PANAMA
AND
WHAT IT .MEANS
II
JOHN FOSTER FRASER
LIBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA
GIFT OF HISS PEARL CHASE
OTHER BOOKS BY
JOHN FOSTER FRASER
The Land
Australia
of Veiled
Women
The Making
:
of
a
Nation
Life's Contrasts
Quaint Subjects of the King
The Real
Siberia
Pictures
from the Balkans
Canada
as
It
Is
Red Russia
CASSELL AND CO., LTD., LONDON,
NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE.
COLONEL GOETHALS,
THE CZAR OF THE CANAL ZONE.
Photograph by Underwood &> Underwood, High Holborn,
IV. C.
PANAMA
AND WHAT
IT
MEANS
BY
JOHN FOSTER FRASER
WITH A MAP AND FORTY-EIGHT PLATES
FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
TWELFTH THOUSAND
CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD
London,
New
York, Toronto and Melbourne
1913
February 1913Reprinted April 1913-
First Edition
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
1.
A
Bird's-eye
View
CONTENTS
vi
CHAPTER
PACE
17.
The West Indies and the Canal
18.
Resources and Trade of the Isthmus
239
19.
The Future
20.
What
Index
Is
in
the Pacific
the Use of It All
.
?
.
223
.
.
250
.
.
272
283
LIST
OF PLATES
.....
.....
.....
.....
Colonel Goethals
Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
Panama Canal
Diagram of Elevations when
A Steam Shovel at Work
Map
A
A
of the
the Canal
is
Finished
Track-shifting Machine
" Spreader " at
Steam Shovels
at
Work
1
4
6
8
10
Work, September
9,
1912
.
.
16
the Breakwater to protect the Atlantic
Entrance to the Canal, July 21, 1911
24
....
30
Building
.
The Gatun Dam, with the Water
ning to Rise, June
7,
1912
General
Gatun Spillway
August 4, 1912
:
Lake begin-
of the
View
.
West,
looking
32
The Spillway at Gatun, showing the Rising Surface
of Gatun Lake in the Distance, September 7, 1912
34
Gatun Upper Lock, showing Guard Gates, Operating
Gates, Intermediate Gates, and Safety Gates in
Process of Construction, June, 1912
A
.
.
Bend in the Culebra Cut, June, 1912
The Notorious Cucaracha " Slide," October 23, 1911
Hand Drill Gang boring Holes for Dynamite to
.
blast
Moving Face
.
36
40
42
of a " Slide " in the Culebra
Cut, February, 1912
44
Culebra Cut, looking North from Contractors' Hill,
and showing Terraces left after removing Superimposed Weight to avoid " Slides "
.
.46
LIST
viii
OF PLATES
FACING PAGE
A
Landslide of 300,000 Cubic Yards in the Culebra
Cut, near Empire, August 21, 1912
.
Meal Time amongst the Coloured Workers
.
...
.....
...
.
.
48
50
Sleeping Quarters for the Labourers
54
The Front
58
The Statue
Street in Colon
to
.......
Columbus
In the Jungle
Heated Volcanic Rock
16,
at Cristobel
1912
78
Where the Canal
.
80
June, 1912
88
Old Spanish Fort at Panama
Islands
guarding Entrance to the Canal in the Distance
94
From
will enter the Pacific,
the
;
Panama
Panama City
Tivoli Hotel at
The Cathedral
in
.
.
.
.
.
.
.100
.106
.......
Spraying Trenches with Kerosene to
Mosquito
A
74
February
in the Culebra Cut,
Building a Lighthouse on the Edge of the Jungle
The
64
kill
the Malaria
Section of the Great Culebra Cut, June, 1912
.
112
118
View looking South BlastCulebra Cut at Culebra
ing Rock on Contractors' Hill, January, 1912
128
Culebra Cut, looking North from a Point just South
of the Empire Suspension Bridge
132
:
:
.
.
Gatun Lower Locks
.
.
— Middle and Upper Locks in the
Distance, January, 1912
....
Gatun Middle Locks, looking South, June
An Old French Locomotive, near Empire
7,
1912
.
Shovel beginning
Two Old French Dredgers
Work in the Background, June 20, 1910
;
.
138
144
148
to
.
152
Where the American Canal
intersects the Old French
Canal on the Atlantic Side, June 11, 1912
160
General View of the Pedro Miguel Locks, looking
South, May 4, 1911
166
.
