The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-05

"Macadamized roads are also being built through the zone,' the governor went OF. We now have good automo- bile road running along the line of the canal from Panama to Gorgona about ? miles This road cannot be extended be- yond Gorsona, since Gatun lake, as it will be ultimately formed, will extend to Cor gofa and cover nearly all the area be- tween Gorgona and Gatun. On the At lantic side there is a macadamized road from Gatun to Colon, distance of about seven and one-half miles,
 eTell me something of the people who are now living on the zone.
 Most of them are laborers engaged in the canal work. Nearly every race and locality of the globe is represented. There are Chinamen East Indians, natives of South and Central America. and tens of thousands of negroes from the islands of the Caribbean sea. Most Of the silver employees are from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, St. Kits, Martinique, and others of the West Indian Islands. These peo- pie are English speaking, for the most part, although those from Martinique speak French, and we have some Spanish speaking negroes from Colombia and Ven ezuela. We have spaniards from the northern part of the Iberian peninsula, and also Italians, Greeks. Armenians and men of other nationalities.H
 How many whites have you?'
 "About 15,009. Of these 5000 are Amer jeans engaged on the canal This in- cludes the engineers, high-grade me chanics and clerical employees. Another 5000 of the whites are the wives and children of the American employees, and in addition we have about 5000 white En- ropean laborers."
 How many negroes have you?.
 Nearly 6o,00o. I should say"
 How Law and Order Are Kept
 But is not such a varied population hard to control? I should think 1t would be very much like that of a mining camp in the wilds of our west or of a construction gang which is building a railroad through a new country. If that population were in the United States ev- erything would be wide open. There would be faro games. poker games and roulet; the zone would be peppered with saloons, and it would be very unsafe to go about after dark How is it here?'
 There is no comparison between our conditions and those which you have de- scribed." said the governor. We have no public gambling in this part of Uncle Sam's territory. l doubt whether you can find as good order in any city of the United States as right here in these set dement's along the canal. You must re- member that most of our worl<men are single men. They have their quarters free and they live in camps or barracks near where they work The lights in those barracks go out every night at o'clock. and every one is compelled to be quiet so that tho others may sleep The fact that married quarters have been generally provided for white American employees and their families, I believe, has greatly aided in establishing stable social conditions
 How the Zone Is Policed
 "But does it not require a large police force to keep the people in order?''
 No. Our policement are men of expe- rience The chief is Col. J. P. Fyffe and the assistant chief is Capt c. w. Bar Der of the United States army. Both men have had military experiences, and the force is handled somewhat along military ines. We have nearly 3c0 policemen all told. One-half of these are white Amer jeans and are chiefly ex-sodiers of the United states army. The other half are blacks. who have served in the police and military forces of the West Indian there As result our policemen are trained to obey and theiy are efficient in their work. The black policemen receive in pay almost three times as much here as they received in the British service, and they are pleased with their jobs. They are used chiefly in handling the black population of the zone. I believe one feature of our police service which makes it more easy to preserve law and order here is the respect which the la