The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-21
foolish sheep question. Colonel Goeth.
ais taking part.

ais taxing part.
A million pounds of dynamite a
months are used on the Panama canal.
Eight hundred machines are used in
drilling the holes. They are the or
binary churn drills. used in well bor-
liked. The ideal lift for one of the
big steam shovels is twenty feet. so
holes twenty feet deep are drilled,
filled with dynamite, and fired. One
of the big shovels lifts five cubic yards
of dirt at every load. and. when
everything is working smoothly. one
shovel will load an ordinary fiat car
in a minute. I heard the statement
made, though not by Colonel Goethals,
that, counting everything, it costs S1.25
per cubic yard to handle dirt in dig
ging the Panama canal. It cost the
French 81 per cubic yard for handling
dirt. The big steam shovels handle
rock as easily as they handle earth.
While we were at the bottom of
Culebra cut, place was pointed out
where fifty men were killed by a pre-
mature explosion of dynamite.
Twelve railroad trains are required
to transport to and from their work the
men who are employed on the Pana-
ma canal. The eight hour law is en-
forced as far as possible, although
some OF the men work only six hours,
while some of them claim that they
work nine and ten hours. The men
receive better pay here than similar
workers receive in the United States.
Men with families pay no house rent,
and are able to buy supplies from the
government at cost. AS a result, canal
workers live Cor considerably less than
they could live for in New York. White
men occupy all the responsible posi-
tons, and are known as "gold en-
ployes," while negroes are known as
silver employees Every ''gold EN-
ploye' is given an annual vacation of
40 days on pay. There are unions in
Panama, but the big canal is really an
open shop. There is some friction, but
not as much as on much smaller Jobs
at home Colonel Goethals knows ev-
cry white employe, and bows to all
workers Of his own color.
found along the canal. If workmen
require certain variety of preacher
men, they are supplied; likewise, if
they desire a certain variety of beans,
they are supplied. Many varieties of
men are employed. and they represent
many different religions. and eat many
different kinds of food.
The social problem in the canal zone
which is ten miles wide, and extends
from Colon to Panama, a distance of
40 miles-ls serious: also amusing. The
social standing of the white families is
regulated by the pay of the head of the
house. The wife of a man receiving
5000 a month stands higher socially than
the wife of man receiving only $3.50,
and the women insist on these rights.
Every Sunday. and every holiday, Col
Goethals hears complaints from who
ever cares to apply to him. One Sun
day woman appeared before him to
complain because woman $25 a month
below her in the social scale had more
electric LIGHT h1lIhS n al
Goethals cannot do much toward rem
edying the complaints made to him,
since they are usually trifling, but peo-
pie are always better satisfied after
they have made a fuss
Colonel Goethals said several times
while 1 was with him:
There are three kinds of les
Finally, 1 asked him to complete
the joke, as I hadn't heard it, and he
enumerated the different kinds of lies:
Lies, d. lies, and statistics No
man over As years old is brought to
Panama to work on the canal, and
every man must stand a rigorous phys
ical examination, and, as soon as a
worker is taken i'll, he is sent home
So that the statistical tables showing
that Panama IS healthier than Kansas,
or New York, or Iowa, or Illinois, are
probably misleading.
Panama is not white mans coun-
try frequently heard American resi-
dents say.
Exercise, it is said, is the secret of
health in the tropics. The death rate
from accidents on the canal is greater
than from any other cause. (Accord-
ing to statistics, but note what Colonel
Goethals said about statistics.) During
my days visit to the canal heard an
official say:
''The toughest proposition we have
to deal with is one American citizen
standing up fer his rights
Someone in the party remarked: a
man on the ship says he Will never live