Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1910-03-16
THE TRIP TO PANAMA
EDITORS ON TWO SHIPS CROSS
GULF OF MEXICO AND
CARIBBEAN SEA.
Experience All the Delights of
Rough Sea Voyage and Cross
the Continent From Ocean
to Ocean i'm Two and
One-Half Hours.

AS stated in last weeks issue, ft
is the annual custom of the National
Editorial Association of the United
States to arrange for sightseeing
trip at the close of each annual meet
ing, and the excursion this year was
from New Orleans to the Isthmus of
Panama, and an inspection of the
great ocean to ocean ship canal
which the United States is rapidly
pushing forward to completion.
Out of about three hundred and
fifty editors in attendance at the
New Orleans meeting, about $50
took advantage of the trip to
Panama. The magnificent steam
ship Carriage" of the United Fruit
Company was chartered for the trip,
and inasmuch as there were only
first class quarters for 10 passen-
gers on this ship, the remainder of
the party took passage on the "Tur-
rialba' sister ship of the same line.
Inasmuch as the entire passenger
list of the Carriage" were members
of the editorial party, with whom
We had become acquainted at New
Orleans, we started out like one
great family, under very agreeable
and auspicious circumstances.
The "Cartago" is a splendid mod
ern passenger ship, with a crew of
81 officers and men, and is fitted
with the latest and best machinery
and equipment. 1t has three regu-
lar passenger decks with hurricane
deck above, and still it seemed that
the greater part of the ship was be-
water line. We were fortunately To-
Gated on the lower passenger deck,
about midship, and had a fine large
stateroom, almost as large as an or
dinary hotel room, well equipped
with three berths, and every con-
venience for comfort and pleasure.
The ship is nearly 400 feet long, the
length of about block and one
third of Water street, Decorah, and
it's boilers consume fifty tons of coal.
per day, to furnish steam for power,
etc. The magnificent dining saloon.
library, smoking room, and the
broad decks furnished ample loung-
ing room for passengers outside of
the state rooms. SO that it might
well be called a floating palace.
The ships crew was composed of
English, Scotch, Irish. Canadians,
Chinese, Germans, Negroes, etc. so
that there was nothing lacking in
variety. The Chinese stoakers and
deck hands numbered about forty
men, and occupied quarters in the
forward enc of the ship, and when
the passengers were not occupied
with anything else, they busted
themselves watching the antics and
peculiar customs of the Chinese.
who smoked opium, ate with chop
sticks and gambled in true Oriental
fashion.
We steamed out of New Orleans
at IL o'clock Sunday morning in
high spirits. 1t was just at the sea-
son of the Chinese fifteen-day New
Year festivities and the fireworks
exploded by our Chinks as we left
port made one think of an engage
ment in war times. They had spent
all the money they had for fire.
works. and for a half hour there
was a pandemonium of noise and
bedlam.
There was one feature of our de-
parture that caused us all to hang
our heads in shame-that was the
fact that We were sailing under a
foreign (British) flag, upon a ship
manned by a foreign crew. 1t is a
well-known fact that ships manu-
factured in foreign ports must fly
the flag of that country. We are
not prepared to say that ship sub
sidy as at present proposed is the
proper solution of the problem. but
wherever one goes on the high seas,
he sees practically every ship flying
the flag of some foreign nation, and
1t is decidedly embarrassing to an
American. hailing from nation
that is far in advance in everything
else, to recognize that his beloved
land must take a back seat in the
matter of merchant marine. Some
'day the United States will solve this
problem, but as it is today people
or the interior states do not realize
the great opportunities that are be-
ing lost in competition for the trade
of the world
The journey down the Mississippi
11O miles to the Gulf of Mexico was
continuous panorama of interest
Continued on Page ID