The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-24

| sary department is in charge OF an army
officer, il is really the government which
| is feeding and clothing the thousands OF
canal workers. During the last year, it
was thought that through carelessness
of the store clerks exact weight was
not always given the customers. Conse-
quently, the automatic weighing ma.
chimes were installed as a guarantee of
correctness.
The value of goods sold to canal EN-.
ployes during the fiscal year l909-l9l0
was S3.9I3,5l914 AS Uncle Sam runs
no credit account on the canal, he is
able to itemize this cash received. The
sales included everything conceivable in
the way Of foods and supplies for the
American family, both necessities and
luxuries.
Prices for foodstuffs in the canal zone
were never SO low as during the last
year. and in almost every instances
pecially in foodstuifs-they were lower
than the prices for the same goods in
the states. This result was accomplished
in spite of the steadily advancing mar
ket in the states; pork was the only
exception. This meat rose so high that
even the commissary department had to
boost its prices.
Besides bringing to the canal zone, in
its six steamships, fresh California
fruits. game I'M season and fresh meats
in cold storage. the Panama railroad sup
piled thousands Of kitchens from its
own bakeries, ice plants and similar
establishments. More than 100000
loayes of bread were produced in the
bakery, TO say nothing of 504003 rolls
and l30,667 pounds Of cake. More than
10000 pies were produced from June
to january, but, owing to climatic con-
ditions the pie making was finally aban-
doned,
Ice cream to the value Of S62,37993
was made during the year, The report
says;-
''There is great demand for this prod.
uct throughout the year. We use only
fresh cream and milk shipped from the
United States Crushed fruit and the
highest class of davoring are used, and
Judging from the standpoint of sales, the
product must be highly satisfactory"
The havors are changed from four to
six times week. The ice cream bust
ness is so good in fact, that special
building has been erected for its manu-.
facture The railroad commissary also
roasts and grinds all the coffee used ON
the canal, and manufactures ice.
Washington, d. G., Jan. 24.--An in
fringement of the customs laws Of the
United States was sanctioned by the
of the treasury, in order to
facilitate the work of safeguarding the
Imperial valley Of California from flood
damage subsequent to the annual inun. !
dations of the Colorado river
The comptroller in a special opinion, I
permits special disbursing agent ]. G |
Herring Of Yuma, California. to paw the I
customs duties on materials shipped into /
Mexico BY check, and through a third ,
party. and also authorizes the use Of |
American ffty-eent pieces as Mexican |
dollars in this payment. Much of the 1
work authorized in the million-dollaT APP /
preparation by Congress last year for
guarding the Imperial valley has to be
done in Mexico. where the troublesome /
Colorado river runs. When the engineer
began work, they discovered that while
Il was easy TO eonfne the Colorado river
JiA AHt AAhtAANAA ntdE VI AAN UQNNuhiA
line. Il was imperative that some work
be done on Mexican soil
An international agreement was final.
" negotiated to permit of this. Then
he obstacle OF Mexican duties developed. 4
In order to remove this, the comptroller
decided to sanction a violation of the
avs. Statutes in force now prohibit
m of the things which the comptroller
n his opinion permits Herring to do.
The special disbursing agent before the
granting Of this permission found IL i'm
POSSIBLE to supervise all expectations Of
and machinery to Mexico. be-
.ause the customs house was ten miles
Instant from his Office, aud also found
{ impraeticable to make payments Of
Mexican customs duties in the coin Of
hat nation.