El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-05-04

the Islands OF the Caribbean sea. Most
Of the silver employees are from Jamai-
ca, Barbados. Trinidad St kits. Mar
Unique and others of the West Indian
islands These people are English
speaking. for the most part although
those from Martinique speak French,
and we have some Spanish-speaking ne
grOeS from Colombia and Venezuela. We
have Spaniards from the northern part
OF the Iberian peninsula, and also Ital-
ians. GreekS( Armenians and men Of
other natiOnaliueS.'
How many whites have you?"
About $1,000. OF these 5000 are
Americans engaged on the canal This
includes the engineers, high grade me-
chanics and clerical employees. Another
5000 of the whites are the wives ana
children Of the American employees, and
in addition we have about 5000 white
European labOrerS-'
How many negroes have yOu?'
Nearly $4,000. I should say"
How La wand Order Are Kept.
But Is not such a varied population
hard 10 contrOl2 / should think il
would be very much like that of min
ing camp in the wildS of our west or
/ of a construction gang which Is build
I ing A railroad through q new country.
fIf that populs ton were in the United
States everything would be wide open.
There would be faro games, poker
games and rOulet- the zone would De
/ peppered with saloons. and it would be
very unsafe TO so about after dark.
l How is IL here
There is no comparison between our
conditions and those which YOU nave
described said the governor We
have no public gam cling in this part OF
Uncle sam territory 4 doubt whether
you can find as good order in any city
Of the United States as right here IN
these settlements along the canal You
must remember that the most Of our
wOrkmen 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
the others may sleep. The fact that
married quarters have been generally
provided for white American employees
and their families. l believe. has great
" aided in establishing stable social
conditions"
How the Zone Is POIiced.
But does ii not require a large po-
lice force to keep the people in Order2"
No. Our policemen are men Of exc
perience- The chief is Col. !. P. Fyffe
and the assistant chief is Capt. c. ".
Barber OF the United States army. Both
men have had military experiences. and
the force IS handled somewhat along
military lines. We have nearly 500 pO-
licemen all told. One-half Of these are
white Americans. and are chiefly eX-
soldiers Of the United States army The
other half are blacks who have served
Al the ponce anu AlllAA LdEE LOICtS OF the
West Indian islands and have made
good records there AS result our
policemen are trained TO obey, and they
are efficient in their wOrk.-rhe 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 IL more
easy to preserve law and order here is
the respect which the laborers have for
the police Our police officers are held
in much the same regard IS are the
famous mounted policemen of Canada
One or two OF our policemen Will go
into a camp of 200 or 800 blacks or
Spaniards and make an arrest without
would not be possible in many parts Of
the United States
The Arrests Per Month.
1T may be that the population is bet
ter than OursE
81 believe that much OF our good or
der is due TO the way the men are han
died. Now. here is last months repOrt
which shows the arrests which were
made among 7O-Odd thousand peo-
pie in the zone. The total number Of
arrests was 53S. and of the offenders
arrested 4S1 we're men and 81 women
Now, note the natiOnSlities. They came
from 80 different countries Here ar
81 from Jamaica. 1872 from Barbados Is
from Trinidad and q from Martiuioue
IS from Spain. 50 from Panama and 4g
from the United States: are from
British Guiana. from Fortune Island
3 from India and from China Among
the others are Cubans, Germans. Creeks
Italians and MeNicans one from Fin
land, one from Tunis in north Africa
and one from New Zealand. This gives
you some idea Of our mixed population"
What are the offences"
"They are mostly petty ones. num-
Der are for violation OF the sanitary
and revenue laws, some for crua1tv- -
animals some for fighting and drunk
ennese and other forms OF disorder a
few for non-support OF wives ana fam
lies. two or three are for homicide
some for burglary, q are for vaRraDc,-
two for cock fighting, and included in
the total are the arrests Of five SOL
diers for being absent without leave +"
The JaiIa and Prisons of the Zone.
What do YOU do with these men after
you arrest them
IF they are unable to give bond wa
put them in Jail and have them tried
In our zone courts. We have q DeDfte1-
tiary at Culebra and jails AT the var
iOus towns on the zone. The DenftaD
tary is a model OF its kind. The mis-
oners are credited with good conduc+
and they can thus shorten their tar-9s
Of imprisonment They are also grade5
and clothed according 20 cOnduct arJ
we find this has greatly improved ~
prison discipline and the efficianc, ~
prison labor. We now have I45 CON
yicts IN the penitentiary. Two are IN
Tor life. for ten years or more II
have received five-year sentences. %
tWo-year sentences and about so hav1