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JCH22
Posts: 344 ✭✭✭✭
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JCH22
Posts: 344 ✭✭✭✭
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Thank you for uploading the image. I read the article and it was quite cool to read, though I agree the sensibilities of the day do not always agree with what we would think now.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
You Sir have much better eyesight than I.
Perhaps this segmented version might be easier to read.
Better yet, how about a transcription by Grok?
How to Carry Money on Pay Day
(Copyright, 1912, by the International Syndicate, Baltimore.)
IN ANY big enterprise where a large number of persons are employed, it becomes a matter of some importance to devise a system by which the employees may be paid without much loss of time to the employer or any dissatisfaction on the part of the workmen by reason of delay. The Isthmian Canal Commission seems to have successfully solved this perplexing problem to the satisfaction of all concerned, and pay day on the Panama Canal is interesting from many standpoints.
The pay roll alone is an index to this vast undertaking, as more than thirty-eight thousand men are paid off each month. It requires three days to complete the distribution of money by the present system. Very little time is lost for the pay car carries the money to all parts of the canal— the workmen rather than they coming for it. Various plans were tried with more or less success before the one now in vogue was adopted, and much is due to Mr. Edward J. Williams, the disbursing officer. This gentleman had a long experience in this line as before coming to the Isthmus he was the disbursing agent of one of the largest railroads in the United States, and his knowledge of the workmen and their likes and dislikes has served him well on the Canal Zone, where men of so many nationalities work side by side.
The disbursing office is located at Empire. The men are paid in gold and silver, coin being used in order to keep the money on the Isthmus, for this is the only means by which this can be done. In the early days of the canal building it was the custom to issue checks on the United States for such sums of money as the employees wished to send to the United States each month. The men, but it soon became apparent that the employees were abusing this privilege by asking for these for the sole purpose of selling them to business men on the Isthmus to be used as New York exchange, the checks being sent in payment of bills due in the United States. So the issuing of these was discontinued. The next move by the disbursing agent was to pay certain numbers of the employees in paper-money, but again the plan proved a failure for bills were easily shipped out of the country and this was done as fast as they came in. The merchants and others found these notes a cheap method of exchange, as they merely required a registry fee and postage. The canal commission soon discovered that they were furnishing money to keep people who had no part in the canal construction from paying bank exchange, so this philanthropic system was stopped. This finally led to the payment of all employees in gold and silver coin. Very little of this actually leaves the Isthmus, and for the additional difficulty and danger in transporting the coin, there is a law of the Republic of Panama which levies an export duty on coin shipped out of the country.
By the present plan men are known as "gold employees" and are paid in American gold coins, and the negroes are called "silver employees" and receive their wages in Panama silver, equal in value to gold currency in Panama, as was minted in the United States in 1905. This simplified the disbursing officer's task in the silver payments, for by that issue of money the value of a peso or Panama silver dollar was fixed at two to one rate. It was also found necessary to issue Panama coins of smaller value, owing to the fact that the employees are paid off to the cent every sixty minutes of labor, a pattern maker is paid seventy-five cents per hour, a third-grade boilermaker draws forty-four cents for his hourly work, etc. Those men are skilled laborers and known as "gold employees" and must be American citizens. Unskilled laborers, who are recruited from the natives of the Isthmus, West Indies and Southern Europe, are paid from ten to twenty cents per hour and receive their wages in Panama silver.
Several policemen are always on duty at the disbursing office, for a large amount of money is kept in the vaults at all times and this is increased just before pay day when the money is sent from the banks. Of course, the coin is both bulky and heavy and the moving requires labor. It occasions little excitement and is hauled in wagons from the train to the vaults at the disbursing office, and is only recognized as treasure from the fact that several policemen ride on the wagon and two or three more walk behind it.
Pay day occurs on the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth of each month. The pay car starts from Empire on the three days, and on these mornings the clerks are in the office as early as 2 o'clock in the morning. About half a million dollars are paid out each day—a little less possibly, in order that they may avoid carrying tons of money. The bags climbing into the car. It matters little to the workmen what class they are— they are all the same—they are crippled and deserve the consideration. It is 7 o'clock in the evening when the pay car runs out of Empire, the tired crew go to their quarters.
