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Show MTlie Panama Canal BY FREDERIC J. HA SKIN : VIIL Amusements. IWDLEBRA, Canal Zone. July 19 t? Tlie principal drawback wo are now leriencinjx in the building of t,hc ca-UE'l8 ca-UE'l8 the lack of rational amusements s ftthe people." In these words Colo- I? Goethals, the chairman and chief gfta fpnoer of the canal, summed up the mV'pation with reference to the cnter-WWHnment cnter-WWHnment of the canal employes. ITo iflcd that Congress had been asked to YDvide additional clubhouses and funds H'lSK this purpose, but that it had sceu lit in. .vipnore the demand. IrANft does not take one lonjr to discover truth of the assertion of Colonel oW"119 for himself. As Cristobal, . Ai:-gona, Empire and Culebra they have ceaU KM. C. A. clubhouses. Wherever these .8 they have become the dominant 'tor in the social side of isthmian iJT. They provide pcood, healthy cnter- Jnment "for the people, yet to one ft, lierican settlement that has a club-Li club-Li ft fee, there are throe that have none. I lithe towns whore there arc no club-1 club-1 H5ef. about the only thinp the men Tdo is fro to tho nearest saloon and jpk bad liquor. And this M103' usual-lljo.vdo. usual-lljo.vdo. In the four towns where the Y. ritC. A. clubhouses are located, bar- TTa itm receipts fell off about 75 per cent Ulclljjfchin a short time after the club-iases club-iases were opened. Before tho club-'rackjBBes club-'rackjBBes were built the saloon was the daj-,.4y general meeting place available, evete isthmian canal commission hotels no lobbies, the offices were closed fuller business hours, and men. being wuljtearious creatures and wanting to afk-jit and talk, went, perforce, to these : -jTiildng places. It made no difference , fnt tho beer was flat and cost 25 cents Mt -it bottle, or that tho whisky was bad )nMrt.fl coBt 15 cents for a good-sized thim-faul thim-faul of it. Neither did it make any "Terence that no chairs or tables were )N Tfl"pwed n tne Pces. Even at the t p,vJt' of standing up half tho night they ' Mild meet to talk matters over. -$Then the Y. M. C. A. rooms were ned practical men were placed at 1 jir head. One would not think of kA playing and dancing at a Y, M. C. Jlin the states, but both arc to be 35&$and in association homes on tho isth-jTTte. isth-jTTte. Bowling alleys, billiard rooms, lu pnnasiums and many other places for j tertainment were established in the SJ&Uldinjrs. Bowling teams were organ- I T"gd. billiard and pool contests were 1 irted, gymnastic instruction was "glfcen, pleasant reading rooms with a I , complete supply of loading newspapers and periodicals together with a largo array of trade journals, wore provided; soda fountains were established, and in j general the places were made more nt- i tractive than any other spot, in the ; town. The result has been tho practical do-; do-; serfcion of tho saloons. Tho bowling nl- 1 leys are busy oven' evening, and somo 1 1 of the most spirited contests over wil-j wil-j ncssed mav bo seen on these alloj-s. 1 There are "a number of teams in each i Y. Jtf. C. A. town, and these usually , j settle their own little contests and then tackle tho champions from the other ! towns. There is something doing when these championship games arc rolled. In I the course of a single month there are ' more than 5000 bowling games rolled at the Y. M. C. A. alleys. Some 13,000 games of billiards and pool are played 1 per month. That tho soda fountains arc appreciated is shown by the fact that the monthlv income from them is not far from $1500. The total membership in the associations is nearly 3500, or almost one-third of the force of Americans Ameri-cans on the isthmus. They have camera, cam-era, chess, checker, minstrel and music clubs. . , . Tne nigQt seuuuis u tnu J.. -i'-L. j. -v. are prett3' well patronized by the now arrivals on the isthmus, but there is a species or lazybug in that climate, which, after ho has been there for a year, makes a man want to rest whenever when-ever ho is off duty. Going to night school becomes an intolerable bore by that time, and so you find very few men in attendance who have been on the isthmus more than a year. Tho study of Spanish is the one thing which night' school pupils do not give up until they have mastered tho subject. For besides 1 tho satisfaction of being able to talk j with native Panamanians and the Span- , iards who are in the zone, thoro is hope of a reward. An employe who can pass an examination in Spanish stands a pretty good show of getting a promotion promo-tion in tho service. Besides, the fellow who has grit enough to carry through a course of study on tho isthmus, with its enervating climate, is pretty suro to climb the ladder of success wherevor he goes.. ! There is some enthusiasm on the isthmus isth-mus over basketball. Empire holds tho South American championship in this popular sport. Baseball is as much tho national game on the isthmus as it is in the states, and somo good playing is seen on the diamonds at Culebra, Eni-piro Eni-piro and Ancon, Culebra and Empire are the strongest baseball tons. and there is strong rivalry between them. When they play