The Washington herald., 1919-12-25
By DWIG

civilizations. Meanwhile the Panama
Railroad had been built by Americans
over a half century ago. with appal-
ling loss OF life. so that il is said. OF
course with eIaggeration. that every
sleeper laid represented the death Of a
man. Then the French canal COM
pany started work. and for two or
three years did a good deal. until IL
became evident that the task far ex-
ceeded its powers; and then to mis-
calculation and inefficiency was added
the hideous greed of Adventures, try
ing each to save something from the
general wreck, and the company
closed with infamy and scandal.
Now we have taken hold of the job
We have difficulties with our own peo-
pie. of course. I haven't u doubt that
it will take a little longer and cost
little more than men now appreciate.
but / believe that the work is being
done with a very high degree both OF
efficiency and honesty; and l am i'm
mensely struck by the character of
American employees who are engaged,
not merely in experimenting the work,
Jul III uOAAlS all INC yODS mat HCCA
skill and intelligence. The steam
shovels, the dirt trains. the machine
shops. and the like. are all filled with
American engineers. conductors. ma
chinists, boilermakers, carpenters.
From the top to the bottom these
men are so handy. so efficient, so
energetic. that it is a real pleasure to
look at them. Stevens. the head engi-
neer. is a big fellow, man of daring
and good sense and burly power. All
Of these men are quite as formidable
and would. If it were necessary. do
quite as much in battle as the crews
of Drake and Morgan; but as it is.
they are doing a work OF infinitely
more lasting consequence. Nothing
whatever remains TO show what Drake
and Morgan did. They produced no
real effect down here. but Stevens
and his men are changing the face
of the continent, are doing the great
est engineering feat of the ages. and
the effect OF their work will be felt
while our civilization lasts. l went
over everything that I could possibly
so over in the time at my disposal.
examined the quarters of married
and single men, white men and ne
Eroes. I went over the ground of the
lGatun and Ia Boca dams: went
through Panama and Colon. and spent
a day in the Culebra cut. where the
great work is being done. There the
huge steam shovels are hard at It;
scooping huge masses of rock and
gravel and dirt previously loosened by
the drillers and dynamite blasters
loading II on trains which take II
away to some dump. either in the
Jungle or where the dams are to built
They are eating steadily into the
mountain, cutting 1t down and down
Little tracks are laid on the side hills
rocks blasted out. and the great
ninety-five-ton steam shovels work uT
like mountain howitzers until they
come to where they can with -ad.
vantage begin their work of eating in.
to and destroying the mountainside
& With intense energy men and
: machines do their task, the white mer
( supervising matters and handling tn,
! machines. while the tens OF thousand.
! of black men do the rough manua!
labor where il is not worth while tC
have machines do it 1t is an epic
! feat. and one OF immense significance
The deiuge of rain meant that many
of the villages were kneedeep in water
the tropic forests II is a real tropiC
forest. palms and bananas. bread
fruit trees. hamboos. lofty ccihas. an,
gorgeous butterflies and hrillIan,
colored birds nutterhg among the or
chids. There are beautiful flowers
too.
All my old enthusiasm for natura
history seemed to revive. and i would
have given a good deal to have stayeC
and tried to collect specimens j
would be q good hunting country, too
deer. and now and then jaguars an6
tapir. and great birds that they cal
wild turkeys; there are alligators II
the rivers. One Of the trained nurse:
from a hospital went to battle in q
pool last August and an alligator
grabbed him by the legs and wa,
making of with him. but was for
tunately scared away. leaving tn
man badly injured.
! tramped everywhere through tn,
mud. Mother did not do the toughest
work. and had time to see more of the
really picturesque and beautiful side
Of the life. and really enjoyed herself
p. s. The Gatun dam will make Q
lake miles long, and the railroad now
goes on what will be the bottom OF
this lake, and II was curious TO think
that in a few years great ships would
be floating in water 100 feet above
! where we were.
!