The mirror., 1913-06-26
paper Read Before The Chautauaua circle)
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By M . F.
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4
bull. fight" on the Zone, as they are
farce, but If you have red" in
your veins, don't overlook to have
some China boy show you-a good
pit, for it's an undisputed fact that
they raise some of the best birds in
the world in the tropics, and the
way the Chinese, Columbian and
jamaican boys bet their spigotty"
on every fly will make you think
of an old-time Chicago betting ring
on Derby day.
Monday morning we took the
train back to Colon, where we
made use of the pilot-boat up the
Charges river to Gatun, which is
the first of the three gates" from
the Atlantic side. Colon, today, IS
not what one of our descriptive
writer's refers to, as the sluice box
or catch basin of a sewer, gathering
all the sediment carried by the
waters of the Caribbean sea, Gulf
of Mexico and Atlantic ocean, and
which he terms as the wickedest
city in the western hemisphere" }"
but an up-to-date American town,
and in a few years will be far lar
ger than the Capitol, even if it won't
never contain some of the wonders
Of the city of Panama.
When we land at Gatun, or as
near as we can get to the constru-
ton work, we are surprised to see
so many thousands of men--each
one doing is own little part in the
building of these massive cement
walls which are to hold back the
waters of the Caribbean, Atlantic
and Pacific oceans. The hundreds
of cables strung all over the works
reminds you of steel rolling mill,
the way they carry the ore to the
furnace and return it later In iron,
is tie nearest | can come to describ
ing the way they have OF handling
the crushed rock, cement. ETC., on
the Gatun locks, and when we look
at this great big piece of work, we
can hardly realize that only few
weeks ago the daughter of one of
our ex-President's opened and shut
this gate' by the pushing of an
electric button.
Silver" or Gold" employees, is
the way they have of designating
white and colored help. All color
ed labor is paid in silver, and they
have their own locations to reside
in; their silver cars to ride in to
their work; their silver count"
house, or pay car; and their silver
commissary departments, and same
with the gold or white en-
rloyee. You can look at any mar
ried mans home. providing he is
living there with his family. and
tell what wages he receives; same
with single man when he tells
you where he his located. Every
thing is in grades, from first to
third, for all employees on the Ca
nal, except the soldiers. Good
wages are paid and even the sill
yer" men, whom our country ~bor-
rowed from Jamaica, receive high
wages, and when they draw their
pay (twice a month"; you would
think they would need basket in
stead of their dinner buckets, as
they are paid in spigot.y," and
that money comes only in SOC. 25c,
10c, sc and 1-2c pieces, and is
twice the size of our respective
coins.
After spending several days at
Gatun, going back to Panama every
evening, we decided to take in Cor
gona where the machine and rail
way shops are located. and here we
seen some of the mechanical de-
vices and the little dump cars, en-
gines, etc. that the French had used
for awhile on the Canal. Every
thing in the way of machinery, or
under the head of railway sup
plies" comes from these shops.
Here you could see round houses,
blacksmith shops. machine shops,
etc. While in one of the round
houses we saw a little Scotch
Irishman come tearing through the
building, giving orders here. look
ing over compound" there. and
to whom all looked too as the one
man on the job-for he was the
Nj. NJ, and when he had time he
came over to where we were and
on conversation we learned that he
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