a championship aeries there is as much enthusiasm as you will sec at a championship contest between the White Sox and tho Cubs or botween ' the Athletics and the Gidnts. And as for money changing hands, thoy havo the game- at home beaten to a standstill. During the last dry season there was a big game botween the two teams, and somo fellows' put up overy cent thoy had themselves and as much more as thoy could borrow. Ono fellow from Culebra borrowed from every friend ho had, and when the game was over ho was such a winner that ho took a six months' vacation in the states without pay. The clnssic sporting event of the isthmus, however, is the semi-occasional game between tho "Has-beens" and the " Never-wasses." Everybody turns out to boo that. Patriotism runs high on the isthmus on the Pourth. Tho celebrations held hero last week wero of a high order, and for fireworks and fun thore was nothing in the states that could outclass them. Tho day at Ancon was something to talk about. The3" had band concerts, foot races, sack races, potato races, catching the greased pig, and overy other sort of sport that funmakevs can conjure up for a Fourth of July. The Panama railroad ran free trains the wholo day long, and for once you could go from the Atlantic to the Pacific without money and without price. And almost everybody went. After it was all over men who had taken part in some of the greatest Fourth of July celebrations cele-brations in recent years in the states would toll you without hesitation that they had had one of the times of their : lives. The day wound up b' a dance at the Tivoli. where all of the youth and beauty of the isthmus gathered. The Fourth of July fever even spread to the Jamaicans, the Barbadians, tho Martiniques. the Spaniards, the Italians ! and tho Panamanians. Cock fighting, i , bull fighting, and a hundred other Spanish Span-ish sports were the popular diversions. 1 An.y one who has seen a Fourth of .Tul.y j on thc isthmus of Panama knows that patriotism is an infectious sentiment, and, as when soldiers singing "Annie I Laurie" each think of a different girl. J so, while all the fifty-two nationalities on the isthmus joined in the carnival of ncjso and fun, thev each thought of a different home beyond the seas. Dancing is one of tho great pastimes of the canal zone. The influence of a tropical moon is something no ono can understand who has never been south of Cancer. It calls men and women alike to tho court of Terpsichore. Everybody Ev-erybody dances. Th thing starts with tho little home affair, then comes the club house dance, and finally the fortnightly fort-nightly dance at tho Tivbh. These Tivoli functions are the culminating so cial events of the isthmus, and nothing short of sickness can keep the sociallv inclined away from them. The Tivoli I hotel cost in the neighborhood of a hall a million dollars, and makes you think of the bigger hotels at Atlantic Citv. It was designed as the social headquarters headquar-ters of the isthmus, and like most things down here it is admirablv answering the purpose for which it was designed. Some writers who havo visited the isthmus have made much of the alleged . social distinctions, which are said to be j based on the salaries of the dmcreut members of the force. But they have , sadly overdrawn the picture. As a matter mat-ter of fact, there arc fewer social dis-I dis-I tinctions here than anywhere else you ' I may go. The right kind of man or woman is always in demand, it he or she has any social qualifications which will add something to the pleasure of the occasion. They do not ask whether I you are getting $1000 or $5000 a year. 1 What they want to know is whether ; you have a clean reputation and can do something to liven up a party. Tn Jook-ingf Jook-ingf over the list of guests invited to a social function vou will see names that i are signed to the pay roll for $1200 a year beside names that, draw five times as much. j The members of the commission have i now a pet dream. They hope some dav ' soon to see a tea-room or rest-room for I women in every one of the towns in the zone. Thev claim that the women need social centers where thev can gather 1 for amusement and .recreation as the men do, and where thev can have a bit of interesting gossip over a social cup of tea. These tea-rooms may eventually eventu-ally come from tho women's clubs, which have already gone a long wav toward giving a stability to tho working work-ing force on tho isthmus. There is a club at every American settlement, and these are all'membprs of the local Federation of Women's Clubs ; which holds regular meetings at the Tivolj hotel. Literature and the live questions of canal life form the topics discussed at the club meetings. Like their sister clubwomen in the states, the clubwomen of the canal zone aro eliminating elimi-nating all social lines that have been built solely on a basis of monetary worth, and are considering only such foundations as mental and moral' worth. As a result thev are instrumental in promoting happier social conditions, happier homo life and more general community com-munity amusement. (Copyright, J908, b' Frederic J. Kaskin.) |