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THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JULY 28, 1912.
i
Uncle
j fCopyright. 1312, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
j rvT xivoU. ANCON. Canal
H
Zone. Panama. During the
past week I have investigated
Uncle Sara's hotels down her
on the Isthmus of Panama.
He is feeding a multitude of
, men every day, and the meals
! served in his hotels, restaurants and
j kitchens are now about 600,000 per month.
1 The cost of his commissary runs into
' the millions a year, but he buys and
! sells so closely that he annually comes
out a little ahead. It is not Uncle 8am's
Idea to make money out of the stomachs
' of his hard working children. His chief
. aim Is to give the employes good food at
. dust about cost. He does this, furnlsh-
lng the best board that can be gotten
anywhere in th world for the money.
In making this statement I know
, whereof I speak and that by th test of
both stomach and brain. I have gone
, through the commissary account books
with Colonel Eugene T. Wilson, the chief
, subsistence officer, and nave 'figured the
i cost of and receipts from the meals Item
, by item. Moreover. I have been living
1 for a month at th Tivoli hotel, where
i the board costs $5 a day, and have dined
' again and again at the hotels along the
i line of the canal where a full dinner la
' served (or 30 cents, and that the. equal of
, many you buy in New kYork for $3. I
have also taken my tin plat and for 9
cents have had a square feed at the la-;
' borers' kitchens, and later on have eaten j
).with the European silver men, where the ,
' meal are 13 cents, with all the extras
i thrown in. j
Indeed, since I came to Panama I have
lost all my sympathy with the woes of
the American landlord. His prices are :
I such that he ought to be rolling In
wealth, and if he is not making money
he does not know how to run his hotel. 1 1
j am also losing some of my pity tor th
t whining American housekeeper in ths-.
; days of so-called high prices, and I be
i lleve that any woman In the United
I states, if she figures as closely as does
' Uncle Sam, could not ocly put mor flesh
! on the bones of her children, but lay
j away much spare change in her stocking
! or in the family slot savings bank on the
1 mantel.
What Uncle Sam Glres for 80 Oats.
One can keep alive and do good work
on the 9-cent meal ot the U-cent
i meal, but the 30-cent meal which
the government gives Is fit for a
i king. It is served three times a day at
i the line hotels situated at the principal
j settlements along the canal ton, and
also at Taboga, Naos and Porto Belle
f outside of it. There are ninteen of these
! hotels. They are great eating houses
J surrounded by verandas and so lnolosed
i in woven wire netting that ther is never
; a fly in th butter, and the bald-headed
man can eat without a skull cap. These
j eating rooms are equipped with dining
tablet like those of & hotel. They "give
i you fresh tablecloths and white napkins,
i and the china and glassware are first
; class. They , have excellent" waiters, and
the service is better than that ot the
' average hotel ot the states.
Here are some ot the menus. I have
! taken them at random out of the mass
j which is sent in from day to day show
ing Just what the men have to eat. Th
I ones selected give a single day's meal
' at the hotel at Gorgona, the station on
. the canal where the repair shops are
located. They are as follows:
BREAKFAST.
Oranges, Toasted Corn Flakes, Hominy,
, Eggs to Order, Fried Bacon, French
Fried Potatoes, Corn Muffins, Hot Cakes,
Maple Syrup, Tea Coffee or Cocoa.
LUNCHEON.
Puree of Vegetable Soup, Beef a la
. urnri. Fried Liver and Onions. Mashed
Potatoes, Spinach and Eggs, Navy Beans
' in Cream. Cocoanut Pie. Ice Cream and
1 Cake. Tea, Coffee or Cocoa.
DINNER.
"Beef Broth, Beefsteak. French Fried
; Potatoes, Green Onions, Mashed Turnips,
' Battered Beets, Lettuce Salad. Apricot
' Pie, Ice Cream and Cake. Tea, Cofee or
Cocoa.
, Those meals cost 30 cents each. I
could give you all the menus supplied to
i eighteen other hotels the same day, but
' it would take too much space. Borne are
' a Jlttle better than the above and some
' perhaps, not so good, depending on the
! choice of the cook as to dishes. But the
' meals are all excellent, and none costs
1 over 80 cents to the consumer. Every
' cook has to figure out his meals so that
the average cost will not be more than
( 28 , or 29 cents, and if he spends
1 more on one meal he must out down
. on the next Nevertheless, the govern
! ment finds that this sum is quite
t sufficient to enable the cooks to give
the very best food and that in large
j portions. Indeed, the average cost of t)he
' meals is now under 2 cents. Here
i is the actual cost of the items
figured out on such meals. The decimals
! run out to the hundredths of a cent.
