More Men At Work On Canal Than Ever.

New York Times 100 years ago today, March 5, 1913:
Edward T. Devine Says More Than 40,000 Are Now on the Job.
INTERESTS SOCIAL WORKERS
Human Side of Work on Isthmus Attracts Attention as Construction Nears Completion.
    Under the caption of "Civic Problems of the Canal Zone," Edward T. Devine says the finishing of the canal construction work is in sight. He says shops are being concentrated, houses are being demolished where they are no longer needed, purchases of materials are being made cautiously, army officers are speculating about future details and the Federation of Women's Clubs has held its last annual meeting. And yet, Mr. Devine says, there are more men actually employed in
the Canal Zone now than at any previous time — more than 40,000 — and the whole force is working at its maximum capacity.
    The work of getting the zone into good working condition for the rush of business that is expected to follow the completion of the gigantic task of building the canal is described for The Survey by Mr. Devine like this:
    "This is the time to see the canal. The hospitals and the penitentiary are in smooth working order. The quarters supplied by the authorities are fully occupied, congested at some places, the official reports say, and, besides, whole villages of unofficial commercial tenements are crowded, ready congested, with laborers and their families. Congestion of population and extortionate rents are among the sights of the Canal Zone, which may be less in evidence next year than this. The 'Red Light' district of Panama and Colon will no doubt remain, at least for a while, and the lottery, (for these are not on the Canal Zone.) and the overcrowding in those two cities will continue unless the United States, through its new civil government in the Canal Zone decides to extend its sanitary regulations and police surveillance, as the treaty with Panama gives it the right to do if it deems it expedient.
    "The three departments of the Canal Zone administration which have greatest interest tor the social worker are those of the Quartermaster, which includes the recruiting of labor and the erection and management of quarters; sanitation, which includes not only preventive sanitation, but also the management of hospitals and dispensaries, and civil administration, under which come the schools, the Post Office, the courts and police, the jails and the penitentiary.
    "The chief Quartermaster's functions are greater than the uninitiated might suppose. The sanitary department, for example, decides upon health policies, but whether the houses and settlements shall really be sanitary depends, of course, upon the way in which they are kept, the removal of night soil and garbage, the cutting of grass and digging of drains, the supply of drinking water, and other service the actual performance of which devolves upon the Quartermaster's Department.
    "The story of sanitation is summed up in the fact that yellow fever is banished and malaria controlled. There are, of course many deaths from accidents, from pneumonia, from tuberculosis, and some from malaria. The death rate on the zone for the last fiscal year, including the cities of Colon and Panama, was 19.82 per thousand. In 1906-7 it was 42.08. The general index for health conditions, however, is the rate for malaria. This has steadily decreased per thousand from 727 cases in 1905-6 to 143 in 1911-12.
    "There is a high infant death rate; 1,212 deaths cut of 3,163 last year being of children under 5 years of age and 956 of these under 1 year. Pulmonary tuberculosis in all ages accounted for 293 deaths, malaria and malarial fever for 256, diarrhea and enteritis for 394, and Bright's disease for 140. There were 22 suicides.
    "School attendance is not compulsory, but is general and reasonably regular. In December, for example the net enrollment in the white schools was 1,241, the average number belonging 1,095, and the average daily attendance 1,025. In the colored schools the enrollment was about the same but the average daily attendance only about three-fourths as good. There is an efficient corps of teachers, most of whom have had professional training and experience.
    "There is no law against child labor in the Canal Zone and the official regulations distinctly recognize Boy A and Boy B rates of pay, which are five and seven cents an hour respectively. The boys are mainly water carriers and messengers. On June 30, 1912, there were only three employes receiving the five-cent rate and 351 the seven-cent rate. Among the latter, however there may have been some men who had been injured in the service of the commission or the railway and were capable of performing only light work.
    "It would be refreshing to review the work of the district, circuit, and supreme courts to discover to what extent they have been able to create new precedents and to escape from the useless formulae and traditions which impede the development of the law in more stable communities, but more thoroughgoing observations would be required for this purpose.
    "There is no juvenile court in the canal zone, no probation system, and virtually no resources for dealing adequately with the by no means infrequent cases of genuine juvenile delinquency which occur. Dismissal with ineffectual reprimand or commitment to the penitentiary are the unwelcome horns of the dilemma which the district judge faces. Thanks to the women's clubs, a separate part of the district jail is set apart for women offenders, but the segregation in practice is apparently not always effective, as in the Colon jail the only woman, a young West Indian awaiting deportation as a disorderly person, was holding animated converse with a convicted felon across the corridor. Probably, however, the attention of the efficient Chief of Police, who is responsible for the jails and penitentiary, has already long since been called to this oversight, and its recurrence prevented.
    "Capital punishment by hanging is practiced on occasion, although juries are slow to convict of the degree of murder which has that result. There are some 150 cenvicts in the penitentiary on an average, and they are employed largely in road bunding and other outdoor work. They wear the striped clothing of the State's prison tradition. Also, alas! for the first three months, while at work, they wear the ball and chain, which saves guards, and as the Chief of Police thinks, some lives, for if the convicts were not chained the guards would have to shoot more freely when escape is attempted. The ball and chain and the striped clothes are a rough means of classification, but it seems a little hard on a man sentenced for three months that the most exemplary conduct secures graduation from the lowest grade only on the expiration of his term.
    "To appreciate the services of Col. Goethals and his assistants. Col. Hodges and Mr. Rousseau, and those of Quartermaster C. A. Devol and Col. Gorgas. the chief sanitary officer, would require more space than is here available. So, also, to tell the the story of the achievements of Col. Sibert at the Atlantic end, of Col. Gaillard in the central division, of Mr. Williamson on the Pacific, of Mr. Goldmark's lock gates, of Col. Wilson's hotels and commissary stores, of the excellent railway service, of the work which Mrs. Brown, Miss Beattie, and their associates have done in the women's clubs, or even of Mr. Dickinson's Y.M.C.A. clubhouses, the centres of the social life of the isthmus. Of these last I have naturally the most vivid and appreciative recollection, for it was in them mainly — at Cristobol, Gatun, Gorgona, Empire, and Culebra — that I had opportunity to meet the builders, from members of the commission down to messenger boys, and a superb lot of men and boys they are. All honor to them, for this that they are doing, unlike some of the misty and mythical marvels of antiquity, is a real wonder of the world. Every one who has a part in it is to be envied. Every one who has a chance even to see it is to be congratulated.
    "The social and sanitary problems of the Canal Zone are expected to disappear with the completion of the canal. For the word is that, except for the army and the few necessary canal employes, the zone is to be depopulated. This is now said to be the easiest means of defense against both armies and aeroplanes. Whether that is so or not, it is no doubt the easiest means of preventing yellow fever, malaria, congestion, illiteracy, and immorality. If there is no life on the zone then the problems of life will be utterly simple."