. .,ss,e force staying with the pay car wnrlo ,ls. inc other half goes to breakfast by q o'clock breakfast Is over and tho pay train starts for La Boca. the Pac'nc end of the Canal where the pay'ng on begins. A.n
 Excellent arrangements have oeen made for handling the crowds oI .ap. a. q doors on each side, opposlte eol other. At the end there Is one centre door and at the othor end two doors. one h each corner The ~eilver" mep are lined up on the right hand side os the nay car in four files. Four stlea,us of men are kept pouring through .n~ car all the time. A haiI oo@en poAsu N... men line up the laborers. As one comes to the counter of the pay cierk ha is commanded to take on his nat onA nroduce his metal identlncauon cheek. The policeman stationed at the counter examines the pay cneck Anu fhA identification cheek. IF tne nun. bers on them correspond the pay .sS.@ fakas it throws the amount or money caIlad for into the hat of the lanorer' ana commands him to pass on- Ins.e 1s no ffunA for the iaborer to count nts ronrav hui on the outside of the car there are several plain clotheA nnenpess If inc police force who keep WeAtnes eve out to see that they oo noL n@aS ..sS away with part of tnsir assy hSve come back and claim that SHes A~s~ received short change.
 rha gpaniards are paid off ID Amer ,.ar ooid with Panarnaniaa silver xot tha smaller change. The negroes 1Is naid of in Panamanian silver entlRoas. The negroes get only half as mucn per hour in wages as the wn,.s ,ss tnssrs in h siIysr and a months wages m Pana- vnanian silver Is a bulky pile of money 0na American silver dollar ts w'fth S,,st tvee Panamanlan slver dollars. va ySo,,aiy known as "Spigotty money. s.tin money and monkey money when the negro gets q whole naILul a nf this stuff and sees . Spanlard wno s,-or,rS hv his side get double as much rueI money. and in neat, convenient A%,arinan gold pieces at that. he ts m -.a varv pieasant frame of mind. But sS. ha realizes that he is 5tili getting far more than he would have eotren in his native land. and that tnere ls another negro waiting TOT ms loD' s0 he makes the best Of things.
 1Iahorate precautions are made to ,rnfset the men against mistakes on ths mart of pay clerks and from the s,,-,ijsifv If their fellow laobrers. Amer ican gold Is always st premium among the negro laborers, ana they will pay liberal differences to set it- Some of the Spantards wno nave peen partiv paid in gold will loiter around snd offer them a i've dollar gold piece ! for eleven dollars "Spigotty." Many 9skAra are found for these offers. but nIaIn clothes men are mixing In the crowd and usually the money changer has rather unceremonious notice 10 move on.
 WnCn a lADOICI NAAhHAD hS t1 N~-~-a naid he goes to the cashier of the pay Gar and makes his complaint. II he can tell which clerk paid him the mat fer is looked up at once. It is usually found that he has forgotten that there was a deduction for commissary books, snd mat things are all right. If his cash does not tally with his ticket a note ts made, and when the balances are taken they can tell whether mis. fake has been made or not. There are interpreters who acompany the pay car who can speak every language and dia@ feet used in the Zone.
 The paying off of the negro labor in Panamanian silver is an expensive con. cession to the Republic of Panama. The United States is not bound to do 50, but does 1t simply out of the good ness of It's heart, in order to Keep the { Pananaanian money in circulation. There are no exact figures to be had on the subject, but it is not improb- able that 1t costs the United States thousand dollars a month more to pay off the labor force in this "Spigotty" money than 1t would cost to pay of in good American gold Imagine the task of counting out a million dollars in American silver, and then reflect that you have to count two pieces of 'Spigotty" money For every piece of ( Arnarfnan silver and you will begin to