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Show r me WML CASfilL ? " 1 ","",t"""' " "T" 7 1 Stim Shovel and Crw In Culibra Cut. 2 On of the Great Emcr gcncy Dama Dvld to Protect th Locks. Colon, C. Z. What of the men who have done the actual digging of tb I'anama canal? Who are they, whence bav they come, bow do they llvT W all have read a lot about Colonel Col-onel Cocthals, Colonel Blbert, Colc-il Calllard, Colonel Hodge, Colonel Gorgaa and a few other of the men who bold th "big job." We know that their Immediate subordinate are skillful, energetlo young engineer and doctors from the states. Hut what do we know about the men who handle the pick and shovel, who run the steam drill, who load the borings with dynamite, who help to fill up and empty th interminable dirt train 7 With the very beginning of th French attempt to dig the canal the labor problem bobbed up a serious, especially In view of the horribly insanitary in-sanitary condition on the Isthmus. White laborers succumbed rapidly to yellow fever and malaria and It was found that only negroes could withstand with-stand even fairly well the diseases and the climate. When Uncle Sara took bold of the big Job he bad the benefit of the ex-perleuce ex-perleuce of the French In this as In other respects, and though he tried a few experiments in the labor field on bis own account. It was soon -. termlned that the actual digging could be done best by negroes. Now there are two islanda In the West Indies, both Ilrltlsb possessions, which are overflowing with workmen Jamaica and llarbadoa. To these Islanda agents were sent, and soon the colored men began to arrive on the Isthmus, shipload ship-load after shipload. Many of them brought their wives and children and have become a part of the permanent population of Panama. One other source of labor was drawn upon largely, the north of Spain. There the agents of the commission com-mission found a race of men hardy, eager for work and more Intelligent than the negroes. A large number of them were brought over, and though for a time they were troublesome by reason of their disposition to engage In bloody quarrels among themselves, after aevcral bad been locked up by the Zone police they learned to bo-have bo-have more like civilized beings. These Spaniard do not mix with the negroes, either in work or oclally. They have their own camp and me. The stewards and cooks at these roesse are Kuropeaos and the Spaniards get better meals than the negroes. The food is adapted to their national taste and they receive win several times a week. For this tbey pay 40 cent a day 10 cent more than the colored men pay. The Spaniard are considered the best common workmen In the tone. The day laborer on the canal, a a general thing, uses the pick and shovel and does work that calls for no espeeia. skill. Hut this Is Kt true of all of them. There Is a higher grade In which the men do such work as the riveting on the great lock gates and th operating of the busy batteries of steam and compressed air drills that bore the holes for the dynamite blasting. Many negroes who have been on the Job for years have graduated op to these better positions. Above them are the bosses of rang, the conductors of dirt trains, the foremen of dynamite crews, men who hold similar Job, and they are almost Invariably white men because tuch position require more Independence, Independ-ence, reliability and Intelligence. Cp another grade and you com to the superintending, drafting and designing de-signing engineer. These are men from th state with technical education. educa-tion. Initiative and often great inven-Uve inven-Uve genlua. To th latter are due a aumtx-r of mot lnenloua machines Seslgned to cop with new condition ind to expedite the rk. The negro laborer from Jamaica or i flarbado la a Joy forever. lie is In- I trdlnately proud of hi Uritlsh citizen- I blp. and with some rvason, for th I rtiitlsh meat looks carefully i tfter hi JIr In uoh a cape '.hi, the we of hi contract being I tupenrUed, hi health guarded and II return, if he desire to return. 1 (-otH.m1 for. Th Jamaican are the i ;re lr,V!:if r.t of th two classes, i and often have considerable education. educa-tion. The best of them have found , positions as clerks, stewards and the like. The Ilarbadians are in tbe main densely Ignorant, but they are a happy lot and as they stream away from the canal to their quarters In the evening tbey sing, frolic and play practical joke as though tbey had not Just completed a day of back-breaking back-breaking labor. They receive an aver-ag aver-ag of $30 a month, their meal coat them 30 cents a day and their living quarters almost nothing unleas they prefer to rent rooms from outsiders. Then they get the worst of it, for rentals for ordinary rooms, without furniture and conveniences, are exorbitant. ex-orbitant. Tbe barracks for laborers provided by the commission are fitted with several tiers of bunks made of canvas slung on Iron frames. At regular reg-ular Intervals these are taken down and boiled, and such other sanitary measures as are necessary are carried car-ried out with regularity and precision. pre-cision. If tbe laborer Is Injured or falls 111, there Is a dispensary and a doctor close at hand, and if the case is at all serious the patient Is sent to the hospital at Ancon or Colon. There he receives free as skilful treatment ss money could buy, and there he is kept until be recovers or dies. . There Is Intense rivalry between tbe Jamaican and the "Hajlan." for each believes firmly that bis Island Is bigger and better than the other's, and. Incidentally, both believe that both Jamaica and Iiarbados are larger than Cuba. Their looks of dismay when shown a map of the West Indies In-dies are comical to behold. Two things these negroes are extremely ex-tremely fond of religion and rum. And both are rather disastrous to many of them. The Insane asylum w hose buildings atraggle up one slope of Ancon hill I full of them, and acordlng to the doctors most of them have been brought there by either rum or religion. Every evening In the streets of Panama may be encountered en-countered large groups of negroes, listening to the exhortation of some leader, often a woman, and singing with fervor tbe hymn she Intones for them. On other corners are detachments de-tachments of the Salvation Army, working with equal enthusiasm. And In the living quarters and the hospitals hos-pitals groups will surround some amateur pastor who preaches to them and prays for them. In these ways, when they are not drinking, the ne groes spend much of their leisure time, and as they are Impressionable and excitable and Ignorant, the results re-sults are not always good. Pay day In the zone furnishes some Interesting scenes. Tb pay car traverses tbe railway and at each labor camp or town a long line of negroes files through It Kach man must present his pay check and llentlflcatlon tag with one hand and In the other hold his hat or cap. Into the latter the cashier shoves the sll-i sll-i ver coins that make up tbe workman's work-man's monthly stipend. The process Is extraordinarily rapid, as It must be for there sre many thousands of laborers to be paid. Up near tbe summit of Ancon bill is a large patch of ground where no vegetation ever grows. According to the legend, aa Indian maiden sat there centuries ago and wept bitterly for the fat of her countrymen whom she could see far below tolling under th lashes of tbe cruel Spaniard. Her salt tears flowed down the hillside nd so Impregnated the soli that i henceforth no vegetation could exist there. If any maiden from Jamaica or ltarbados ever sits up there, she need not weep over tbe lot of her fellow fel-low Islanders. Indeed, her smiles at their happy condition might well restore re-store that bit of land to Its pristine fertility. Her husband, father or brother is earning more than he ever did before, la living better, and when he returns to hi Island home may have saved up enough to loaf for a long time under tbe shad of the sheltering tain. Ko the rrJ digger of the ra-oal. though uohoeored and unsung, sre well paid, well fed and well housed, la their degree they are a fortunate a any other who have found ata pleynsent la th bob. |
