Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-26
VIZ Go MTo THE.
READlNG ROoM

by ten foot shacks, very roughly finished.
The scouts are to have charter from
the national headquarters OF New York
and they are TO he known as the isthmian
scout commission. Not long ago Gen.
Baden-Powen, the commandments OF
the Boy Scouts. visited the isthmus.
number of the boys went to Colon to
meet him. and the general went over the
work with the scout master and express
ed himself pleased.
A good fight with the devil is being
waged by the Christian churches which
have been organized since We began our
work here. There are now forty on the
Canal Zone The first building authorized
was the Roman Catholic chapel in the
hospital grounds at Ancon. That was be-
gun in 1906. and I'm the year following
church and lodge buildings We're con-
structed at Gorgona and Cristobal Since
then land has been granted for churches
of many denominations and the govern
ment has sold building material at cost
to those who wish to put up such struc-
lures The commission requires that there
shall be resident chaplains for the An
con and Colon hospitals, and the parsons
or priests have to visit the wards of the
hospitals daily and also to hold services
over such of the patients as die. ] have
before me list of the churches of the
zone. They are of almost every denomi-
nation, but there seem to be more Epis-
copal and Catholic than of any OF the
others. There are fifteen chaplains il
the commission service, of whom four are
Episcopalians. four Baptists, three Ro-
man Catholics two Methodists, one Wes-
leyan and one Presbyterian. There is a
Methodist Episcopal church in the city
of Panama, to which the communicates
from Ancon are carried in government
carriages every Sunday.
In addition to the regular churches
considerable mission work and church
extension work is being done. There is
one West Indian mission at Empire.
which has $50 communicates, and there
are other missions patronized by the
West Indian negroes. There Is a colored
mission at Culebra and young men
colored institute there.
There are also a number of Sunday
schools on the zone, some for negroes
and some for whites. The negro Sunday
schools the oldest. those for white
children dating back only TO 1905. The
white Sunday schools are fourteen in
number and their enrolment is some
thing like 700.
The Saliva ton Army began its work here
eight years ago, when one OF the soldiers
from Jamaica came and submitted a plan
of salvation to the governor of the zone.
He was given a house in Cristo5al and
later on the commission appropriated sew
eral thousand dollars for building there.
This contains a restaurant. kitchen,
reading room and dormitory, including
bath and toilet rooms. 1t has also living
apartments for the commander and his
son.
The Salvation Army work is confined
almost entirely to the negroes. although
at its quarters some whites are occasion
ally registered. During one week the
GUESTS included Americans, English.
Scotch, Scandinavians. Russians. Bone
mians Jamaicans, Chileans, Peruvians
andBarbadians. More than 80 per cent OF
the men who come to these quarters pay
back what they receive before leaving
the isthmus, and the institution is self
supporting Lodging costs - cents
night to those who can pay, and the 9TH
ers have their beds free.
In addition to the quarters at Cristohal
another salvation building is to be erected
at Panama, and outpost work is carried
on also at Gorgona and Empire.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.