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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1905)
October II, 1I0K. THE OMAHA ILLUSTRATED DEE. How New t f " !; MWi l,KifV -Uj : .. 't v CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION BUILD INO. EV VuKU, Oct. 26. A colony for neglected boys at which each tod In known, not by a certain num ber aa at moat Institution, but by his own name, so that he la made to feci himself to be a distinct en tity and to count for something In the world-such an institution necessarily teaches a lesson of the Importance of fos tering self-respect In the midst of healthful surroundings when it is a question of turn ing the wulfs of the slums into worthy American citizens. As healthy and self-respecting a gather ing of boys probably as one can And In the neighborhood of a great city anywhere these autumn days are the 300 children of the tenement and street who are housed In the newly built village of the New York Juvenile asylum at Dobbs Ferry. N. Y. This is the time of year when the waif Is apt to bo at his worst physically, when he Is exhausted by a long summer In the fetid atmosphere of the tenements and the grilling streets; but the children of the asylum have enjoyed more than three solid months of outdoor life amid country sur roundings and they are a bright-eyed, rosy checked contrast to ' their less fortunate little brothers of the town. Healthy Life on Farm. This contrast Is a sign of the success of the experiment begun by the Juvenile Asy lum, when in the latter part of last May It moved from the building In the upper part of Manhattan Island to Its country farm of tS5 acres, on a rldge of land over looking the Hudson river, where the boys are housed In pretty cottages, thirty In a cottage, and each house Is made as home like aa possible. The change was a mo mentous one for the waifs, many of whom had never seen, the country before, for the children that come to the asylum have either become orphans or been abandoned by their parents or, because ef parental vlclousness have been flung on the world, or as happens occasionally, the parents have given them Into custody as Incor rigible. , Their ages range from 2 to 18 years. The children rapidly accepted their new Theodore (Copyright, 1905, by Frank G. Carpenter.) I respondence of The Bee.) It was I In thft nAw riffle rsf t h A Pn n A m n. Railroad company, in the great new white stone building looking out upon New York harbor at the foot of Broadway, that I talked with Mr. Theo dore P. Shonts, the new head of Uncle Sam's biggest new project, the Fanama cur.al. I say the new head, because, since Mr. Wallace left, there has been no question as to who is the manager of the canal scheme. Where Theodore Roosevelt sits, aa we all know, Is always the head of the table. That goes without saying. But even our mighty president cannot be In more than one place at a time, and Mr. Shonts, under him and congress. Is supreme. He has the direction and tho control dg the chief engineer, Mr. Stevens; he Is the chief over the governor of the Ten-Mile Strip, Mr. Magoon; and he Is the president and gen eral manager ot the Panama Railroad and Steamship company. Every man In the ten or twelve thousand who now make up the canal forces has his work and his re sponsibilities, but all are subordinate to Theodore P. Shonts, and to him the presi dent looks tor results. In other words, the canal work Is at last under one head, and that head Is Mr, Shonts. The H and Hla Jen. Before I give you our interview I want to say word about the man and his job. We all know something of the Job. It Is one of the biggest ever attempted by any nation. It Is to gouge out the earth and rock through the lowest part ef the back bone of the mighty mountain chain which runs through our hemisphere from the Klondike to the Straits of Magellan, so that the leviathan vessels of our age may steam through from ocean to ocean. It is to more out of the way from 30.000 to 100,000,000 cubte yards of earth; to build mighty dams to hold back the floods of the Chfsres, which rise at times almost thirty feet In night; to turn the course nf rivers, and. In short, to take the goddess of nature by the throat and force her to do her work In new ways tor the benefit of man. All this must be accomplished In a tropical climate, in an unhealthy coun try, with labor that In the past has proved Itself among the poorest that the world has to offer. The Job will, of course, be a costly one. It will run into the hundreds uf millions of dollars. It may be not more than r.W.OoO.OOu; It may be 13(0,000.000, or It may be more. i It is a Job of time. inincsU-Varllla. In the exuberance of his i'leiuh Imagination, talks of five years, i he former chief engineer thought it might e done in ten, and other eminent aulhorl Ues put tho time at from twelve to tw-anty. .