El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-30

~ MPIRE,. Canal Zone, May 5V-
-, Nine thousand Americans live
in the Canal zone. More than
half of them, about 5000, are employed
by the. Canal commission or the Pana-
ma railroad, 1000 are the women
members Of their families and the 9TH
er 1000 are children, many of them
born under the Stars and Stripes here
on this little ribbon OF territory
through which the great canal is be-
ing dug.
For the most part the Americans
are happy and contented; they like the
work; they like the pay, and they have
learned how not to hate the weather
Perhaps there are those who long
for snow at the Yuletide, and
those who wish they never would
hear another word of the "spiggoty'
lingo, but those same persons will
pine for the tropics when they are once
again back home.
Many Reasons for Happiness.
These workers from the states have
every material reason to be happy
here. Their wages are so percent
higher than the wages for similar
work in the United States; tropical
clothing is much cheaper than the
clothing required in the north; they
buy their food without paying mid
dle-man's profit; their houses are pro-
vided- rent-free; the electric current
for their lights is furnished without
charge; their doctors bills are paid By
the government; there is a free hospit-
al for serious illness and an island
sanitarium for recuperation; and their
children are given free transportation
to free schools.
Most of the men here realize the op
portunities afforded them, and are
saving their wages against the time
when Uncle Sam will no longer be
paymaster, quartermaster and subsist-
ence officer. Of course, not all the
workers are thrifty, for average hui
man nature is average human nature
in the canal zone just the same as
in Michigan or Mississippi. At the
same time there is abundant proof
that the governmental experiments in
social problems on the Canal zone have
been quite as successful as its expert
ments in engineering and sanitation.
Wisdom of the Government.
The wisdom of the government in
providing houses for the families of
married workers has been thoroughly
demonstrated. 1t has been the exper-
fence of the canal authorities that
married men usually come to Panama
with a definite purpose and that they
are more inclined to rove, come and go
all the time.
Most of the married workers now
on the Isthmus have been here two
years or more, and they will stick
by the work until it is finished. On
the other hand, two years is a long
time for an unmarried worker to stay
on the canal During the last fiscal
year three-fifths of all the Americans
working on the Canal zone vent back
to the states The great majority of
those returning were single men,
This unstable condition Of the person
mel has prevailed ever since the canal
work was begun, the only exception
being that class of married men who
have been given houses to live in.
These have recognized their opportuni
ties for saving, have been so comfort
able that they have not felt the eff
fects of the depressing climate as
much as the more lonely bachelors.
and the government has been well re-
paid for its paternal care Of them and
their wives and babies.
OF the 100 married men employed
on the work. more than a thousand
were here prior to January /, 1908.
OF the total number of 500 men at
work last year, 1900 quit their jobs.
Their places were filled at once, about
one-third by new appointments from
the states, one-third from men on the
Isthmus and ene-third by re-employ
ment of men who repented their resig-
nations. All appointments made on
the Isthmus are temporary, subject to
the arrival of permanent appointees
from the states, and therefore there
is little or no chance for the man
who goes to Panama on his own hook.
-
been stranded on the Isthmus, and the
Canal commission uses every possible
means to warn workmen not to come
to the canal job-hunting on a mare
prospect tour.
Workers Take Deep Interest.
The most striking thing about the
American workers is their intense in
terest in the canal-they seem almost
to think that it is their personal prop
erty, their own particular hobby, their
pet plaything. A yardmaster at the
Pedro Miguel locks said that the whole
canal force was a big happy family.
Another said that every man in the job
was working for the one purpose OF
eclipsing every record made last year.
A captain of police at Gorgona declar-
ed that he had been watching the
progress of the work for three years
with as much interest as II the ditch
were his own personal undertaking.
At the Tivoli hotel one morning at
seven o'clock well-tanned. why
little American at breakfast said he
had gone to bed in Colon, at the other
end OF the canal. at leleven the night
before, his telephone by his side. He
was called to transact business by
telephone 1t midnight. again at one