The Central Division is paid off on the second day and car goes down to the very bottom of Culebra cut and becomes a part of the labyrinth of shovels and drills and dirt trains which keep up an incessant din. At each point a shrill blast from the engine tells the workmen that the pay car has arrived, and the men come from the hills like bees from a hive. The great shops at Gorgona are paid off on the second day, and these shops cover such a large area that a pilot or guide accompanies the engineer to direct him to the proper railroad track leading to the different departments. About twelve hundred men are paid off at Gorgona, among them are some of the very best mechanics in the United States. They are attracted to the Canal Zone by the remunerative wages and by the excellent treatment they receive at the hands of the canal commission.
The pay car goes to the Atlantic Division on the last day, and the entire morning is spent at Gatun, where a small army of workers of all classes and nationalities receive their wages. In all, forty-four tons of coin are paid out ($1,500,000,00) for a month's work on the great waterway. The car is always well protected, for at least a dozen Canal Zone policemen are on duty, as well as a "plain clothes" man who mingles with the workers to keep an eye on the general cashiers. Ten cashiers are required to do the paying, besides the regular train crew. Mr. Williams is always on hand to oversee the work. A stop paying continues as the cashiers take turns in leaving the cages. Occasionally a man will raise his pay certificate and is invariably caught. None of the raises have been large, but the men had to be punished for the principle involved as an example. The wages are remunerative—far more than could be obtained for the same class of work in the United States. The canal commission follows the Golden Rule and expects its employees to reciprocate in the same spirit.
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Interesting read, many thanks
The wages paid in silver would have been much more useful to the lower paid workers than gold coins. If they received gold coins they may have had to use money changers (who would take a percentage) to get usable amount of silver coins for everyday transactions. It wasn't that long ago that most workers in the United States received pay envelopes with the actual cash inside. Many workers did not have bank accounts as they charged fees which would lessen their already low wages.
I think the premise of this thread is misleading if not downright wrong. I read the entire article and I don't see any "racial coin discrimination".
The so-called "gold employees" were skilled workers and the "silver employees" were unskilled laborers. A dollar was a dollar regardless of how it was paid, and the higher salaries of the skilled workers presumably made it more practical to be paid in fewer coins. There were also concerns about money leaving the country, which is why everyone was paid in coin.
There was plenty of racial discrimination around during that time, but I don't think coins were involved, and since this was all happening in Panama I'm not sure discrimination in general was at the top of the list of the issues the workers faced.
You make a good point about the dollar vs dollar and skilled vs unskilled labor. At the same time...
By the present plan men are known as "gold employees" and are paid in American gold coins, and the negroes are called "silver employees" and receive their wages in Panama silver
Just a casual "black men aren't even men" comment. Absolutely disgusting.
Very much agreed. Coincidentally, I've been doing some Panama Canal reading recently...no surprise that it was awful there for everyone working on the canal.
chopmarkedtradedollars.com
Can anyone post related numismatic material? I believe there are active collectors.
A quick check shows 25 and 50 centisimos coins minted in the US in 1904-1905. I believe I’ll add them to my foreign coins of historical interest.
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As for a bit of related numismatic info I might mention that there is a1915-S Panama-Pacific $50 gold piece that is part of Jeff Garrett's 100 Greatest. It is #37 and was issued to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal.
As for a non-numismatic comment, I might suggest that building the canal between 1904 and 1914 was just as challenging as putting a man on the moon in 1969; maybe even more challenging. I say that based on working as an engineer on the Apollo project and one who has also pretty thoroughly investigated the building of the canal.
I read once that Rome paid the gladiators with bronze coins.
I got an up-close look at the operation of the locks many years ago. It was humbling. Achievements like that provide important perspective.
Most Roman gladiators were slaves; no pay....
Roman soldiers were paid with coins.
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/panama-canal
Thank you for the original post and this link. Interesting information! I appreciate you sharing both of these
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
I think that you accidentally left out a word. It says that "white men" are paid in gold and the "Negroes are paid in silver. It does not say that the Negroes are not men.
You're correct, the AI text document misled me as it left out a couple of words that were in the original article. I'm confident conditions weren't wonderful but consider my point retracted.
chopmarkedtradedollars.com