Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-11-11
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CHAPTER XIII.
Labor.


1915, celebrating the formal
~ opening Of the Panama canal.
will be the most truly interna-
tional exposition ever held In this
country or any other.
Not only Is the object Of the exposi-
ton international In interest. but there
. not nation under the sun. possibly,
which has not contributed some Of its
citizens to the construction force Of
the canal. In the census Of the canal
zone taken in February. 1912, forty
nationalities are listed.
At the beginning Of the American
occupation. in 1904. there were 746
men employed on the canal. Accord
Ing to the quartermaster's department
me highest force of record since then
was In April. 1918. when the payrolls
showed 44.681 employees.
The percentage Of Americans in the
total working force usually has been
one-sixth or one-seventh. Their work
= Of supervisory character, or
skilled labor such as mechanics. car
penters. plumbers. masons. electricians.
0S(. dioO arc NuC StCuu chONCis
locomotive and marine engineers. rail
coad conductors. time inspectors. fire.
men, policemen. all branches Of civil
administration. office forces. sanitary
and hospital officers. foremen. civil en-
gineers. and the like.
LabOrers did not come to the canal
zone In sufficient numbers during the
~
Offices in Europe. the West Indies and
the United States. total of $4,000
men were imported under contract
with the commission from 1904 to
1910
Spain furnished the largest number
of European laborers to the canal I'M
til the government of that country in
1908 forbid further emigration to Pan
ANA. Out of total of ll.797 Euro
pean laborers imported to 1910, 5000
were Spaniards. and the others came
principally from Italy. France and Ar.
menia.
The cOlOred labor predominates in
the canal zone and was obtained in the
islands of the West Indies. Barbados
The largest immigration for one year
was in 1907. when l4.942 laborers were
imported
The color line has been drawn in the
canal zone by dividing the employees
into gold and SILVER men. In the
first category are the Americans and
in the SECOND the common and unskill-
ed labOrers. Wages are paid in silver
to the labOrers. and salaries to the
Americans are paid In gold. This dis
tinctiOn Is not a hard and fast one.
and the idea was adopted as the best
means for the government to draw the
color line. Second class coaches are
provided on the trains. special win
dows In the postolices. special clerks
In the cOmmssary and separate eating
places for the silver employees.
Many labor saving devices have
been born of necessity in the canal
zone. The honor for inventing the
greatest Of these belongs to w. g
Bierd. formerly general manager of the
Panama railroad and the man who
most largely was responsible for bring
ing that archaic system from chaos
to order under Chief Engineer Ste
yens He originated Il track shlfter
which does the work of 5W men in
one day and requires only nine men to
operate it.
Strikes have never been successful in
the canal zone. In 1904 President Roose-
welt gave the commission the power to
expel anybody from the canal zone
who. in it's discretion. was not neces.
sary to the work Of building the canal
or was objectionable for any reason.
No such power resides in any Ameri-
ran state executive. hut the supreme
court held that the canal zone was
not under the constitution and was
subject to the regulation OF military
reservation.
The canal employees are the most
pampered set of workers in the world
an eight hour day with a two hour in
PERMISSION ut noon. first class board
cheaper than IN the United States. free
quarters. free medical service on full
pay. nine holidays on pay. reduced
railroad rates, wages and salaries from
80 to 80 per cent higher than in the
united States. an annual vacation of
forty-two days on full pay for gold en-
ployees and the necessares of life for
sale ut lower prices in the government
commissary than in the United States.
No one realizes how generous the
government has been to its employees
ut Panama more than the employee
who leaves the service to return to
work I'm the United States. Over and
over again such employees have re-
turned to the canal zone to take work
at wages or salaries less than they
were receiving when they quit. One
foreman drawing $3.50 a month In Pan
ANA decided he could do rs well ut
home In year he returned to the
canal zone and gladly took IA position
at 65 cents an hour. or about 1892
month The cost of living and stand
ard of pay in the United States made
him repent his action.
Any employee on monthly salary
basis may take eighty-one days off ut
tull pay in every year. He has a va
cation of forty-two days on pay. 81 sick
leave of thirty days on pay and nine
holidays on pay, Il total of eightyoue
days that the government voluntarily
depriyes itself OF the employees serv-
ices. The, sick leave. too. is pretty
generally used up by the employees.
who have little trouble in persuading
district physician they need rest at