-.o much for the job! Now for the man! it he big enoun tor the job? I will an ..it (hat by telling you who he is. how he e -eks, and wl.at he has done. The only ..tl answer can be his work, and it will i! o time for that. In the first place. Mr. f... :-.t Impresses one by his plainness t .J his sturdy simplicity He has no frills, lie does not part his hair nor his name lo tie inMclle, ar.d he . not wear patent I' nil.e;- tihoes nor spit.. He Is a business Mia. diesscd lit buKineis clothes, who talks bi.j;n(a. and does business In a business w.-.v lie Is a worker. Ha Is the son of i'nliej Presbyterian parents, coming from ,ast Iron Puritan stock of northwestern r,.,.s Ivtinia. and educated In the Vntted York is Teaching 1TW : V, . 4 j 5 . -'" surroundings with appreciation, though nt first everything was strange and new. Just after their arrival a group of tmv larger" boys looked over the grounds and then wore seen to whisper together for a few minutes. Finally ono approached' Mrs. miles, wife of the supelntendent of the asylum, saying: "Hey, Missis, do wc get breakfast, dinner and supper here, same as In the city?" After receiving assurances of tho regula tion meals, the group decided that the place was satisfactory. Among the more sttrenuous boys there was some specula tion as to the possibility of bagging bears in the woods. But the chief wonder at the country was found among the smaller children In the "kindergarten cottage," who had never been out of the city before, even on "Fresh Air" excursions. When the little chaps were sent out to play on the morning after their arrival, they. soon. re turned to the cottage panting and out ot breath and manifested a disposition to stay at homo. In answer to the houso mother's Inquiries they said they had come In because "a big wild animal- was chutsln 'round over there." The "wild animal," on Investigation, proved to be a placid cow In a neighboring field. At another time the house mother found a group of the children rquatted on the ground staring solemnly at a newly fllled-ln spot of earth. "We found a dead butterfly," they explained, "and we burled It. .And now we're waiting for an angel to come up." Home In Beat Sense. By this time, of course, all the inllisl strangeness has worn oft. The children have come to look upon the little cottage colony, which, with Its smooth roadways, broad lawns and handsome cottages of varied architecture, resembles a high-class suburban settlement, as their home. The life at the institution is varied and interest Ing, a strong contrast to that of similar Institutions under the old-fashioned con gregate system. There la no undue re straint, and no fences or Iron palings to shut In the asylum grounds from the open country. The cottages are ranged about a. great oval, girded by a roadway. Its widest ends being "north and south, and e i i . - ; TTwTlt7!3'" w "Jl'B"LIJI" " 'L P. Shonts '-Talks.' About Ihe Presbyterian college at Monmouth, 111. There is no better stock and no better training to make men. Mr. Shonts began life as a bank clerk in Iowa, He made a reputation as a bank accountant, and, working along business lines, rose to be a builder and manager of railroads. He has the reputation of being a good organiser andva successful handler of men, and that in the west, .which, after all, is the best business working part of our country and which today is producing the leaders of all branches of business. Another big element in the make-up of this man in his health. He Is, I Judge, about fifty, but his eye is that ot a man ten years younger. His cheeks are rosy with red blood, He eats well, digests well and Is the personification of vigor and vitality. He stands over six feet In his stockings, a big man, with a big frame padded with lean, muscular flesh. The Lord has given him the physique for the werk, his life seems to have furnished the training, and President Roosevelt has picked him out as the man tor the place. It la now up to him to make good. His First Real Job. Iu my talk with Mr. Shonts I referred to the magnltudo and complexities of the canal work, saying: "You have now bud your hands on the machine for more than six months; you have been able to study the situation by and large. I want to know how you tike the