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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



The men at Camp Funston did not stop 

 for Sunday, but worked 10 hours a day 

 seven days a week, with Saturday after- 

 noon off. They worked 65 hours a week 

 and were paid for 80 hours, at Kansas 

 City union labor prices. 



Four thousand eight hundred men were 

 housed and fed at Camp Funston when 

 the work was in full blast. The govern- 

 ment allowed them to be quartered in 

 buildings which were already finished, ex- 

 cept for the wall board work and top 

 flooring inside. Three hundred commis- 

 sary employees, cooks, waiters, and room 

 attendants were required to care for that 

 half of the force which lived at the can- 

 tonment, the other half living in neigh- 

 boring towns and surrounding country. 



The army of builders ate two carloads 

 of beef a week and other things in pro- 

 portion. Meals were furnished at 30 

 cents each, the men being required to 

 purchase a week's tickets at a time. This 

 was exactly the rate charged the Ameri- 

 cans at the line hotels on the Panama 

 Canal. Quarters were provided free, ex- 

 cept that each workman upon first en- 

 tering the bunk-house deposited a dollar, 

 which was returned to him when he 

 finally left the job. 



Special efforts were made to keep the 

 workmen contented and happy. One of 

 the barracks was turned over to the Y. M. 

 C. A., which established outdoor motion- 

 picture shows, where three times a week 

 the best films were shown, free to all 

 comers. A band and an orchestra 

 were organized and baseball teams were 

 equipped. 



CAMP NEWSPAPER STIMULATED MEN TO 

 SPECIAL EFFORT 



The spirit displayed in the construction 

 of all the cantonments was an inspiration 

 to every one who witnessed the work. 

 A healthy rivalry among the 16 con- 

 tractors was in evidence everywhere. 

 The contractors at Camp Dix published 

 a construction weekly, which served to 

 fire the zeal of the men there, even more 

 than the Canal Record stirred the big 

 army of diggers at Panama. In the Camp 

 Dix News the editor put everything of 

 interest to the force, from a description 

 of the cantonment and the week-to-week 



story of the work's progress, down to a 

 picture of a bare-skinned Chihuahua dog, 

 the camp mascot, and a piece of advice to 

 an unnamed youngster working in camp 

 not to neglect writing to his mother. 



Through this newspaper the contrac- 

 tors appealed to their men to help put 

 Camp Dix "first under the wire" of com- 

 pletion. "There are 16 entries," said the 

 appeal, "in the most spectacular race that 

 American contractors have ever been 

 called upon to enter. We have a good 

 start and a fair field and we need only 

 supply the stamina." So, even in build- 

 ing good sportsmanship had its place. 



MEN BEHIND THE HAMMERS IMBUED 

 WITH PATRIOTIC SPIRIT 



The men behind the hammers soon 

 caught the spirit of the times. At Camp 

 Dix the contractors divided their organi- 

 zation into 10 groups, each with a section 

 of the camp to build. Soon the 16-can- 

 tonment national sweepstakes event had 

 a side attraction — the 10-section Wrights- 

 town race. Each group at Camp Dix was 

 as keen "to put one over" on its rivals as 

 each contractor was to bring his canton- 

 ment under the wire first. 



One day one of the competitive groups 

 of camp builders bethought itself of the 

 fact that there ought to be a flag flying 

 over its section. The hat was passed, and 

 from water boy to section superintendent 

 all "chipped in" to buy a starry banner 

 and a flagpole. 



With telegrams from the President and 

 the Secretary of War to be read, with 

 speakers of note to set the event in an 

 appropriate wreath of words, and with a 

 band to bring the thrill which the na- 

 tional anthem inspires, Old Glory was 

 hoisted into place. Soon every other sec- 

 tion had its flag, each raised with appro- 

 priate ceremony, and all unfurled to the 

 breezes through the initiative of the hard- 

 working carpenters themselves. 



There was cooperation everywhere. 

 Even the thousands of negro laborers at 

 the Southern cantonments became im- 

 bued with enthusiasm for their work and 

 heartily supported every effort to keep 

 the camp sites up to the 100 per cent mark 

 in sanitation, although sanitary science is 

 well-nigfh a sealed book to them. Can 



