The Panama Canal 



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second, we are gathering data which will 

 be useful in future estimates of the cost 

 -of canal construction. In the Culebra 

 work 2 , 600 men are now employed. We 

 are also building railway tracks and 

 yards, and are dredging at both ends of 

 the canal, so far as advisable, until the 

 question of type of canalis decided. This 

 should be determined within the next 

 ninety days. It should be understood 

 that all the work we have done is appli- 

 cable to any type of canal. 



The question of labor is a grave and 

 perplexing one. We have advanced far 

 enough to know that we can secure a suf- 

 ficient supply of labor from the tropics, 

 so far as numbers are concerned. The 

 question of quality is a very different 

 matter. Unless a much greater efficiency 

 can be developed than is secured at pres- 

 ent, we shall have to look elsewhere. 

 Probably I can best convey to you a just 

 estimate of the quality of this labor by 

 relating an incident which came under 

 the observation of Senator Millard dur- 

 ing his visit on the Isthmus. Sitting on 

 the deck of the steamer Havana, he was 

 watching the unloading of a heavy piece 

 of machinery from the hold of the ves- 

 sel. The tackle got caught in the rig- 

 ging on the deck above ; the foreman in 

 charge of the gang of laborers sent one 

 of them above to free the tackle. The 

 laborer went to the place to which he was 

 sent and did what he was told to do. The 

 foreman, paying no attention to him after 

 he started on his errand, missed him a 

 few minutes later, and looking around 

 for him, discovered him sitting peace- 

 fully at the spot to which he had been 

 sent. " What are you doing there? " 

 yelled the foreman. " You told me to 

 come here, sah." "Well, why didn't 

 you come back?" "You didn't tell 

 me to, sah." 



It is to this class of labor that we are 

 paying from 80 cents to $[.04 per day 

 in gold, and out of which it is estimated 

 we do not get more than 25 per cent of 

 the efficiency of labor in the United 



States. This is the kind of labor to 

 which we are compelled to apply the 

 eight-hour law — 'that is, to aliens, who 

 know nothing of the law's existence 

 until they arrive on the Isthmus. Such 

 application will increase the labor cost 

 of canal construction at least 25 per 

 cent and will ad 3 many millions un- 

 necessarily to the total expenditure. 

 In my opinion, it is a mistake to handicap 

 the construction of the Panama Canal by 

 any laws save those of police and sanitation. 

 I want to go on record here that the ap- 

 plication of the eight-hour law, of the 

 contract-labor law, of the Chinese ex- 

 clusion act, or of any other law passed 

 or to be passed by Congress for the 

 benefiV.of American labor at home, to 

 labor on the Isthmus, is a serious error. 

 Over 80 per cent of the employes of the 

 canal will be aliens. A majority of the 

 other 20 per cent employed will be in a 

 clerical or supervisory capacity. The 

 application of these laws on the Isthmus 

 will benefit a very small number of 

 American laborers, but will enormously 

 add to the cost of construction, and 

 American labor at home will have to 

 pay its share of the consequent increase 

 in taxation. As business men, you will 

 understand the force of this statement. 



That is the story, gentlemen, of what 

 we have been doing on the Isthmus. 

 In line with this, let me add that Chief 

 Engineer Stevens, a man well equipped 

 for the great task he has undertaken, 

 is preparing three complete sets of plans 

 applicable to as many types of canal, so 

 that when a decision shall have been 

 reached as to what type will be used, 

 no delay in beginning work will ensue. 

 It is our confident belief that by the 1st 

 of July next the plant as purchased will 

 be installed and working to its fullest 

 practical capacity. In other words, by 

 that time the dirt will begin to fly in 

 earnest. 1 



The canal will be built — rest assured 

 of that — and it will be built at Panama. 

 Those two phases of the problem have 