Here is how the 30 cents is divided:
' Meat arid fish, fresh, T.S6 tents; eggs,
3.09 cents; fresh trulls and vegetables,
i S.58 cents', fruits and vegetables canned,
j 2.36 cents; butter, 2.0S cents; cured meats,
' cured fish and lard, 1.60 cents; miseel
: laneous. 1.S6 cents; ice cream, 1.29 cents;
' sugar and syrups, 1.19 cents; Ice, .9J
cent; bread and cake, .82 cnt; coffee,
tea and cocoa, .68 cent; milk, evaporated,
.83. cent; flour, ;, .43 cent; cleaning
! matrial (Sapollo, etc.), .37 cent; canned
! meats and fish, .21 cent; dried fmlte and
i vegetables, .18 cent
I If .you will add those Items you will
' find the total is not 30 cents, It is only
i 28.11 cents, and this is a cut on the cost
of the same meal about a year ago. The
government is furnishing as good food
. today as It did then at 1 and ltf cents
less per meal,, and a similar saving has
j been made in some of the other, depart
I ments of the feeding supply.
. . At the Hotel Kitchens.
Now let us go to th kitchen where
the silver laborers get their daily bread.
The most of them are West Indian ne
groes and they have tastes ot their own.
Sanatorium
This Institution ! th only on
In the central west with separate
buildings situated In their own
iample grounds, yet cntircl?
distinct and rendering U possible
to classify cases. The one buiidlnj
being fitted (or and devoted to the
treatment ot noncontagious and
nonmental diseases, no others be
ing admitted. The o(.hor , Ret
Cottase. being design for and
devoted to the exclusive treatment
of select mental cases, requiring
tor a time watchful care and spe
cial aursiBS.
Sam's Hotels
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They want certain kinds cf foi.d. and the
government gives them cooks from Ja
maica and others of the islands because
they are better fitted to supply the dishes
which the men like.
At these kitchens the men receive
three meals for 27 cents, or one meal tor
9 cnts. They do not eat in the kitchen,
but they bring their own buckets, plates
and other dishes and carry the food
away smoking hot to eat as they please.
Each man has a bucket ot rice, a great
ladle of meat and soup and In addition to
that a banana or so. He has a pint of
coffee and plenty of vegetables. He re
ceives one loaf of bread per day, and the
menu is vsried from meal to meal.
I have eaten at seme of these kitchens,
taking my own bucket and spoon, and I
can tell you the food is not bad. The
cooking is done in great copper tubs on
long ranges, which run from one side of
the kitchen to the other, and the soup
Is served from pots which will hold as
much as a cider barrel.
I have eaten also with th silver em
ployes among the Europeans. These are
Spaniards and Jtalians. They demand a
little better meals than the negroes, and
they like to sit down at the table. Many
of their dining rooms are connected with
the kitchens. They are much plainer
than those ot the line hotels, the meals
being served without cloths and in diBhes
ot tin or enamel. The food is brought to
the table on the plates used tor eating,
and the coffee is served In tin oups. In
these dining rooms the men are ted for 40
cents a day, or 13H cents per meal. For
this they have a dish of soup, a plate of
roast beef or other meat and a half loaf
of bread. A common dish is a stew of
rice with meat or macaroni as a base. 1
remember a dinner I had yesterday with
a lot of Spaniards. I was given a quart
of soup, which alone was enough for n
meal, and In addition was served with a
great chunk of roast Chicago beef and
potatoes. . I had also a half , pound, ot
bread and a full tumbler of wine, tb
latter equal to that you pay $1 a quart
for at any Tiotel. ........ .
Ration Which Dt the Canal. -
I have-talked with Colonel Wilson
about the ration of the silver laborers.
It is a pound ot beef, a pound ot potatoes,
one-sixth ot a pound of flour, one-half
a pound ot rice and four-tenths of a
pound of sugar. The food is varied from
day to day. The staple diet of the West
Indian at home is codfish, rice and
sugar. During the last year Uncle Sam
lias sold 1,800,000 pounds of codfish, almost
all of which has been - bought by the
West Indian negroes. At the' same time
we are teaching them to eat beef, and
when the government finds a man who
does not seem strong enough for his work
he Is asked as to his food. It he Is not
living at a government kitchen he is
given tickets and told that he must do
so. Within a short time he begins to
fatten and his work comes up to stand
ard.,. . '. '.''"'".''.' ' , "
The West Indians and aiso the Span
lards and Italians eat but little for break
fast, but they make their main meals at
noon and night. The actual cost of the
kitchen meals is a little over 22 cents a
day, or a little more than 7 cents a meal.
