The Oskaloosa herald., 1914-02-05
COL COCKTAILS AND His AIDS
WILL BE MIGHTY GLAD TO
COME BACK HOME.
CLIMATE q IS VERY TRYING
Canal Builders Have Been prenehed
Win Rain Nine Months Of Each '
Year, but Have Completed. s,.,
Their Task Quickly.
BY GEORGE CLINTON,

governor OF the isthmus only until
January first next. This seems to be
assured. The great engineer proba'
bly, will either accept the police com.
missionership OF New York or under
take some other work OF prominence,
provided he is placed on the retired
list OF the army after, the canal is
opened. a..'~s ~: .,..'. !
1t always has been known that Col
onel Goethals did not care TO be made
governor of the Canal Zone to hold
the position for any great length OF
time. Colonel Goethals, Lieutenant.
Colonel William l.. Sibert and the 9th
er great engineers are willing and
even wish. to leave the, lsthmus of
Panama as soon as the great work is
completed? Why? They need rest
and moreover they are tired of the
tropical life. ........
Does anybody blame the chief en-,
gineer OF his division engineers for
wishing in their hearts to come back
to the United States? The work in
the Culebra Cut, with the nervous
strain imposed because of its peculiar
difficulties. killed Lieut.. Col. David
DUB. Gaillard. He virtually had fn'
ished his labor when he gave up his
life. The work Of the other divisions
on the isthmus was as heavy as that
with which Gaillard was confronted,
but it was not in its nature so trying.
II It had been, other great engineers
like Gaillard probably would have died
at their post.
Life on isthmus Is Trying.
In August of last summer, I visited
the Isthmus OF Panama and was the
guest Of a division engineer who was
one OF nv classmates al West Point.
He is a big man In brain and body,
but that he felt somewhat the effects
Of the tropic sun. Of anxiety and OF
physical and mental labor there was
no doubt. What Is true of him IN.
uuestionably is true of other engineers
who have done their work on the
isthmus. Seven years OF it, aud Is
there any wonder that they yearn for
home?
- For nine months each year for seven
years the workmen OF Panama have
been rained on. For these nine
months they we're drenched and dried
alternately four or Eve times a day,
The rains descend as they do not de-
scend anywhere else and then they
stop and a baking sun comes out to
roast man and beast for an hour or
two, then to disappear and let the
rain go at it once more.
When a young officer OF engineers
who was assisting the engineer in
charge OF the construction OF the
Gatun Locks and dam was working at
Porto Bello getting out stone and
gravel to be used for foundations. II
rained fifty-nine inches in one month.
His chief, necessarily anxious to com.
plete his work, kept calling on his
lieutenant for quicker action and
more material. One day the young
officer flashed this telegraphic mes
sage to his superior: Fifty inches Of
rain not extraordinary; anything more.
considered an act OF GOD and mans
responsibility ceases"
The youngster received no more
kurry-up orders. Z
Work, Has Been Done Quickly. .,
The Panama Canal has been com
pleted quickly. The men building it
kept everlastingly at it and yet-tbere
was the appearance OF leisureliness
in the work. 1t was only in appear
ance, however. They walked slowly
from one post OF duty to another. but
when they were standing still direct
ing they made the dirt fly because
the laborers under them we're men to
whom tropic conditions were usual
and to whom the short hours and the
good treatment accorded by the
American officers we're unusual and
made labor with them a seeming pas.
time. ..Ea ~. .. t.''2
With few individual exceptions, the
working force on the Isthmus Of Pan.
ANA has kept it's health. The Ameri.
can engineer officers, however. have
felt the effects OF seven years OF labor.
Moreover, they are homesick and their
inconsistencies has been accumulated
by the fact that the time is near at
hand when they can come home for
the cure. ~ s.
Last November, the engineer ON
Ger who was my classmate and whom
I visited in Panama, came to Wash.
ington to dehver lecture before the
National Geographic society and while
here he was my guest II was the
clear, crisp, bracing weather Of late
fan. The engineer, fresh from seven
years on the isthmus, called this city
Of Washington, "Heayen.". He went
back to the isthmus willingly to take
up another year OF labor under con.
ditions which try mems souls and
bodies. Is there any wonder that he
and the others want to get back to
the United States, where they can
breathe inauguration and not feel that
In few days or at the most few
weeks they must 70 back to breathe
~, sI4r u sgss8
Within a few months there will
prcbablt be eight thousand troops on
the isthmus. A. beAsAcent war de
pArtmsnt win see to It thit they are
relieved of their duty every two
years