OF PLATES
LIST
ix
FACING PAGE
Gatun Lower Lock, looking towards the
June 7, 1912
Atlantic,
176
The Pedro Miguel Locks the West Chamber, View
looking North from the Lower Main Gates,
March 29, 1912
:
Miraflores Locks, looking North,
The Lower Main Gates
showing Outlet in
Miraflores
June
14,
1912
.
Pedro Miguel Lock,
the Wall, March 28, 1912
182
192
in the
Lower Locks, August
16,
1912
.
.
200
.
224
Wreck Cranes
freeing a Steam Shovel buried by a
" Slide " in the Culebra Cut, August 25, 1912
232
Dumping Concrete
for the Walls of the Pedro Miguel
Locks, November, 1910
Concrete Mixing Plant
Gang
of
150
Men
......
shifting
240
244
Track by Hand, January,
1912
256
Constructing the Approaching Wall of Concrete at
the Pedro Miguel Locks, June, 1912
.
.
264
Dumping " Dirt " from Canal Excavations the Steel
Wedge hauled by a Chain rapidly pushes all the
;
Debris on one Side
.....
272
/
MAP SHOWING
PANAMA CANAL
ROUTE.
Bail
?'4
PANAMA AND WHAT
IT
MEANS
CHAPTER
I
a bird's-eye view
" Yes," observed the American enthusiast, "
great
ditch.
dirt ?
Well,
Pacific
we
fill
You
see
those
cars
flat
by the time the Atlantic
shall
have removed as much
it
is
joins
the
would
dirt as
a train of such cars 96,000 miles long, which
getting
Yes,
pretty
is
round the earth.
near four times
a great ditch."
it is
This
a
with
piled
is
the spirit of the 35,000
men who, between
Colon and Panama, are digging and blasting, dam-
ming
rivers, fighting landslips, building locks, so
great Canal will be finished long before the
opening day, which
It
is
is
is
a big thing.
an enterprise which
ment.
taking.
It
is
the
official
in 1915.
The world
fits
is
looking on.
It
the American tempera-
a dramatic as well as a colossal under-
Others have tried to build canals across
the Isthmus.
The French came
to
failure.
The
PANAMA AND WHAT
2
Americans came to succeed.
and the end
at top speed,
Yet at the
first
Everybody
man.
the
man,
dumped down on
working
is
within sight.
glance there
ordinary
excites
if
is
MEANS
IT
nothing which
is
Indeed,
ordinary
the
the Isthmus and not in-
formed he was looking upon the excavations
Panama
than
if
Canal, would probably be no
for the
more impressed
he were looking at some big railway cutting
through a
hilly country.
It
is
only
when he hears
the difficulties encountered and overcome, and
of
sees the armies of
ing
men
at
work
in the cuts
and grimy the whole day through
drills
eating
into
the rocks,
is
—sweat-
—hears
startled
the
when the
earth reverberates with violent explosions, sees giant
engines delve the hillside, piling cars with debris,
and the railway
by great arms
of the
time
it
line
is
shifted nearer to the
in front of
work
an engine, done in a sixth
would take men to
do, that he begins
to realise the immensity of the undertaking.
Exactly how the Americans got from the Republic
of
Panama complete
control of a stretch of country
ten miles wide, and reaching forty miles from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, and the agency whereby the
Republic of
Panama came
into being at
all
—declar-
ing independence from the Republic of Colombia,
which
was a necessary preliminary to the deal
between the Americans and the Panamanians
complicated story with different versions.
—
is
a
A
Anyway,
prises for a
BIRD'S-EYE
VIEW
3
after spoking the wheels of other enter-
good many years, the United States did
the right thing and determined to build the Canal
as
a national enterprise.
justifies
Taking
it
that the end
now
the means, the American people are
putting their shoulders back and breathing proudly.
came the Isthmus was
one of the earth's pestiferous spots
swampy,
miasmic, with mosquitoes carrying yellow fever and
malaria.
Colon was " the white man's grave."
Panama reeked with uncleanness and disease. The
the Americans
Before
:
interlying jungle country bred continuous sickness.
The Isthmus
is
not yet a health resort
the immediate Canal regions
by the
heels the mosquitoes
You go
saturated with kerosene.
air stinks
ditch
is
with the black, slimy
smeared with
in
no longer a coun-
which carried the
All likely breeding grounds of
disease.
but
The Americans have there
try dangerous to health.
laid
it is
;
it.
for miles,
are
and the
Nearly every
stuff.
