The Nome nugget., 1921-03-12
POWERS WRITES FROM
 PANAMA
On Board S. S. Eastern Mariner. Ralbca, Canal Zone,
 December. 19, 1920.

The Nugget,
 | Around Us are the hills and islands made historically famous by tho early SpaniardS their naughty pride and lust for conques. later to become the prey of reckless and rdhnantic bucan- eers. Morgan. I4atouche and other. But that is history and. may we say TO- nance. but it seems small business besides the wonderful romance of the twenties century-the romance of the Panama Canal.
 i Conceived. the writer thinks. hy Ainengo Vespurius, with De :.sseps the greatest engineer of his time at caption and the dream fin3uy left for fulfillmdsnt of the genius of American l engineers. It represents indeed a mighty romance of centuries and Is today the ssreates. monument that ma n ever rsafsed to commercial progress Gun trip here was pleasant |, eveay respect save for the heat Where the writer worked it was generally 13O above the zero mark he has been so long accustomed to and was almost IintolerahIe. The result in :L presonal sence was quite a loss of adipose tissue which We hope will be to his per sonM benslfit. We also had quite an thrilling experience on the way from Seattle. Our bunker coal took fire about fourteen days ago, spontaneous com bttstfon apparently. and it has been q continuous fight to keep the flames down and secure the coal needed for st.aming purposes The gas emarat- ing from the burning mass made it extremely hard for the men to work ilnger than ten minutes at | tmc, even with masks on. But the engin- e'ring depar+n mt. ably assisted hy iiock hands, succeeded in handling the situation and We arrived in good shape Tyftc hold was then floded ;,n,. the great traveFing cranes with their seemingly almost human intelligence. soon had the coal ashore.
 THhe mhin town of Panama is two or three miles from here and reminds one of Honolulu. The native pou1a- .ion is of different degrees of color. The negro workers present many types. They are not overly big but are always smiling and are good work f,rs. Most of theln have ;l good com m&and of English. even tho it is pat termed in the 'longs11ore style
 There are two so,lrdo,Igfl's aboard the Eastern Mariner besides myself. They are Chris Nelson and Louis La. Monte. both of F,airirlnlQs. Chris is :, member of Igloo No. 1. Pioneers of Ahska and a well known pioneer of the Interior section. He is boatswain of the ship and says he often longs for the cold of Alaska. to relieve him from the ihsat down here. La Mont is an old time prnspec.or and restaurant man. He is working in the stewards s depairtment. Every now and then We things Alask:uns do and long for Gods country-the land of snow and cold but the land of che loose latch string. the open door and the open heart.
 the open door and the open heart And when the mercury ruus high We swear if we ever get back to it again, we shall never more leave it. She may be a stern country but still she is q loving one to her children.
 Going to sea" conditions nowadays are much different and much in ad vance of twenty years ago. Then q seamans life was about as rough as it could be. with the bloody belayine pin an ever present menace to life and limb. Now physical force .s eliminated ;the men have comfortable qlArtess. bathing facilities and goot food. F'ormerly ses,nen were slaves to the ship and if he quit could be i'm prisoned, forced back to the Snip 1T irons and compelled to work. Somt doubt this but is confirmation can b' found in Argo decision of the Su preme Court. Now the Seaman's Ac has abolished all this and seaman can 1eave in any safe mrbor. In ar American port he can get his wage. in full and in a foreign port half th' amount due him, all thanks to th' Aplendid work of Andrew F'ursetl1 who. when the writer first knew hin, was a plain seaman himself. strug } eiing tmpotentiy against the force } that held fsim a virtual slave.
 Tho Town Of Panama had popula tion Of 5000 before the war and nov } bopsts so.o0o. Tn general appearance 1t is Spanish. with the architecture