Uncle Sam gets 9 cents,', but he has to
pay. for the service. . . . , ; . . . '
As to the oread furnished, this is made
in the government bakery, and it is better
than any you can buy almost anywhere
in the United States. The flour and all
the ingredients are chemically analyzed
and a full pound of bread is put to the
loaf. The flour used is a blend of Kansas
hard wheat flour and Dakota bard wheat
ftour. The loaves sell for 4 cents each)
end they contain as much bread as one
gets for 6 cents In the states. The Span-
lards eat about 80 per cent more bread
than the negroes, and the average con
sumption of bread In the hotels is two-,
thirds of a pound per person a day. It
is found that the native American eats
more meat than either th European or
the West Indian,' the latter, to a great
extent, making starch and sugar take the
place of meat
One Year's Hotel Billi.
All of the supplies tor the hotels and;
kitchens are bought in quantities, aoA,
handled through the commissary. The
government here has the , biggest eijd
most complete cold storage plant of the
world, and it sends out a train of twrhty
one cars every morning to carry rirovi
sions to these hotels, and to the various
families which live In private .houses
throughout the canal zone. It esti
mated that more than 100.000 people are
regularly supplied by the department
At present the government Is operating
these nineteen line hotels, sixteen of the
40-cent-a-day messes, and fourteen of the
laborers' rupply kitchen. Th total num
ber of meals served last fear at the
laborers' supply kitchens. The total num
ber' of rations given in the European
laborers messes was moi, than 1000.009,
while the rations servedin the kitchens
was less than BOO. COO. ..,.
The number of mealsyserved to the sil
ver men is steadily growing less and this
Is especially so as to . the negroes. They
are building shacks ciit In the jungle, and
you see their little one-story huts scat
tered over the hll and valleys of the
oanal xon They do not like to live In
the dormitories, sjid they prefer to have
the'r .! "femrJes," as they call their
women, with th, and to do- the cook
ing themselves. ' ffuch cooking is all done
over charcoal Aand the ordinary kitchen
and Restaurants at Panama
Lj 0-ppa d c.i mr,-iif-Mul
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- 1 uui.inoili.iiw.JinCTvTO,.1,l,TOWM;m. ,.,M ,CTmgwg. jjjj
The Tjwli -Uhde baza's jJv2ty&eJj2craa
is the porch, the stove consisting ot a
bowl of charcoal inside a galvanized
screen about two feet cube, or of the else
and shape of a shoe box.
The total revenue of the government
hotels, messes and kitchens amounted last
year to Just about 11,350,000. which was
almost $100,000 less than the year previ
ous; and in "keeping the establishment It
was found that there was a loss on the
hotels and restaurants patronised bj? the
gold men, hut that the profit on the stiver
men made Uncle Sam come out something
ltke 120,000 ahead.
At the Motel Tlvoll.
Outside this class of hotels and res
taurants devoted to the actual feeding ot
the canal employes. Uncle Sam has a
great establishment here, where tourists
and high officials are entertained- and
where the richer of the canal employes
may live if they care to pay the bills.
This Is the Hotel Tivoli, situated on the
slopes of Ancon hill about 650 feet above
the level of the sea. with a fine outlook
upon the city of Panama and the Pacific
ocean.
The hotel is a great three-story build
ing, part frame and part brick. It is
over 300 feet long and about 160 feet deep,
being built around the three sides of a
rectangle, with a porte-cochere extending
out from the center of the front It has
a lobby sixty feet wide, with an eleven
foot veranda,, and It has other verandas
running about the building with galleries
inclosed in wire netting. The whole hotel
is so screened that it is Impossible for
flies, mosquitoes or Insects of any kind
to get into the rooms, and it is one of
the most comfortable summer resorts of
the world.
The Tivoli Is built high above the
ground on concrete piers, giving a circu
lation of air underneath. It has, with the
addition which hasi been added this year,
about 160 rooms, and these are so ar
ranged that many of them can be thrown
Into two or more room suites. Some of
the suites have private baths, and there
are also single rooms with public baths
and toilets. ' ' ' '
The dinlngf rooms are immense, seating
hundreds at a time, and there is a great
ballroom wjiere all the' fashionable peo
pie of the' canal and the tourists have
dances of, a Saturday night during the
season. ' '
This hotel its managed like those we
have at theseaside at home. It has its
clerks and (office boys, and the system of
giving outjrooms, serving the meals and
taking caxe of the guests is practically
the sam'i.
