Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-06-04
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CANAL NEGROES IDLE.
Imported Barbadiars Make Good Loaf.

ers.
Panama, June 1.-The Isthmian canal
commission has directed its labor re-
cruiting agent In Barbados island not
to accept any laborers who have ever
been on the isthmus. This order grows
out of one of several problems that the
commission Ia facing now in connec-
ton with the employment Of negro Ia
bor in the canal zone.
OF the $500 common laborers en-
ployed on the canal and the Panama
railroad by far the greater proportion
are negroes from the West Indies,
chiefly from Barbados Ind ..maica.
The commission has found that they
stand the tropical heat Of the isthmus
much better than white laborers, and
so long as they can be kept at work the
results from them are satisfactory, but
the chief difficulty is to keep them at
work.
The order to the Barbados recruiting
agent represents an effort to decrease
the number of desertions among West
Indian laborers. It was promulgated
after the commission had made some
observations on boatload Of Barba-
dian laborers who landed at Colon on
March "a.
More than 100 Of these laborers, were
set to work at the same place, and on
the following morning less than one
third of them reported for work. The
commission found that nearly all of
those who had deserted after nine or
ten hours of work had previously been
employed in the canal zone at one time
or another.
Many of them apparently had avail
ed themselves of the opportunity to get
free transportation from Barbados to
the isthmus with no intention Of re-
naming in the service Of the commits
sion, but some wanted to get employ
ment at other points along the canal
route, at points where in all likelihood
the commission didn't need them.
Hereafter the Barbadian negroes who
are employed to work on the canal or
on the Panama railroad will be unac-
quainted with the isthmus and will be
more inclined to "stay put" after they
have been landed.
The negro employees on the isthmus
generally are showing an increasing
disposition to work irregularly. 1t is
due partly to this indisposition that
new laborers are being imported. The
quartermaster's department estimates
that there are 5000 idle West Indians
on the isthmus who came here to work
on the canal and were at one time In
the employ Of the commission, but Will
not accept work at the prevailing rate
of pay.
The growing uncertainty Of this class
of laborers results partly also from
their disposition to desert the govern
ment quarters and messes. OF the 25,-
600 laborers on the isthmus only the
West Indian negroes are turning
against the government saccommoda-
tions.
The quarters provided for them are
mosquito proof, cool and airy, but the
negroes are continually leaving them
and wandering off into the tropical
bush to build shacks for themselves.
At the end Of 1908 there were only T.
500 Of these negroes living In govern
ment quarters, while about $4,000 were
settled outside. That represented de-
sertion of about 1000 from the govern
ment quarters within year.
The accommodations that the ne
groes get in their own shacks are vast
ly inferior to those furnished by the
government, but the West Indian ne
gro seems to banker for home OF his
own, however humble. The commits
sion has found that very few Of these
negro bush dwellers can be counted on
for regular and useful work.
The bush negro apparently Is satis-
fled to work just long enough to get
together a few dollars to keep him In
food for the week. In this respect,
however, the trouble that the canal ad-
ministration is having with the West
Indian negroes isn't very different from
that experienced by some employers of
negro labor in the United States.
Some of the West Indian negroes
employed on the canal have made their
employment a stepping stone to other
work on the isthmus. Their chief am
bition seems to be to save enough
money to buy an old carriage and
Panama pony and many Of them have
succeeded.
These vehicles take the place Of street
cars in this city and Colon. They are
fitted with bells, not the changing troll
ley car kind, but merry little bells.
One Of the pleasantest memories that
an American carries away from the
isthmus is the jingle, Jingle Of hun
dreds Of cab bells floating up from the
isthmus on a tropical summer night.
From the veranda Of the American ho-
tel Of Ancon hill they sound on the
fresh evening air like the tinglings Of
flock Of belled sheep wandering In
the old city below.
Frequently excursion steamers stop
at Colon and a hundred or more tour
ists make the trip along the canal route
to Panama city. These are the harvest
days for the negro and the cocheros.
1t isn't an unusual thing to see two
hundred or more Of these old carriages
drawn up at the railroad station.
The fare is regulated in the city, 10
cents in American money to any part
of the city. The carriages are Of all
descriptions. Many Of them have seen
service in the United States and had
been relegated to the second hand
dealers.
The Panama ponies which furnish
the power for Panama's street carriage
service are smaller than the American
mustang, but just as strong and tough.
The thllls of the carriage seem often
to be resting on their backs, so short
are their legs, but they go tinklins up
hill and down under the blaze Of the
tropical sun at a pace that ought to
make a New York cab horse ashamed
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