Where
swamp
pools accumulate
in the vicinity of the workings, niggers
with copper
cans on their backs saunter round and spray freely.
All this has got to
do with the Panama Canal,
because when the French were trying their hands
men
died like
Americans
men
to
set
flies.
The
first
thing, therefore, the
about was to make
it
possible for
come and work on the Isthmus without
ing they were having a gamble with death.
feel-
PANAMA AND WHAT
4
Now
on each side
five miles
of the
Canal
is
called
Within that area the Americans
the Canal Zone.
They own about three-quarters
supreme.
are
MEANS
IT
of
the territory, and they can acquire the rest whenever they
The two towns
like.
of
Panama and
Colon, though really within, are technically regarded
as outside the Zone.
As these are the only towns worth
in the
Isthmus, the Republic of
thirty cents
Panama must be
So the
a few people within the boundaries.
left
Americans allow the Panamanians to have a Govern-
ment
in
;
but America keeps control of the sanitation
both towns
:
no
of disease at either
The
foul Spanish-negro-Indian
end
of the
camps
Canal
residences of the officials at Colon are
like gigantic
in cases
of
all
The houses are enclosed
copper screening, and folk sit on the
meat
safes.
balcony and gaze at you through the mesh.
the same at the
little
It
is
towns along the route, par-
ticularly Culebra, the capital of the Zone.
Likewise
The white man is guarded from the
The tawny, chocolate,
dusky, ebony labourers, to the number of twenty-
at
Panama.
malaria-carrying mosquito.
five
thousand,
are
Mosquitoes do not
left
to
look
after
Once the idea was to have a
between
Panama.
themselves.
like nigger flesh.
—
sea-level
canal
of
and ocean a sort of
But that would have taken too long
ocean
Straits
A
and was
likely
over the
hills
BIRD'S-EYE
to
is
carry any vessel
Do
cost
5
So the hoist
too much.
done by
now
VIEW
locks,
enough to
large
afloat.
however, imagine a pyramid of locks
not,
raising warships
and
liners
up mountain-sides into
Dull fact must record that the highest
the clouds.
point any vessel will be lifted above sea level will
—up
by three steps, across a great dam,
along an artificial river, and then gently down three
be 85 feet
steps,
and so to the
sea.
You probably arrive in the Isthmus
belief that as Panama is on the Pacific side
of Colon.
If so,
knowledge
of
west
geography.
Colon really
of the
lies
west of
Canal running east to
runs from north to south-east.
it
From
miles,
it is
you have speedily to improve your
Panama, and instead
west
with the
shore to shore the Canal
but
five miles
is
about forty
have had to be cut through
shallow shores on both sides.
Accordingly the real
length of the Canal from deep water to deep water
is
fifty miles.
In the future, when you journey that
New
Zealand,
you
will
travel
way
to
from the Atlantic
through a straight seven miles of 500 feet wide
will lift
Then you come to Gatun, and three locks
you 85 feet till you reach the level of Gatun
Lake.
It
canal.
is
not a natural lake, but
square miles in area, created by
artificial,
damming
16-1
the River
PANAMA AND WHAT
6
MEANS
IT
Across this lake you can go at
Chagres.
buoyed
for 24 miles along a
full
steam
Then you reach
route.
the Culebra Cut, the thing of which the Americans
because
proudest,
are
This cut
trouble.
side,
it
nine miles long,
is
and the cubic yards
of
them most
caused
has
hills
on each
earth-rock cut
away
When
run into dozens of meaningless millions.
the
Americans have cut away what they consider enough
millions there
generally a " slide,"
is
more
or out bulges, a few
and down comes,
millions of cubic yards,
burying implements, rousing " langwidge," and cost-
much money
ing
turning
to remove.
many men
the heads of
are going to stop
These "
slides "
are
but they
grey;
a whole mountain-side has to
if
be removed.
This cut will get
its
water from the Gatun Lake.
So to Pedro Miguel, where you
downstairs.
A
lock
Miraflores Lake.
a half of lake.
feet,
and you
Away you go
You
will
will
Then two
will
lower
will
begin going
you 30}
feet
to
steam across a mile and
locks will lower
be on the level of the
for over eight miles,
upon the waters on the west
of
you 54|
Pacific.
and you
the
glide
American
continent.