Oar Dollars Are Xot Good, -
I have spent more than a month at th
Tivoli rduring my stay here. H is the one
hotel 1 1 know of where the chai ses are
fixed and where one1- cannot bribe the
clerks. The hotel has been crowded all
year and will be so from now until the
canal is finished. To my table today cam
thrfee rich Americans, a portly dame In
diamonds and two la-de-dah young men,
They complained about their treatment
a(l through the meal. The woman said
that her room was no better than that of
her servant's at home, and the young
men, who were bunched four in a room,
were as mad as their feeble minds would
let them. Said one of them to the woman
"Mother, we Will go back tomorrow.
This Is the only place I have ever been
where our dollars are not good, I offered
the clerk all kinds ot money, but he
laughed at me and told me that Uncle
Sam could not be bribed. It Is first come
first served, and our money Is of no ac
count. I never saw such a place."
Five Dollars a Day.
And still the hotel is not run at a loss.
It made a profit of $26,000 last year and
will increase 810.000 or more this. I have
the price list before me. Transient guests
pay $5.60 per day if there Is only one man
in a room, or $10 if two bunk together.
There are some rooms as low as $4.50,
but all the best rooms cost- $1 more. The
weekly rates are $25 for a single room,
with proportionately a little less when
more people are put In one room. There
are slightly reduced rates for employes,
but they are still too high for the aver
age government clerk.
The above prices Include meals, and
that on the American plan. The tran
sient fates for meals alone are 75 cents
for breekfsst and $1 each for luncheon
and dinner, ftlrnls are also served a la
carte. Children under 12, if they require
no extra beds or rooms and are old
enough to sit at the table, ar taken in at
$1.25 per day or at $1 per day by th week
or month, but all over 12 years of age
must pay full rate.
Accounts ar rendered every week, and
you pay on the dot or you go.
Xerr Washington Hotel.
The Tivoli Is on the Paclflo side ot the
isthmus. It has succeeded so well that
Uncle Sam Is now building a great hotel
to correspond on the Atlantic side. This
Is the New Washington, situated on
Colon beach, a half mile away from
Cristobal. The hotel is being erected by
the Panama Railroad company, which,
as everyone knows, is the United States
government. It will cost something like
$500,000. Th style of architecture Is
Spanish. The building is to be ot con
crete and the walls and everything about
It will be arranged to suit the tropics.
The hotel will be 900 feet long. It will
have three stories and very large par
lors, lounging rooms and billiard rooms.
The ball room Is to be fifty-three feet
long by thirty-seven feet wide. In fhe
sary to
i u u i f n in t 1 1 n 1 h muw 1 1 1 tint 1 urn
fill''':
A harmless, but quickly-effective remedy
is Dr. Nott's Hair Tonic. This great Tonic
is a scientific germicide as well as an in
vigorating tonic. If applied to the scalp
properly and frequently, no dandruff,
scurf, or itching disease can exist.
Circulation is restored, nerves invigor
ated and the hair growth stimulated.
The hair becomes thick and glossy
and grows abundantly.
SI. 00 per bottle at your drug
gists or prepaid on receipt of
price by writing to Hessig-Ellls
Drug Co,, Memphis, Tenn,
SPECIAL. Mail m the postal card
found in every Q-BAN package
for complete illustrated course of
lectures, covering care and treat
ment of hair and scalp.
front outside and surrounded by a con
arete balustrade will be made a'Concrete
wUed swimming pool covering about a
quarter of an acre. This wM be from
three tonlne feet deep and will be open
on the sea side with a wall in front to
protect it from rough water.
In tti New Washington the rooms are
to be arranged so that they can be used
singly or en suite. It wllL be possible to
throw from two to fifteen rooms together,
the private baths being entered by pri
vate passages and not from the bedrooms.
Every bedroom will haveelther a private
bath or a shower hath, , and the whole
equipment of the hotel I will be modern
and up-to-date,
FRANK Q. CARPENTER,
. ) " 11
She Came lint. Anyhow.
Regular Customer I shall want a
large quantity. of flowers from you next
week, for my daughter's coming-out.
Flower Wonuui Yes, mum. Tou shall
'ave the very beet fo 'er, pore dear.
Wot were she put In tor? Punch. ,
I TCHING usually indicates
d a nd r u f f or scaly s calp.
Such a condition destroys
the nerve vigor and perfect
blood circulation that is neces
produce healthy hair.
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Name
Street
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July 28, 1912. Omaha, Neb.
RETAIL MERCHANT
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