October II, 1I0K.
THE OMAHA ILLUSTRATED DEE.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Slum Children o Live the Decent Life
&AIB1KO THB Ajm,mr I TBQETABIa.
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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.
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TKEOPORS
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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
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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 . - - .
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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 '
