The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1913-10-31

the early days there was Unpleasant
crowding because of the scarcity OF
buildings. but only occasionally has
there been congestion in late years
These buildings shelter from q dozen
to sixty men and. like the married
quarters. are screened on the outside.
Hotels operated by the commission
are the boarding places for the BACH
elor employees. The wide verandas
are screened. and tables here are re-
served for the bachelor girls and for
the men who wear coats at mealtime.
Inside the employees may eat in their
| shirt sleeves. The meals cost 30 cents
each and are paid for by coupons that
come fifty to the book. These books
cost SIS, and the amount is deducted
from the employees salary at the end
Of the month. so that no cash is handled
at the hotels. except from nonemploy-
ees, who must pay 30 cents for a meal.
the United States for rs cents a meal.
A typical thirty cent menu includes
soup, two kinds Of meat. four kinds of
vegetables, hot rolls or light bread, a
salad, tea, coffee or cocoa, and for des-
sert Ice cream or pie. On every table
are fruit. olives. preserves. condiments,
and for several years In the early
stages an open bowl of quinine as
malariaI antidote.
The hotels for the gold employees
" OF elt ~hf
loss, while the European laborers'
messes and the colored laborers' kitch-
ems have shown profit. At the ness
es for the Europeans, principally
Spaniards and Italians, the cost of
three meals is 40 cents, while at the
kitchens where the West Indian labor
ers get their food cooked to take away
and eat the cost is 30 cents for three
meals. The food is always wholesome
and plentiful, and the tastes Of the va
rious nationalities are studied to give
them that to which they are accustom-
ed. The West Indians consume more
than 100 tons of rice monthly, the Ital-
lans want macaroni, and the Spaniards
eat vast quantities of bread.
Stewards at the hotels for the gold
employees found that each man aver
aged only two meals a day. The saw
ing to an employee by cutting out one
meal is SO month. They substitute
fruit or sandwich from the clubhouse
for the third meal and in the two they
do eat stow away enough to satisfy
thnir L., 10 |
cents each would cost S27 IA month
Two meals a day, or sixty for the
month, cost $1S. Some Of the employ |
ees cut out breakfast and some lunch |
so the stewards prepare food for All
average of two meals per employee.
The Tivoli hotel ut AncOn, ON the |
Pacific side, is the tourist hotel oper |
ated by the commission Its rates, |
American plan. are $3.50 n day and |
up. There are 2lS rooms and II dining |
room that will seat $40 persons. At |
Colon. OH the Atlantic side. the CON.
mission operates the Washington hotel
for the use of visitors to the canal zone.
Still another factor that makes liv-
ing in the canal zone cheaper than in
the United States in the result of the
climate With II uniformly warm
temperature the quality of clothes does
not vary the year rllnd-fOr the WON
en-, light, summary goods. largely
white: for the men, duck or linen suits
or light staple cloths The saving
from not having to buy new clothes
with the change of seasons is impOr-
tant, and the employees generally try
to arrange their vacations so as to be
In the United States in mild weather.
A bride starts out life there on a
basis that means rude jolt to her
when the canal is finished and she re-
turns TO the United States. Young
couples who have been treading the
easy path of high salary, free rent,
free water. light and fuel, cheaper
food clothes and furniture, elastic
class distinctions and plentiful though
not efficient~servants must ever look
back upon their canal zone experience
as the particularly bright period In
their careers. The whitening blasts of
social competition. high cost Of living
and salaries from one to two-thirds
lower in the United States will make
the easy going, overgenerous life at
Panama seem the temps de luxe" in
their lives.
(THE END) /