The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-19

care taken In saving the scraps anywhere as right here at Panama. Lumber Is used over and over again. The buildings which form part of the Gatun lake basin have been torn down by carpenters. and ell the materials shipped to other stations in the canal zone. The windows and doors and even the galvanized roofs were preserved.
 Right here at Culebra they are now moving the buildings In advance of a great slide, which is expected. taking in the ground where the penitentiary stands
 1t will all be bare by the time the slide comes. In doing such work the men save every hinge. nail and every board and stick that can be used for new construc- tlon, and then set the Jamaica negroes to cutting the scraps into klndling wood for the employees Uncle Sam furnishes free fuel to his men and kindling Is quite pensve
 Millions Saved from Old Material
 Indeed, 1t is wonderful how much Uncle Sam saves by the sale of old machinery and various kinds of waste material. The moment he gets through with q machine he disposes of it, and at the close of the work there will be some mighty sales of this kind So far more than s5,0OO GOO has been turned into the treasury from the sale of government property down here, and an additional s400O,000 has been re- ceived for services rendered and material supplied to Individuals and companies. Everything is watched and there is noth- ing too small to be picked up and cared for. Going through the Culebra cut Sun day one may see a gang of men gatner- ing up the old bits of iron to be shipped off and sold, and every piece of old piping iJ strengthened out for new work. The bad joints are thrown away and new threads are made on that which is left. Ii is the same with brass, copper and old rubber. It is all saved and classified to be sold as junk. There Is a car filled with rubber hose and rubber piping on the side tracks here now, and in this Is a large quantity of worn rope and wire cable. and also of lead pipe, steel chains and other materials of various kinds.
 Walking with Colonel Devol through some of these buildings covered with wire netting asked as to the effect of the cli- mate upon the metal cloth. He replied:
 This woven wire lasts only about two years. It then begins to have holes and we take 1t off and replace it with new. The old netting we bale up and ship to New York, where it is sold at fixed prices. We made shipment last week which brought in s7000, and we have sold many lots which brought more." A
 1t is the same with the galvanized roof ing. Some of that on the French houses built 20 or 90 years ago is full of holes. but nevertheless it does for the walls of build ings where such holes do not matter It Is the same with everything. The ma chimes are cared for as though they were race horses and everywhere economy and efficiency march side by side.
 Watching the Labor
 I have already written something about the labor of the canal. Uncle Sam pays bigger wages and gives longer vacations than any other employer on earth. The men here get from 25 to 50 per cent more than in the states, and they have free quarters, free medical attendance 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 lit- tie loafing on the canal, and during work ing hours every muscle is put 10 it's high est efficiency. There are detectives who go about to see if there Is any scamping the job or padding the pay rolls, and the poor workman is pretty sure to be dropped.
 This is especially so of the men handling the machinery. A careful record is kept of the amount of labor that each machine performs. and from week to week the en- gineers know just what every steam shovel and every dredge is doing. There is a great competition as to which ma chimes and which gangs do the most, and as result we have had some surprising work. The outputs of the steam shovels