Such
is
the
Panama Canal
seems rather a simple
in
rough
outline.
affair in engineering
;
It
yet the
more one sees the more one wonders and admires.
For several weeks I jogged up and down the
A
drunken construction
the finished
VIEW
BIRD'S-EYE
way
now
line,
—outside
7
along the bed of
the locked region
it
is
—
40 feet below sea level now scrambling over
" slides," now wandering through the huge white
casements of concrete locks.
The
noise
tremendous.
is
are rumbling off to aid in the construction
earth,
a dam, or a great " spit " on the Pacific
All the rock
and
and
irregular.
A
monster
in its
Boom, boom, go the dynamite exploof a hillside
It
bends
its
broken rock.
under
of
its
It
its
heaves on one
it
cars.
forward over the
head, and then sticks
There
head, and in
chin, as
the long
reeling
its
snout into the debris.
back
disintegrated.
is
an engine shovel, almost uncanny
of
movements, comes
uneven way.
side.
volcanic and grey and red
soil is
and a chunk
sions,
jerks
and
with cars piled with excavated
shrieking engines,
of
Bell-clanging
is
a clatter, and
its
it
maw
are four tons of
side,
and from a door
were,
dumps
Then
it
its
load on one
plunges for another
mouthful.
The
cars
are
and battered.
ugly
They have
a fence only on the side away from the shovel.
Between each car
like
is
a
steel plate, so that it is just
a long ribbon of a car.
deposited
its
mouthful
a
When
the shovel has
bronzed
and sweating
American, with his blue shirt open at the throat,
gives the waggle of a yellow flag,
and the engine-
PANAMA AND WHAT
8
IT
MEANS
driver hauls along a few yards so the next
may have
ful
clamour,
till
Away
the train
" dirt "
between the
At one end
unload.
an
at
is
wanted
for a
of the cars
To
angle.
it
is
of the rope
The engine
and
pulls,
is
There
The
is
attached to an
as the shield travels
it lies
The arm,
side.
the debris
all
That
is
sliced
in a long heap.
Up
as
it
arm stuck
passes along, knocks
flat.
one of the features of the Canal making,
the thousands of
men engaged
When the
it
is
and groan on to other work.
cars grunt
to
a steel shield
snorts a " spreader," an engine with an
on one
men
attached a steel
over cars and protecting plates the debris
to one side overboard.
dam
hills.
and the other end
engine.
mouth-
goes on, with clang and
not necessary to have hundreds of
is
standing
rope,
it
loaded.
is
The
it rolls.
in a declivity
It
Thus
room.
in
men employed, and
yet only a few
one place on one particular job.
away
shovel has eaten
its section,
and
has then to start over again eating further into
the
hill,
but
its
neck
is
not long enough to reach
the cars on the former track, along comes a tracklifting
machine, and with
raises the track
just as
though
it
its
long,
up and places
had
intelligence
it
steel
hands
it
near the shovel,
and were straighten-
ing a rope.
Like the song of tropical crickets, the hydraulic
A
BIRD'S-EYE
VIEW
9
You
drills
are champing into the rocky face.
down
near the bottom of the " ditch," and you look
up the
where the French started cutting
hillside
There has been a "
thirty years ago.
slide,"
stream has got into the cut, and there
pumps
of the
are
as
it
is
Here comes a train
is
and a
the pant
sucked up and carried away.
of
cement, another of broken
rock ripped from the cheek of Ancon Hill, near
Panama, another
put near where the 1,000 feet long
All are
coast.
white sand from the Pacific
of
A
double locks are being constructed.
skeleton
and
standing in the middle
the Canal,
has a long steel lever which stretches to the
it
Canal
is
skinny, steel
of
side.
Beneath that lever you see what
a cab, and, sitting in
pulling
and pushing
it
you may
levers.
The
is
like
discern a man,
little
cab runs out
to the end of the arm, drops a big gobble spoon
amongst the cement or the broken stone or the
sand, and pulls
mixing
is
made
the mush
it
up and
carries
it
to where the
going on and the concrete slabs are being
to provide the casing for the lock walls, or
is
filled.
of concrete rubble
The
and the air
Nothing
is
is
steel
with which the middle
lock gates are being adjusted,
rent with the fury of riveting.
finished.
Everything seems confu-
sion.