Job?" "I find it both interesting and absorbing," was the reply. "It is so absorbing that It takes all my time, all my energies every thing that Is In me. Indeed. It seems to me the only real job I have ever undertaken. I did not realise how big it was until I at tempted it; but with time and work it will be accomplished." , "How about the red tare and govern ment methods, Mr. Shonts?. Can any busi ness man handle the canal after modern business methods with the government In charge?" "We hope to do things after the best of modern business methods, and at the same time not act contrary to government regu lations. There are some things that might perhaps be changed to the benefit of the work. One rule is that all accounts have to pass through the hands of the auditors of two or three of tho government depart ments. . In the great railroad business ot the Vnitcd States, a business which In the vast sums Involved equals, if it does not surpass, that of the federal government, one auditor is sufficient for each road, and almost nothing is lost. It would seem that if the accounts pass through the auditiug branch of one great government depart ment that might be sufficient. The chief thing with us in the canal construction Is results; we should like any changes that will faclllate our work, and enable us to do it more quickly and more cheaply with due regard to careful government Inspec tion." , A Mtaatiea at Paaaata- "Wht is being done at Panama?" "We are doing everything we can to fit .the Isthmus for our working force. . It Is useless to try to push the canal excavation until we have food and houses for our workmen. We ran only make haste slowly. The work we are now doing will hurry up the real work of tho future. "In the first place,, wo need yards for tbo Panama railroad an4 docks at which to . e' , " J , ' ", , . . mm ', , . ' - . most of the twenty cottages already built are grouped about ' the northerly end of the oval. The handsome big schoolhouse, of white sandstone and terra cotta brick, stands on the western side of the oval The children ooine to the Institution vlc- land our supplies. We have hundreds ot men at work constructing them. At Cristo bal' Colon'-we are building wharves and excavating, so that we shall be able to load and unload a number of ships there t a time. This Is also permanent work in the building of the canal. Instead of making a great breakwater from Colon to the main land across the bay at a cost ot millions we can build these wharves along the en trance -to the canal. We shall have rail road tracks running beside them, so that the goods from the cars can be taken al most directly to the ships and vice versa. We are also Improving the harbors at the Panama end of the canal, and are rapidly bringing in lumber for the new buildings." Houses for the Men. "What are you doing In the way of providing homes foa, the workmen?" , "We have building going on everywhere throughout the sone." replied Mr. Shonts. "When we reached Panama we found the chief canal officers in the city of Panama, In unhealthy localities, and In most cases In buildings which were very unsanitary. We found no adequate quarters for the workmen along the canal route, and also that the American employes of Panama were living in the city. We decided to devote all our energies at first to getting healthy working places., We are now build ing offices at Ancon, a hill which rises almost straight up from the sea, on tho edge of Panama City, and we shall have the houses of the clerks there. It is one. of the healthiest places on the Isthmus, and far better than Panama proper. "We are building hotels and lodging houses all along the canal strip. We are repairing tho cottages and little houses which the French built, and putting up others. Many of these are for the com mon native laborers, who must be well housed If they are to do good work." In Panama and Colon. "What are you doing In the cities?" "We are cleaning up Panama und Colon and completing tho sewers and water works. Panama has now plenty of water which comes from a dam far up in the mountains. The water is very pure and better than that of many of our cities. We shall also supply Colon with good water. The sewers are rapidly being put Into Fanama, and we shall soon have the streets paved. We shall lay the chief thor oughfares with brick, and we are now tak ing brick there in great quantities. We are cleaning the city. It has not been In a sanitary condition for ages; we are wip ing out the cesspools and we hope to make it as healthy as any town of our gulf