Omaha daily bee., 1912-05-26

Devil lie llkit 70 SCAaoa
H5RH tional. but it fits the story.
II is the fight Of Uncle Sam
for the souls Of his canal employees. u
tells how he has taken $3.50 or 1000 men,,
such as you find at mining camp or on
the frontier, has put them to work at
high wages. and at the same time has
kept them free from gambling, lust and
the other vices which have heretofore
been always associated with such organ
izations, When the French started this
canal they baptized it in champagne,
Their officials locked hands with Lucifer
and Bacchus. They brought their mis-
tresses with them from Paris. and graft
and extravaganza danced beside them
-yover the canal zone on the road to bank
'suptcy and, financial destruction.
Uplift Work I'm Panama.
go far our canal has been built without
graft We have spent hundreds of mil
lions and no one has charged that cent
or a dollar has gone into anything but
the actual construction of the canal or
the legitimate expenses connected there
with. More than that. the work has been
q NE IN q hHliHlldH way W bNes -
CAristian men. whose conduct is morally
as good as that of any social community
in the United States or the world. This,
1t seems to me. Is quite as wonderful as
| the building Of the canal itself.
How has It been accomplished
II has been done by the marrying ~
business to Christianity by bringing to
the front the forces which make for good
and. as far as possible, eliminating those
which make for the bad; by throwing
the Young Mems Christian association
clubhouse and its attractions as open
as the devil throws open the saloon, and
by feeding the minds and souls OF the
men with the good rather than the bad.
The result has been a social uplift
rather than a social downfall, and scores
of the employees who have come to Pan
anna will leave here in better state
morally than when they arrived. This
fight with the devil is still going on. II
may be seen along every part Of the
canal zone today. and as far as l can
see in every one OF the canal towns the
devil is getting the worst OF the battle
Club Houses for Canal Employees.
One OF the most important features OF
the fight is the clubhouses which have
been built for the canal employees. These
have been constructed by the govern
ment. and the experienced secretaries OF
the Young Mems Christian association
have been called in 10 run them. They
are so managed that they are largely self
supporting. and the Young Mems Chris
tian association and the government unite
Y in paying the deficit. ] don't know how
much they run short. but their opera
ton last year cost more than $4,000.
A great part Of this was made up oil
dues and other receipts. Each Of the two
thousand and odd members pay SO an
nualiy. and the restaurants and billiard
rooms bring in a considerable sum.
There are ciubhouses of this kind al
every station of Importance along the
canal zone. There is one at Porto Bello'
on the Caribbean sea, where there are
hundreds Of men engaged in crushing
rock for the Gatun locks. There is an
other at Cristobal. adjoining Colon. the
American port on the Atlantic, and
third at Gatun. where they are making
the dam. And then We have a clubhouse
at Gorgona. patronized by the men a.
work in the shops; another at Empire. a
the beginning OF the culebra cut anc
one here at Culebra. about midway Of
tn. cut. There is also a clubhouse OF
the Pacific division Of the canal. at Co
rozsL
Inside the Club Houses.
I wish ] could take you into these bullo
inEs They have all the eonveniences an'
comforts of our mems clubs at home
These houses are great pavilions sur
rounded by wide verandaS. so that the!
are cool and airy. The walls are veiie'
in woven wire netting to keep out m
MOSQUITOES. and everything is so large an
roony that 1t is cool day and night. Al
Of the buildings have reading rooms an
libraries. They have pool rooms an
billiard rooms. They have bowling alley
and gyunasiums. as well as rooms TO
n checkers chess and other games Fac
house has it's own refreshment rooms. an
in the lobby there are cigar and cand'
stands
L, MS take a look at the dubious
here AZ Culsbra. Il stands high above tn
great cut, and so commands IT that yo
can see for several miles the worl
going on beneath you. The building
about 90 feet long and fifty feet wide W
So in through the wide front door, whic
leads to the lobby or office. which is ais
the library. The library contains aeou
1os hooks. consisting largely Of biogrs
nhv and fiction. and is well patronized.
The books drawn out at culebra TIL
rnonth numbered zoo. and those distrr
uted throughout the whole zone wer
more than 2ooo
But listen to the music. II comes froi
that photograph there at the right Q
thu opposite side Of the hall Is an uprigf
piano. which we may hear later on.
Passing through the lobby We turn
the right and go into the reading room
This is filled with men in easy chsil
reading and chatting. They are In the
shirt sleeves. and look very comfortably
Z At one end of this room are two me
PLAYING chess. and at the opposite sid
several are writing
The scenes are for all the world Id
those OF : big city club in the Unite
States. The tables are covered with maj