The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-08

It was not fair to future generations
When you are making history it is
only right and meet to pick out spots
that are to be historical. that will at
tract tourists, and that they will enjoy
visiting Tourists have rights that dis
Coverers are bound to respect, and that $
why I maintain that Columbus showed
very poor Judgment in selecting San Sal
| vador. No tourist crowd could be lured
there, no matter how cheap the round
trip tickets were.
| Also, il offers such meager opportu-
mites for making picture postal cards.
No good views at all. Nothing but very
commonplace shore. The whole thing is
what Alfred calls "dreadfully middle
class
| Columbus certainly was thoughtless.
| AS l said. we passed it right by, but
there is a sailing ship lying up on the
shore that didn't. She has been there
for several years. her gaunt masts stick
ing up against the indiso-blue sky and
the blistering sun eating away at her
planks.
| Gen. Assurance informed all and sun
dry that her masts were sthe poles of
| wireless station.
Among the most conspicuous things
| along the shores of these islands are the
number of wrecks one sees. There is
one on pretty nearly every point. like
lamp posts on street COrnerS- n SlIlgu-
| lar thing. too. is that they are all near
lighthouses. See a lighthouse and look
for a wreck. Why is it? Do light
houses cause wrecks, or wrecks cause
lighthouses? You would think that nat
lurally they wouldn't be on speaking
terms instead Of being SO chummy.
There are other wrecks around these
islands. too. in large quantities and that's
the two-legged kind. but 1t Is at Colon
that they are to be found in shoals.
The skum of the riffraff of American
humanity. the beachcombers of the Span
ish Main, have all settled in the back
water there. The vast sums spent on
the canal operations. the crowds of la
borers of all nationalities brought there
by our government. the semi-lawless life
in vogue, the lax laws of the Panama
Republic. attracted all the ne'er-do-wells
Of the Atlantic seaeboard
The streets Of Colon swarm with dead
beats and broken men. Now that the
great operations on the canal are fin
ished and the enormous weekly payroll
has stopped. gambling and promiscuous
charity have practically stopped. too.
The stream Of gold is not flowing from
the paymaster's office to inundate the
whole Isthmus, and these deadbeats are
In a bad way. Many of them have de-
generated into simple beggars. others
doubtless, turn their hands to any lit
tie shady trick or small crime that
comes handy. At least they look it.
Heaven help them when they run afoul
Of the little brown "spiSgotty'' police
Of the Panama Republic. These "spig-
gotty' shrimps. seem to have II In for
every white man. and as they are eaten
up with vanity and their own importance.
they actually go out of their way to
make trouble for any white man who
seems to be in hard luck.
Once in a while. especially when they
tackle one of our khaki-clad soldier boys
who has had a drop too much. they pick
up the wrong pig. and then the spig-
sotty shrimp gets thoroughly good
licking. Usually several of them get
It. for II any one of our dough boys"
couldn't lick at least six OF those little
police toys I'd be ashamed ever to look
the stars and stripes in the face again.
Our captain-who has been down here
so much that he has worn a pathway
between the Windward Islands and
knows every wave by its first name
whirled the ship around the eastern |
end Of Cuba as though she was on roller !
skates. A good many people think that |
the best thing about Cuba is that It has |
water all around II. otherwise 1t would |
be growing on the North American |
Continent and be part OF the United |
States. But We didn't stop ct Cuba