The air is hot and clammy, and sickly odours
come from the jungle. Men are all in their muck,
pushing on, working to schedule, knowing what
PANAMA AND WHAT
io
they have to do and how long
do
IT
MEANS
take them to
it will
it.
There are the
lithe,
chewing Americans, clean-
skinned, clean-eyed, really feeling joy in
what they
There are the sluggish Spaniards,
are helping to do.
the more sluggish mixture of Spaniard and native, but
kept at
boss.
it
under the stimulating tongue
There are the niggers, easygoing, and
them from the
are Italians
there
of the
even
are
British island of Barbados.
and Scandinavians
gang
all of
There
there are Chinese
;
gentle-featured
slim-limbed,
;
East
Indians with heads voluminously swathed in dirty
turbans.
The labour
world has been placed
of the
under contribution to build the Panama Canal.
Yet not
men.
It
work
here.
of all the world.
would be too sad
What
ruin
much
for
found no Frencha
Frenchman
to
to thousands of French
Panama
But only a
The French did splendid work, and
families in the Lesseps
fiasco financially.
came
I
of the present excavation
what the French began.
fiasco
is
!
a continuation of
CHAPTER
II
MANAGEMENT AND MEN
In
its
way
the administration of the strip of land
ten miles wide and running from the Atlantic to the
Pacific,
with the Canal threading the centre,
remarkable as the engineering feat which
is
is
as
being
accomplished.
Remember, the region
is
The
unhealthy jungle.
population, a breed of Spanish-Indian,
is
sparse,
and
with none of the strenuousness necessary to remove
mountains.
are lazy
The Panamanians
of
the capital city
and conceited.
When
the Americans, some nine years ago, took
the construction of the Canal in hand, they had to
bring government, people, food, clothing, mechanical
equipment.
True, some of the machinery abandoned
by the French was found
efficient,
and a few
of the
houses, though neglected for years, were habitable.
Good use was made
of
which the French had
tion just outside
To-day there
the old
left
hospital buildings
at Ancon, a slight eleva-
Panama.
is
a long straggling
persons in the Isthmus, 2,000 miles
ii
camp
of 65,000
from the base
PANAMA AND WHAT
12
of supply.
MEANS
IT
There are 10,000 white workers, 25,000
coloured workers, and the rest are their
women and
children.
Houses had to be erected
made
and clothing them, sanitary con-
for feeding
attended
ditions
succour when
to,
arrangements made for their
or
sick
them,
policing
for these folk, provision
maimed, arrangements
them,
educating
seeing
to
for
their
spiritual welfare.
Everything
the inhabited
is
now working
trail
as efficiently as
though
across the jungle were a model
town in the middle of civilisation.
But when the Canal is finished the United States
is going to clear out all these people, and most of
the houses will be destroyed.
Except that
for actual
employees on the Canal, the Government land
return
to
climate
is
jungle.
are
Settlers
not wanted.
not good enough, and the
to attract United States farmers.
soil is
will
The
too poor
No doubt West
Indian negroes would be willing to squat and scratch
a living.
The United
States
Government has already
and
quite sufficient coloured people to look after,
wants no more.
Therefore,
when the work
is
finished
the Canal Zone will be rigorously depopulated.
Of course, the Americans are a democratic people,
but
they are having no democratic nonsense in
Panama.
Government
autocratic,
and even despotic nevertheless.
is
autocratic
;
generous, but
The Czar
MANAGEMENT AND MEN
of the
is
Isthmus
no court
He
of appeal.
Commission and
At
Colonel G.
is
first
W.
is
13
Goethals, and there
chairman
Canal
of the
chief engineer.
the chairman was a civilian, and the
executive of seven, appointed
by the President
the United States, were strong
men who got in
many ideas for
There were too
other's
way.
gress.
Contrary
caused
orders
trouble.
tented employees appealed from one
of
each
pro-
Discon-
member
of
the
executive to another.
All that
was stopped by the appointment
man
military
as
chairman.
of a
Colonel Goethals was
recognised as the foremost engineer in the United
States
He was an
Army.
organiser,
and he had
dis-
Since he set foot in the Isthmus five years
cipline.
ago he has been careful never to wear military garb.
Ostensibly the Zone
Actually
like
it
It has
it.
administration.
The Americans
is
supreme.
He
and they have got to be obeyed.
