The Republican journal., 1916-05-18

SANITARY. 1nelr architecture, Win CnelT
broad overhanging caves, suggests that
of Japan. No chimneys exist, except for
cooking, and every house has screened
porches, around at least two sides of
each of it's two stories, and is surround
ed by tropical flowers and shrubs.
These houses are grouped according to
the canal rank OF their occupants, those
of the military employees being painted
yellow. and those of the civil employees,
gray.
The more important military and civil
officers, and the doctors, live at the Pa
cific end of the Canal, we'll up on Balboa
Heights, where the trade winds blow
constantly, and from where there is a
wonderful view of the Zone over the
Pedro Miguel Locks as far as Gold Hill
at Culebra Cut, and of the Pacific Ocean
to the S. E.
The brakemen and conductors on the
Panama Railroad are all gathered in
pleasant little cottages on slightly less
elevated plateau, half way up the
Heights.
Hundreds of houses on the plains be-
low accommodate the mechanics and
workmen, and large colony of negro
employees is located in one quarter of
the lower town near the docks, while
along the shore of the Pacific are en-
camped the coast artillery troops.
The social life of these various classes
seemed to be constituted much as any,
where else, the whole taking on, how
ever, the character OF that of an army
post. Much is done in the way of smoke
talks, moving pictures, etc., for the
amusement Of the seven thousand SOL
diers now on the Zone, while the So
cial functions of officers and their fami-
lies consist chiefly in dinners, followed
by the weekly dance at the Tivoli Hotel.
To these occasions the Panamanians
have been invited, heretofore, only to
limited degree. though at present, for
diplomatic reasons, decided effort is
being made to include them, and to en-
ter into their club life in the city of
Panama
l have said the houses are screened.
AS further precaution against insects
they are set on concrete posts which in
turn rest in oil cups, the oil: having re-
placed the water of the earlier days.
When you ascend the front steps you
note that the steps are not connected
with the house in any way, and that
space of an inch or more separates the
top step from the sill of the screen door
leading on to the piazza. This gap pre-
vents ants and other insects from enter
ing the house by the steps and doors.
The houses are also said to be rat proof.
The climate l did not find hot, owing
largely to the trade winds which blow
nor do believe it is ever
progressively so. But did find it damp,
and of course in the riiny season it is
very much more so than in winter. To
prevent shoes from moulding and clothes
from mildewing, every house has one or
more drying rooms. These are built in
the form of large closets without any
windows, and in them are burned con-
stantly, night and day the year round,
electric lights of the old-fashioned, heat
producing carbon kind this at the ex-
pense of Uncle Sam. The atmosphere
in these small rooms is agreeably dry
and warm, and into them you put your
clothes and shoes at night when you &C
to bed, and here are kept constantly all
wearing apparel not In use, and other
things, such as the officers swords and
other arms, at all likely to be damaged
by dampness. No other artificial heat
is ever required on the Zone. The win
dows and doors of the houses are con-
stantly open, and the trade winds make
blanket not unwelcome at night.
Light. coal for cooking, telephones,
and IN fact house rent, medical attend
ance, and transportation on the railroad,
have heretofore all come as gifts from
Uncle Sam-truly a heneficcnt Uncle,
and in addition to all this every person
employed on the Zoae has, in the past,
been paid IN the vicinity of Is percent
more than he would have received for
the same services at home. Add to this
the fact that domestic service performed
by negroes from Jamaica or Barbados
is comparatively cheap, and one can
readily see that life on the canal is not
without its attractionsv. and not unlike
that we read of in the East in the old
days. At the house l visited there were
fourteen servants outside and in. This
sort of thing was perhaps necessary to
get the work of building the Canal done,
but l got the impression that it will be
curt allied from now on, and that period
Of reconstruction has already set in.
l wish the time would permit speak
ing at some length of other matters
which attracted my attention, such as
the wonderful machine shops we have
built on the Zone, in which anything can
be made from a fiavoring extract to
locomotive; and the sanitary work which
has involved tie concretinp of the beds