The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-06-11
AMERICAN WOMEN AT PANAMA
All About housekeeping and Home Matters on the
Canal Zone.
By FRANK G.. CARPENTER
By FRANK G. CARPENTER.

udi1y ny llc1c sam ) men. he llSHl
is electric. and costs the housekeep-
er nothing. The only yheat in the
house is hat of the cook stove. and
this comes from soft Goa furnished
free by the government. and put in
without charge. One feature of the
kitchen is the little pans of coal oil
in which the legs of the refrigerator
and of the kitchen table stand.
These are to prevent the many kinds
of ants crawling llp and getting at the
provisions. Ants are the chief pests
Of the isthmus. They are of full size
and Of every variety. Some will eat
wood, n others go for vegetables
and everything sweet. If a woman
has plants h must keep the pots in
bowls Of vate~ or the ants will eat
them, and if she should leave a piece
OF sugar out anywhere it will be black
or red with these little insects.
Some Marketing Arrangements.
| wish yo- could have as good a
dinner today as I had in this house.
am describing. 1t was a Sunday
dinner. and perhaps a little better
than the ordinary meals, but it was
quite as good as any o could serve
in your home. We had a soup. a fish
and a roast-with an entree or so. end
ing with coffee. Swiss cheese. ice
cream and cake for dessert.
The most Of the food came from
the commissary department, which
is practically the only source of sup
ply. Uncle Sam runs a big grocery
store here. and he furnishes about
oil the food that bis $4,000 employees
have to eat. He has a catalogue and
price list of everything and the prices
are usually far below those of the
we had on the table came from Chi
cago. 1t was brought down frozen
stiff IN cold storage. and the price de-
llVered at the house was 20 cents a
pound. You would do we'll to get
such beef in your home market. and
you would have to pay so cents at
the least. The butter was excellent.
1t was not nearly SO high-priced as
at home. and my hostess told me
that the prices Of all canned vegeta-
bles are cut almost in half. This is
especially SO with articles imported
from Europe. We had aS a salad some
German asparagus Of the kind which
costs 35 cents a cal in the States
It is sold here by the government for
20 cents a can. We had also some de-
lcious French peas. which cost one
third what they do at home. AL
things that are brought here from
abroad come in free of duty, and as
they are furnished at only a little
more than cost theey are cheaper.
Living From Hand to Mouth.
AS we ate I asked the lady Of thu
house to tell me how she is supplied
She said:
I'VE live from hand to mouth. bu
in some. respects we are very much
!, better off tina at home. and in other;
like our home ways the better. w,
are. in fact. socialists, with Uncl
Sam as the governor. All Of our foo
comes from the government stores
and it is from them that our bread
. u ice, u meat and even our clio
thes are obtained. The ice is de
4 lvered every morning and put int
t the icebox. The coz. is brought to tn
S bins. the bread is left at the doc,
and it is the same with our clothes 0
r anything that we order.
Our orders are made by means Q
0 commissary books. which we hav
the right to buy I'D to SO per Ger
of u salaries. We cannot get
BOOK. however. until the salary
: earned. and if we should run out c
q book at the latter part of the mont
we have rather close forage. as 20
cannot buy anything from Uncle Sa1
except with these books. This is til
n onlv place l know of where you car
d not pay money to get things. TT
g only legal tender is one of the books.
g Well continued the lady. "aH o,
Is OTOcIS nave TO De MADE the DAY o.
q fore they are filled. The governmel
e has it's regular order man, who come
e around every morning and takes no,
ir Of the supplies that we need. "
n have to pay the order man in az
e vance for ali we order. and he leav,
is a copy Of the order with US and taxi
two copies with him. One Of the:
% cO"ies goes to the commissary stor
l. and the other is used in keeping tt
a accounts"
lie But do you always get what yc
ig order?"
1t LAS a general thing. yes. but IL
y trouble is we cannot pick out as ye
l. could at a market. and we LAY
l. take what is sent. / may order DO
m terhouse steak. and if the man sen
Id me a cut from the round. l have
redress. If the steak should be b;
r I could take it to the health offic
IS. and thus get back my money. but
it is merely of a different quality
all could do nothing. I know Of certa