states. Heretofore Colonel Gorges and the other doctors have been devoting themselves to trying to prevent diseuse by wiping out the mosquitoes and isolating the yellow fever patients. These methods are good, but we also believe In the old fashioned theory that cleanliness Is next to health, aa well as next to godliness. We are doing some thorough cleaning on that basis throughout the canal sons." "How about the food for the men and those food contracts which involved mil lions of dollars, Mr. Shonts?" I asked. "There has been a great misapprehension about those food contracts. It was neces sary that the contracts be let out at once. When we reached the Isthmus we found the workmen out of food, and that they could not labor for lack of It. The whole population of the isthmus is but a few thousand, and when the 10.000 or 1J.0OJ canal employes were added, the supplies et r . . .... . '. 14- i ..j---- Slum Children o Live the Decent Life &AIB1KO THB Ajm,mr I TBQETABIa. .',1. . '."in . jj ' ss?C- ,., toll. -r'.V :Js,'i AT THE CENTRAL KITCHEN. Urns for the most part of malnutrition and Irregular habits of sleeping. Consequently it Is necessary for their restoration to normal health to Insist on absolute regu- larity in living., .They are ' up -early 610 being the rising hour. . Breakfast is served provisions became short and prices went skyward. The result was the common la borers could not afford to buy the neces saries of life. They had to stop work for lack of eatables and some, lived for a 'time on sugar cane. We saw that must send food to the Isthmus, and that at once. We hurried up the establishment of tho commissary departments, and we are now sending supplies there regularly. We shall soon have It arranged that both the gold and silver men shall be supplied at cost with . almost everything they need from the commissaries." "But' how about the millions of Uncle Sam's money which the contractors are 'to get. Mr. Shonts?" "The contractors will not get anything out of Uncle Sam. They have merely the privilege ot opening hotels and supplying food cooked and uncooked to the men at certain fixed rates. They will make their profit out of the business, and It will not oo me from the government treasury at U. , , jh- 'Iiv ..V;,. 'fV "y TKEOPORS - x '';;.Jfeii ., - at 7 o'clock in the uosy little dining rooms in the cottages, and then, after a short period, ps-rtly devoted to bedmaking, tho procession Is formed for school. At tho cottage farthest from . the school houso the boys set out, and those from the other Present Situation al Panama The contracts are carefully worded and the employes of the canal will be insured tho best of f od and they will be protected against extortion of any sort." Men Sow at Work. "How many men hove you now at work?' "Taking Americans, natives, ritfcroes from Jamaica, and all others, we have Just about 12,0CO." replied Mr. Shonts. "What are 'they doing?" "They are cleaning up the towns and tho zone. They are unloading lumbr- and put ting It on the cars. They are building the new houses for the men. There are about 1,600 Americans; some of them belong to the clerical force, others are mechanics and engineers. We have a large number of American carpenters and we are now send ing down forty by every steamer." "How about wages? Does it pay an American to go to Panama?" "We are now giving about 50 per cent more wages than are paid .for., similar ' '.-'.. . - - - i;vff"! t f : . . '' - 1.' 8E0XT9. mt:m A CHARACTERISTIC cottages fall In as the line passes. School begins promptly at 9 o'clock. Only hall the children attend school in the morning. The others are scattered to work of various kinds, for the farm gar den, the kitchen, the bake shop, tho laun dry, the tnllor Bhop, the printing offloo and the cottages themselves, all claim their quota of - hnnds. Already tlic cooking brigade has ben at wi'i-k river the breakfast In the big com munity kitchen in the power house, a red brick bulklins, somewhat shut off from the rest of the structures, behind a group of trees und below thr crest of the rii'.' There, under a competent thc-f, tho boys ar! 1 Initiated Into the mysteries of the culinary art. They muke good cooks, too, and most of them like the" work. All tho fo.d. cooked in this common kitchen, Is loaded In cans, which are delivered at the various cottages by wugon. Adjoining tho kll?hen Is a finely appointed bake shop, vhore the youthful bakers turn out every diiy for themselves and their hungry fel Iowm ISO loaves of bread, of which a New England housekeeper would not be ashamed. In