Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-08-06

men, policemen. ali branches Of civil
administration. once forres. sanitary
and hospital officers. foFemen, civil en-
gineerS. and the like
Laborers did not come 70 the canal
rome 10 sufficient numbers during the
early Tears necessitating recruiting
Offices ia Europe. the West Indies and
the United States. total Of 1900
men We're imported under contract
with the commission from lsO4 20
1919 -... .-.--
Spain furnished the largest number
OF Eur0pean Iaborers 10 the canal I'M
I'll the government Of that country In
zoos forbid further emigration To Pan
anna. Out of total OF ll.19I Euro
pean iabprers imported TO 1910. S2222
were Spaniards, and the others came
principally from Italy. France and Ar
menIa ......s= -
The Colored labor Predominates In
the canal zone anu was obtained In the
islands OF the West indies. Barbados
furnished the largest lumber. l9.4lS
The largest immigration for one year
was In 1901. when lI.9I2 laborers were
imported
The color line has been drawn In the
canal zone by dividing the employees
into gold" aud silver men. In the
first category nre the Americans and
in the second the common and unskill-
ed laborers Wages are paid In silver
to the Iaborprs. aud salaries To the
Americans are paid In gold. This dis
tinctlOn IL not u hard aud fast one.
ind the Idea was adopted rs the best
MEANS for the government % draw the
color line. SECOND class coaches are
provided on the trlinx. special win.
dowr In the postotiices. special clerks
In the eommisSary and separate eating
pliIees for the silver employees.
Many labor saving devices have
been born VI necessity In the canal
zone. The honor for Inventing the
greatest Of these bel1ngs 10 W. q.
Bierd. formerly general manager Of the
Panama railroad and the man who
most largely WIS responsible for bring
Ing that archaic system from chaos
to order under Chief Engineer Ste
VEINS He originated track shlfter
which does the work OF 800 men In
one day and requires only nine men to
operate 1t.
! Strikes have never been successful In
the canal zone In 1904 President Roose-
welt give the commission the power to
expel anybody from the canal zone
who. IN it, discretion. was not neces-
sary to the work OF building the canal
or WIS objectionable for any reason.
No sueh power resides In any Ameri-
can stnte executive. but the supreme
~oHrt heltf that canal zone was
not under the constitution and was
ssubirt to the regulation OF military
reservation.
The canal employees are the most
irmmnere,l set of workers In the world
an eight hour day with two hour In
rtetiniNsion at noon tirSt class board
cheaper than IN the Unlted States. free
QUARTERS. free medical service on full
par. nine holidays on pay. redured
railroad rates. WAGES and salaries from
80 to 80 per cent higher than In the
CHited States. an annual vacation OF
foftystHo days on full pay for gold em-
ployees aud the necessaries Of life FOR
sale u lower prices ID the government
scolhndssary than In the United States.
10 one realizes how generous the
government has been to Is employees
ut Panama more than the employee
who leaves the service to return to
work IN 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
f0rsuah drawing $50 1 mouth 10 pm
ana decided be could do ~ well at
home. In 4 year he returned to the
canal zone aud gladly took q position
at 60 cents an hour. or about 1872
month. The cost Of living aud stand-
ard OF pay In the United States made
him repent bis action.