He
argues.
deferentially.
will listen to
Then he
the work as I ordered.
do.
civil
rule.
stopped bickerings between the higher
The Colonel
officials.
orders,
under
is
under military
is
gives
He
his
never
a criticism quietly, almost
" Now go and do
will say,
That
is
what you have to
I take the responsibility."
He
put on
is
a big man, straight-shouldered, inclined to
flesh,
has grey hair parted in the middle,
grey moustached,
is
fresh complexioned for a
is
man
PANAMA AND WHAT
14
who
much
lives so
IT
MEANS
and he has grey eyes
in the open,
curiously like Kitchener's.
There
He
him.
nothing of the American snap about
is
never
hurries.
about the Canal.
I
He
Notoriety
not
does
is
obnoxious to him.
was lunching with him one day, and a
aggressive
New York
have
No
;
of the Colonel standing
Colonel Goethals would not
photograph taken.
his
hustling,
photographer turned up and
wanted to take " two studies
on the porch."
" blow
In that respect he
is
as elusive as Miss Corelli.
Confidence, decision, inflexibility
characteristics behind the
man who
is
—those
calm demeanour
are the
of
the
making the Panama Canal.
Constructing the Canal, therefore, was not just a
case of bringing shiploads of labourers and setting
them to work. A colony had to be established in
what was one of the unhealthiest regions in the world.
The necessities of communities evolve with the
years
;
here the necessities had to be provided
first.
The Americans have been in the Isthmus for
eight years
but most of the first three years were
spent in bickering, quarrelling, and in making
preparations for the work which has been done in
;
the last five years.
First the Zone, infamous for its yellow fever
malaria,
had to be made habitable.
done by
Colonel Gorgas, " the
and
That work was
man who
cleaned up
MANAGEMENT AND MEN
15
Havana," a gentle-mannered American, but rough
toward
He
disease.
He
cleaned up Panama.
pro-
vided for wire-encased houses wherever settlements
of workers
swampy
rank,
He
were to be.
peregrinations
men
sent forth
and stay the
regions with kerosene
the
of
to douse
mosquito.
malaria-carrying
Sanitary inspectors were amongst the
first
officials
appointed.
In the meantime,
the route was
while
surveyed and the Americans could not
their
minds whether to have a sea
being
make up
level canal or a
lock canal, steamers were coming from the United
States
and the West Indies with
and coloured.
Other steamers were bringing frame
houses, to be erected
furniture.
labourers, white
by the thousand, and
Other steamers
were
bringing
all
the
railway
The great engineering works in the States
were constructing engines, and special trucks, and all
metal.
the
mammoth machinery requisite
hills.
for cutting
Everything was brought in
on the Isthmus.
of
105 tons, thirty-two
of 95 tons, thirty-five of 70 tons,
American locomotives
There are 560
through
and adjusted
For instance, there are 100 steam
shovels, including fourteen
are 158
bits
drills,
and so
all
on.
There
over 100 tons.
over 4,000 cars, 10 track shifters,
30 unloaders, 26 speeders, 20 dredgers, 57 cranes,
12
tugs,
70
barges,
14
launches.
All
that
wanted, or likely to be wanted, was brought.
was
PANAMA AND WHAT
16
MEANS
IT
The army
of workers is divided into two sections,
employees " and " silver employees."
All
" gold
through the Isthmus you see these two legends on
adjoining doors in
official
and
silver
is
much
There
currency in the Isthmus
and
States
silver
is
They make a
buildings.
sharp division in the supply stores.
Panamanian
—gold
—and
is
a gold
United
is
the stranger
confused in rinding out whether he
is
paying
50 cents gold (2s. Id.) or 50 cents silver (Is. 0|d.).
The " gold employees " are the officials, clerical force,
construction
men,
and
and are
artizans,
skilled
The " silver employees "
are others Spaniards, Italians, West Indians.
The Panamanian silver dollar is the same size
practically all Americans.
—
as
the United States silver dollar, but just half
its
know
the
Spaniards and their fellow-workers
value.
Panamanian
dollar.
If
they were paid in United
States currency, though the purchasing power would
be the same,
it
would amount to
Uncle Sam,
prefer 50 cents silver to 25 cents gold.
cute business man,
fat,
is
willing to oblige.
weighty Panamanian
So they
just half.
dollars,
He
mints
which make the
coloured gentlemen think they are earning a lot of
money.
The American employee
would
family
in the States.