the tailor shop tho srwing detail makes all the clothes required by the wards of the asylum, and in the printing oflk-e the boys get a practical knowledge of typesetting and the management of prefs machines, incidentally doing all the printing necessaiy In the course of the ordinary asylum work. Gardening Attraeta Mont. The most Interesting work of all. perhaps, is that done on the truck garden of twenty two acres attached to the asylum. This Is In charge of an experienced farmer, and the boys under him have been astonish ingly successful in their agricultural at tempts. Most of them scarcely know a potato from a turnip when, they begin, but they are quick to learn and soon become expert with rake and hoe. They take pride, moreover, In the . growing things, particularly as they appreciate that the better the results they ' obtain the better they will fare at table. Although the boys ' this year began their work In August, the truck garden hae proved a great success and , the yield of potatoes alone has been classes of labor in the United States. We there will be little doubt that it will be tol pay stenographers and typewriters 1115, lowed. If it should not be unanimous, wo 1125 and even more per month. Mechanics shall have to consider It in the light of tho get 50 per cent more than at home, and all demands of the work and the people and labor is proportionately better paid. As to be governed by what seems best." whether it pays a young man to go there, I should say it does. He gets better wages, and when we have our commissary ar rangements In force he cannot help but save money. He can do so now. Indeed, I don't see how a young man can possibly spend more than 835 or 840 a month." $- Panama for Vounx Men. "But. Mr. Shonts, do you think you can make the health conditions at Panama such that one would risk sending his son there? If you had a son who was an engineer, tor Instance, would you dare send him to Pan- ama? Would you go there to live your self?" "Panama is not a health resort," replied the chief of the canaKzone. "I don't think it ever will rank as such. I do think, how ever, that it will soon be as healthy as many of the cities of the United States. ' I have no boys, but had I one who was an engineer I should not hesitate to let hlni go to Panama in the course of a year or so. As for myself, I expect to spend a good part of every year on the isthmus, and I hall bo there during all times of the year." Uxperlmeutal 'Wrk. "What ar the engineers doing at Pan ama?" "They are working away, testing the dif ferent parts of the canal route, making borings and other experimental investiga tions." "Is there any excavating going on at Culebra Cut?" "No; that has been stopped. There Is no use of wasting work, time and money there until we have thu machinery, tracks and other facilities needed for the work. It was a mistake to use the little French snd Bel gian engines snd the baby dump cars. Each of those cars holds only about five cubic yards of earth. Our new steam shov els each take up five cublo yards at one mouthful, and when they drop It Into such a car' they are likely to break It or spill It out. If, as Is sometimes the case, the shovel takes up an eight or'ten-ton rock. It may crush the car. They are worthless for a job like this. Another thing, as It is. twenty-two such cars make a tralnload for one of those engines. When you have a tra one gOe4 that we got that lot of refuse stuff with our Fr'-nch bargain. Had we started free we would have bought the best of modorn machlneiy. We must have that now. The best is by far the cheapest." "How much excavation has actually been done since we took hold?" "About 1,000.000 cubic yards. I should say." 'How muoh will have to bo done?" "That depends upon whether we have a lock canal or a sea level canal. We may have as little a n.OoO.uov cublo yards, and we may have more than luO.oOu.OOO. We can not tell until we know just what kind of a rai.ul is determined upon." "What is your opinion, Mr. Shonts. should the canal be one of locks or at sea level?" "I have i n opinion to express. The presi dent has eailed together the most eminent of the world s engineers to pass upon that question. They are now Investigating the different problems. They will go to Pan ama, and In due time will report. If their conclusion should be a unanimous one. inload you are only carrying away 110 . ubic yards of earth, and as we have only "'". " ' ' . . . "youse are lust tauvhs an' icruDmn." track you can see now rasi ine woja - - ' . . "Well, it s all in de nmt." arrowlAit an ou. Indeed, I liuna li was a caiamuy . - - . 