The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-05-21

oliiSi material OF various hlIIS.
Walking with Colonel Deyol
through some OF these buildings COW
cred with wire netting l asked as 10
the effect Of the climate upon the
metal cloth. He replied:
This woven wire lasts only about
two years. 1t then begins 10 AVE
holes and We take it off and replace
II With new. The old netting we bale
up and ship TO New York. where ii is
sold at fixed prices. We made j ship
ment last week which brought in 81
600, and We have sold many lots
which brought more"
1t is the same with the galvanized
roofing. Some of that on the French
houses built twenty or thirty years
ago is full Of holes, but nevertheless
It does for the walls of buildings
where such holes do not matter. 1t
IS the same with everything. The
machines are cared for as though
they were race horses and eVeryu here
economy and efficiency march side by
side.
Watching the Labor.
I nave already written something
about the abor OF the canal. Uncle
Sam pays bigger wages and gives
longer vacations han any other en-
plOyer on earth. The men here get
from % to so per cent more than in
the States, and they have free quar-
ters, free medical tendanc and free
fuel. They can buy eatables at a
shade above cost and each of them
has six weeks vacation. with his high
rate of pay during the year.
In return for this Uncle Sam sees
that they do their work. There is
mighty little loafing on the canal, and
during working hours every muscle is
put to its highest efficiency. There
are detectives who go about to see if
there is any scamping the job or pad
ding h pay rolls, and the poor work
man is pretty sure to be dropped.
h is especially so Of the men
handling the machinery. A careful
record is kept Of the amount of labor
that ach machine performs. and
from week to week the engineers
know just what every steam shovel
and every dredge is doing. There is
a great competition as to which ma
} chimes and which n do the most
and as a result we have had some
Surprising work. The outputs Of the
, steam shovels have been doubled. anl
a single shovel has e~xcavated abou
1000 cubic yards in one day, while
Y another has a record Of having load
ed more than $4,000 cubic yard
, in one month. That first shovel dit
the work Of over 900 men. Now whel
it is remembered that we have some
thing like 100 shovels on the isthmu
you can see how much it lean tina
9 all should work we'll. Altogether tn
+ shovels alone represent a force eQua
a to the labor Of forty or fit
: thousand men. and the same is tru
of other great machines on the 18th
mus. such as the track shutters an
+ spreaders, each of which does tn
work of hundreds.
Machine Efficiency.
Indeed. the amount Of labor save
at Panama by the use Of machiner
is enormous Uncle Sam is dom
nothing that he AN get steam, cleo
I tricity or compressed air to do, an
: he finds that it pays. Scientific studio
are made Of blasting and drilling, an
q the men know just where to use an
n where to save dynamite. In ~cOnnectiO
with the steam ShOvels. the govern
n ment employs seven or eight hundre
men in drilling and blasting. If tn
work were lone by hand it woul
n have to ave two or three thOusan
men and would use about three time
the amount Of explosives. The trac
$, shutters and spreaders, which ar
e handled by three white men and 81
laborers. can O more than q mil
OF track in a lay and they can Sprea
q down an e~ighteen-foot dump to
6 wide rOad Of nine feet. It is estima.
y ed hat the nine men so working ar
equal to a gang Of 900, which woul
q need nine fOremen to handle the
e The LidgerWoOd unloaders, which re
y Quire tWenty-eight white men an
n fOrty-tWO labOrerS to operate Their
le each do as much work as twenty
IS six hundred laborers with the neces
S. saTy white foremen, supposing tn
IS work to be done otherwise. TIL
e. dredges are also of enormous savin
in the way Of efficiency. and we hay
h many other machines of similar ecC
d nOmica1 nature.
te UncIe Sans Bookkeeping.
is wish l could show you the bool
IS that the government is keeping dow
k here at nan They have q Sy!
Of tenn Of accounts which shows jul
= what everything costs down to tf
s. lifting of every pound Of sand an
ut rock. to the making of every cub