The sun., 1909-02-14
AMERICAN WAY AT PANAMA
uONDERFUL THINGS THE CA
NiL BUILDERS ARE DOING.
vast Organization Perfected-Hoteis. Bak
cries, shops OF al Kinds Conducted
Ivy Incle Sam-Ihe vigilance That Sc
cures Iiesith-Labor Saving Methods.


hy Incie Sam-The Vigilance That Sc
cures Iiesith-Labor SAVING Methods
COLON, Feb. The layman visiting
the Isthmus for the first time is impressed
chiefly by the spirit Of American enter
prise prevailing here.
The great cuts in the earth's surface
the rock excavation, more than 500 feet
deep through Culebra Mountain. the i'm
mense hole for the Gatun locks and the
similar depressions on the Pacific side
are all imposing, but no more 30 than
we're the excavations for New York. 8
.uhway OF the great hole carved out OF
the heart Of the city for the Pennsylvania
terminal.
II isn't the visible progress that has been
made on the canal that leaves Its mark on
the lay mind. The spirit Of organization.
efficiency and economy. the real spirit Of
American enterprise. Is the impressive
thing. =,
That spirit is In the air. You can feel
f, from the moment you land at this port
until you leave the train on the Pacific
side There Is really no need for the army
engineer TO assure you that they are dig
rine away at the rate Of 5000, 900 cubic
wards a month. IL seems unnecessary.
100. for him to add that So per cent. OF the
entire excavatipg has been done and that
the digging will be finished In twenty
eight months.
To this you merely feel like saying
.Of course Just as II the idea OF Its TAX
ing longer was a reflection on your intelli-
cenoe. An occasional glimpse at one OF
the giant steam shovels eating its way
along. two wagonloads at mouthful; q
view now and then OF q comfortable,
clean looking settlement with a school
house and the Stars and Stripes flying
over it; the appearance at the railroad
stations Of groups OF clear eyed, healthy
American women with chubby babies In
their arms; the hum Of the machine shop;
the rumble OF the passing gravel train;
the cry Of the barker before the circus
tent the ice man with his tongs; the news
boy with his New York papers (ope week
late); the poster announcing the Sunday
baseball game and the weekly dance; the
church steeple-what moro Is needed TO
spell success?
You know before you are half way
across the Isthmus that the canal Ia TO be
,uC Il it is an engineering possibility; also
hat it 10 to be dug in quicker time than
any other nation on earth could dig 1t.
Your eye falls upon a few millions OF
tollars worth Of junk half buried in the
mud, and you feel sorTy for the French.
gu find yourself saying almost uncon-
,ciously:
Too bad, il those Frenchmen had only
been Americans what lot Of money they
would have saved and how much trouble
we would have been spared!'
or course. you don't stop to consider
what we owe to French experience. The
thing that strikes you is that we are sue
reding where the French failed. and nat
rally the half buried relics Of the French
tempt serve only to emphazise this
,.r-g glorifcation.
One Of the most striking examples to
20 lay mind Of American organizing
rlity on the Isthmus ia found In the COM |
rulssary department. Through it Uncle
I'm is practically running an immense
apartment store doing more than $780,
~ If business every year.
lie is running big laundry. manufac-
ring ice and distributing IL over route
fly miles long. baking bread, making |
= and freezing and selling his own ice
,rclm. In short, operations OF the Com
u'ssary Department on the lsthmus pre-
Int as fine an example Of governmental
IIrernalism as could be imagined.
through this department Uncle Sam
Supplies most Of the 5000 employees on
'he Isthmus with the necessaries Of life
a, little more than the cost price. Through
I' tho canal employee is enabled to buy
+ sFooi cheaper than he could II he lived
n New York city. and that, too. In the
face Of the fact that the bulk Of the food
supplies are carried TO the Isthmus from
The States.
An actual comparison OF the prices
charged by the commissary with the re-
'ail prices charged in New York city
showed that in nineteen instances the
prices charged on the Isthmus were
slightly higher than those charged In New
York, that in thirty-seven instances they
we're lower and in eight instances equal,
The aggregate Of higher prices charged
N the nineteen instances compared with
the aggregate Of lower prices in the
'hirty- seven instances showed a net sd-
vantsge of $50 to the canal employees
IN the sixty-four items.
Through his commissary department
{ ucle Sam conducts fourteen hotels and
= string Of fifty-hve messes and kitchens.
These are scattered along the line Of the
canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
N the hotels the canal employee can get
a good. wholesome dinner for 80 cents.
At the messes. which are patroniyed
hlofy hy the Spanish laborers. Uncle
sam serves meals at the rate OF 40 cents
4 day. and at the kitchens. where many Il
Il the West Indian negroes eat. his rate
Is 81 cents a day. All told. Uncle Sam
feeds daily between 5000 and 1000 mouths
At his hotels. messes and sitchens.
he 80 cent dinner served at the hotels
ls ust about the sort of dinner you would
get for 80 cents at the good country hotel
IN tie States soup. fish. meat. vegeta-
hIcs, ice cream and coffee. The boarder at
the 81 cent mess gets daily one and half
pounds Of bread. one and half pounds
N meat. a pound OF vegetables and odds
and enls az dessert. Spanish rancho
b, the favorite dish served at the mess
beef boiled and cut from the bone. swim
nlng in q tomato paste. with bits OF bacon
no garbanzos-Spanish beans.
Altogether there are $500 Spaniards
Employed by the Canal Commission.
They have done better on the Isthmus
,hau any other white men,