—a heavy
He
gets better
pay than he
has house-rent free for his
charge at
home
—and he
is
able to
get food at practically cost price, whilst doctoring
MANAGEMENT AND MEN
17
The highest paid " silver emmost of whom earn
minimum
pay to the West
lOd. an hour. The
Indian negro is 5d. an hour. Though sleeping
him nothing.
costs
ployees " are the Spaniards,
quarters
for
nigger
provided, the
are
barrack
not care
does
Thousands have taken to
life.
the
" bush."
Amidst the wild
of huts,
of
and old sheets
old boards
They
tropical vegetation are clusters
sometimes made of planks, but more often
and
are crude
to have a " home."
insanitary, but the nigger likes
Several years ago the authorities
endeavoured to stop
cluded that the
corrugated iron.
of
this "
men who
bush "
life.
not so strong physically as those
Commission kitchens and messes.
ances of
men
of workers,
at mess meals
and
it
was
felt
It
was con-
lived at " home " were
fell
who
fed in the
Then the attendbelow the number
that niggers were saving
money by missing meals and not working with the
strength expected. An order that no West Indian
should be provided with sleeping accommodation
till
he showed his meal check only sent thousands into
the " bush." Most of the coloured workers now live
in the " bush " and fend for themselves. Any attempt
to drive
them
into
to labour trouble.
Commission quarters would lead
So things are
Twice a month an armoured
left alone.
train,
bullion for wages, crosses the Isthmus.
laden with
PANAMA AND WHAT
18
IT
MEANS
The commissariat department is in the hands of
Government. With the exception of a few
vegetables and some fruits, Panama produces nothing.
the
have to be brought 2,000
All foodstuffs
means the
arrival of
on supplies
in a year.
stores
It
The Commission spends £2,500,000
the population.
general
miles.
one steamer each day to feed
in
twenty
It has established over
the villages and camps
in
the
Canal Zone, and eighteen hotels for white " gold
At Cristobel, adjoining Colon, the
employees."
" Commissary " has enormous plant for cold storage, ice-making, bakery, coffee-roasting,
and laundry.
I will write of that later on.
Each morning,
at four o'clock, a supply train of
them
are refri-
and perishable
articles.
twenty-one cars leaves Cristobel
gerator cars with meats,
These are delivered
at
ice,
Gatun,
Culebra, Pedro Miguel, Balboa,
little
Gorgona, Empire,
Panama, and
all
the
camps on the way.
No
make
ten of
;
endeavour
is
made by
a profit out of the stores.
storage."
The people
the Commission to
is " cold
Everything
feed well, and the
takes special pains to see that
its
Government
workers are well
The average daily meat ration of the
American engaged in making the Canal is 1| lb.,
vegetables 1 lb., and bread 12 oz. I doubt if there
are any working men anywhere who eat so much
meat a day as do the American workers in the tronourished.
/
MANAGEMENT AND MEN
At the
pics.
19
hotels three meals can be got for Is. 8d.
men
There are kitchens where the coloured
a day.
can get three meals for
however
of the niggers,
Is. l|d.
—
Thousands
a day.
those who are unmarried
do not use the kitchens, but buy something at the
in the " bush."
and eat
stores
on the Isthmus in
A
More money
spent
is
than in bread.
ice
law court and a criminal court have, by order
United States, been set up
of the President of the
There
in the Zone.
been
established,
Schools have
a police force.
is
twelve
for
white
children
and
seventeen for coloured children, and the youngsters
in the " bush," or living
away from camps,
and taken
are picked
up by
trains
house,
and afterwards brought back again.
free to the nearest school-
works and sewage plants have been
fair
Water-
installed,
and
roads have been constructed, mainly by prison
labour.
have
Post
offices
numerous.
At Ancon
hospital with sixteen
have
Two banks
are
the Zone.
offices
in
hundred beds.
is
the great
All employees
free treatment.
I have purposely dwelt in this chapter on the
The outer world knows
of the Canal, but has paid small heed to what has
had to be done to make the cutting of the way
appurtenances to the Canal.
possible.
In
Panama
Government
the United States
in the world.
is
the most paternal
The community
is
the
20
PANAMA AND WHAT
result of organisation.
And when
IT
MEANS
ships begin to use
the Canal, the Americans, by deliberate intent, will
destroy most of the Zone buildings, send the people
away, and
let
thriving towns.
the jungle triumph where
now
are