Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-03-25

well housed, well fed, protected from
disease and made to behave them
selves. They live in a forced state of
happiness and decency. And they
seem to like it. If there was ever pa
ternallsm in this world it is in Uncle
Sans ten mile wide strip across Pana-
ma. Even the supply ships that bob
in and out of the ports on the Pacific
and Atlantic are run by the govern
ment 1t Is as nearly a law made
paradise as can be got up on short no
tice in such a God forsaken climate.
There are schools. churches and even
women's clubs The suffragette has
not yet appeared, but give her time.
All the other luxuries of civilization
are on hand except grand opera and
divorce courts. These can be depend
ed on to follow the flag. And the beau
ty of the whole strip is that 1t is
American The workmen are of all
colors and nationalities. but the hustle,
the confidence, the system and the hu-
NOR are United States. That is the
reason the canal is as certain to be
built as the world is to turn. The peo-
pie that have made a nation out of
raw materials are not going to be
stopped by a little forty-eight mile
isthmus. America is to dominate the
Pacific, and the Panama canal is the
key to the Pacific. The dream of 300
years is to come true, and the water
path sought by Columbus is to be cut
from the east to the west. Whether
it is to be done by locks or sea level is
a mere detail. The great thing is that
1t is to be done, and speedily. 1t is but
fitting that this work which is to open
the gate to n new civilization should
be done under industrial conditions so
ideal that they themselves seem a fore
taste of that new civilization. Broth
erhood is becoming ever more of re-
ality in the world, and who knows but
that organized industry is to be one of
the aspects of brotherhood!
When Goethals Orders.
Colonel George Washington Goe-
thals, the man in charge at Panama,
is worth a story in himself. Rather, he
is worth several stories, and here are
two of them. Before Goethals' arrival
the civilian engineers had not kept the
strlctest discipline. Orders were Civ
en-, but some of the subordinates had
other ideas. There was consequent dis
cussion, and maybe the orders were
carried out and maybe they were not.
Well. Goethals gave an order. An un-
derotficial undertook TO show him
how dead wrong that order WAS Goe-
thals listened quietly, saying nothing
until the official paused, out of breath,
and added, II hope you see the point
of my argument"
But" said the colonel, speaking for
the first time, 81 was not arguing
was giving orders. Please see that
they are carried out"
They We're.
AT another time house was to be
built for one of the officials. and 1t
seemed that there was to be several
months delay. The official complained
to Goethals
Get into my carriage" said the
colonel. land we will go over and see
about it,
Arrived on the ground, the foreman
was up INFORMED IIlHt tne
house was to be ready for occupancy
on Nov. 10. He started to explain that
1t would not be possible to finish 1t
within year, when something in Goe-
thals' eye disconnected him. and he
wound up lamely that he would do the
best he could.
"You did not understand me-" quiet
ly said the colonel What said was
that the house is to be ready on Nov.
10"
And the house was ready.
After two or three of the early canal
engineers and officials threw up their
jobs President Roosevelt said. with n
snap of the jaws:
II am going 10 send man down
there who will stay on the job until
say he can quit"
Hustling at the Isthmus.
He sent GoethalS. and Goethals is
staying In the two years since he
took charge things have been moving
at Panama. President Elect Taft on
his recent visit TO the iSthmus saw
over a hundred steam shovels in oper-
alton, half thousand drills preparing
for dynamite blasts to eat away the
sides of mountains. track lifters that
moved whole sections Of railway to
new beds In almost the twinkling of
an eye. two dredges cutting their way
into the land from the Atlantic and
Pacific sides, an immense new spill.
way being constructed for the Chagres
river cores being made for the i'm
mense dams, and all this work of ex-
cavation, construction and preparation
going forward with more rapidity than
any similar work was ever prosecuted
In the history of the world Moreover,
he found a death rate as low as that
Of the average American city, and
he also found $4,000 human beings in
the canal organization, all of them i'm
bued with one spirit and intent on one
end, that of carrying through this
greatest engineering feat Of the cen
turies to success. In the highest sense
of the term 1t was an army of peace.
working with perfect military disci-
pline To win a battle with nature. ard
behind IT all was the quiet man who
would stay until he was told to quit.
George Washington Goethals was
born in Brooklyn In 1852 He gradu-
ated from West Point where he was
an instructor in military and civil en-
gineering for many years. Afterward