Arizona republican., 1910-04-15

in the main prosecuted in good faith,
 but met with misfortune rather than dishonesty. that led to failure. They
 left much of value that has been uti- lzed; in fact most of their work was done to good purpose. but in the long
 interim intervening things got in a ter
 rible condition. The old railroad track was covered with debris and scores of locomotives were almost buried. The
 first locomotive put in commission was with a cocoanut tree growing up be- tween the rails and around the boiler
 with ripe cocoanuts on it. They had to
 practically uncarth the old plant.
 Things had to be done systematical i ly and there was need of much print 1 ing: not only the regular publication
 later established. but blanks, orders notices. etc. They finally equipped 1 high class modern printing, stereotyp | ing establishment. the latter for mak | ing maps. particularly. Even rubber { stamps used to cost s9 each. and now
 they are made for a quarter.
 Then they found it necessary to cs tablish shops for the repair of all en- gineering instruments weather bureau paraphcrnalia. etc. finding both the eX 1 pense and loss of time in sending
 everything home most embarrassing. ! They can now make or repair almost 1 any mechanical device on the isthmus. , In November. 1904. they began their first water system and by July 1905. | they had d reservoir holding 46S, ,O0o.-
 900 gallons and eight streams of water
 running into the city of Panama. They now have three more of them and they
 are full of water, Poultney BiSclow to the contrary notwithstanding Then
 came the question of supplies and talk
 ing the railway comissary for a nu-
 cleus they built up the system that now feeds almost the entire gone and during the past winter they have been selling beef or cents cheaper than
 in the United States Then followed the building of the Y. NJ. C. A. homes. the churches. lodge rooms. and all the institutions of social life. Docks hsds to be built for ships and for the hand
 ing of 125,O00 tons of coal per month One electric crane is 375 feet long and runs back and forth on rails 900 feet long Then came a system of laun- dries another of cold storage plants bakery turning out 10000 loaves Of bread per day. There are other insti tutions of similar sort. too numcro- ous 10 mention. They now feed the white laborers for 90 cents per day and the native laborers eat in their ac customed fashion being served with food which they squat around the ground and devour.
 The thing Mir. Brooke pointed out for special emphasis was that many con sider all these things as a tremendous waste of money for luxuries for the laborers. on the contrary all these institutions are self supporting. No profit is expected. The employees of the government are the patrons and the point is that the conveniences are not paid for out of the annual appro- priations for canal building. except perhaps the initial cost or the loan of the money during the organization period. The lsborers are able to have human necessities. paying for them at cost to the government that provides them.
 Speaking of the safety of the Gatun dam. MT. Brooke said the stories con- corning it were jokes in the minds Of those who know. The dam is only 1l0 1 feet high and the base of it is seven eighths of mile thick. The"e was d | world of material at hand and it like | all other constructions, was made | stronger even than it need to be. as I everything was at hand and it was necessary to make all constructions so | they will withstand the severest criti- | cism of sO.G0o.000 people.