5w-..--.--.' COTTAGE. TOO bushels. Tim garden has proved also a practical noon to the asylum In enabling It to fur nish vegetables fresher and In greater quantltv than a similar Institution in th city could possibly afford. In addition. It is worth mentioning that a quart ot milk Is provided dally for each boy. ami. as one of the youngsters mentioned with prldn to. a visitor, "there's po twice a week." school iSeiislous. The morning school session lasts from 9 to 11:30 o'clock and dinner is served in the cottages at noon. In the afternoon those boys who have done other work during the morning attend school from 1 to A o'clock and the morning rchool stmad does the physical work. After 4 o'clock conies play time. The boys ure free for base ball or other sports until tea time at B::. A fine athletic field and running track are being constructed In the oval. After tea, during the long summer days, the boys usually resume their play out of doors. But each of the cottages has an admirable sitting and reading room, with an adequate library, and checkers, domi noes and other games for those who like to play. Twice a week, also, the teachers have a li 'e entertainment in each cottage and either read or sing to the boys, and the you raters recite or sing songs that they have learned. Bed time comes early, at 8 or 8:30 o'clock, and the boys retire to their dormitories on the second floor of the cottages. In two of the houses, called the "honor cottages," the boys have Individual rooms, small, but light and airy, and those boys who win tho right to these are very proud ot the achievement. Thus far tho model village Jias appar ently been very successful, but aTter all, the success can be gauged fully only by the careers of the boys after they have left the asylum. Thousands of young follows have gone out from the Institution in its half century of existence to become useful, self-respecting citizens. The management expects that with a mere favorably lo- cated plant and larger resources which are constantly being Increased by well-wishing friends the successes ot the past wilt be more than equalled. "How much money has already been' spent on the canal?" ( "Several million dollars. We had 16,000,000 of the $10,000,000 appropriated left at tho time I took charge, and we hope this may last us until the end of the year, when con- gress will be again In session." "Are you buying much new material?" "Yes, we are getting ready for practical worK jUBt aa fa,8t as we possibly can. Wo nav9 ordered cars, engines and rails for tho new Panama railroad. . We have about ejeVen steam shovels on the Isthmus and nineteen more under way. We are having excavating and hoisting machinery made and are making all preparations to get un der way at the earliest possible moment." FRANK O. CARPENTER. Prattle of the Youngsters Small Joe This book says: "During tho meal the young couple kept up a brilliant fire of repartee." What does that mean? Little Elsie Oh. I guess It means they were married and fired the supper things at each other. "Where does the rain come from?" asked the teacher. "From the clouds," Fern replied promptly. "Well," said the teacher. "Now what makes It -fall from the clouds?" Fern studied a moment then announced; "Oh, I know. They bump together." President Nicholas Brown, for whom Brown university was named, was fond of quizzing small boys. One day while walk ing in the streets of Providence ho came upon a little fellow who attracted his no tice. "How do you do, my boy?" said tho president. "What is your name?" "My name is Harry, sir," replied the child. "Harry, Is it?" returned President Brown. "And did ' you know the evil one is often called Old Harry V "Why, no, sir," an swered the boy. "I thought he was cajled Old Nick." Two gangs of urchins were playing; foot ball in Thomas Jefferson park. New York opponent. "Not in de new game. Not as Teddy says, and what Teddy says, goes." "Teddy! Whose Teddy?" A look of scorn was followed by the words: "Youse better go to school and know something." The Sunday school teacher was teillnsj sbout It at supper. "I had a new pupil today, a little girl about 8 or 4 years old. Toward the close I thought I would ask her a question or two Just to make her feel at home. So I said: " 'Little one, do you know who made tho world?" "She shook her head and moved her finger to the other side of her mouth In a half bashful, half hesitating way. " 'It was some on up in heaven,' J hinted. "She brightened op at once. - 'I know,' ah lisped; it '