Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 20

57. George W. Crichfield, “The Panama Canal from a Contractor’s Standpoint,” North American Review (January 1905): 74-87.

Analysis of conditions and obstacles related to building the Panama Canal. The author is particularly interested in the work force best suited for the project and rejects the suggestion that African Americans from the South would be ideally suited for this type of labor. “I have handled thousands of laborers of all nationalities on heavy works in the tropics, under precisely the conditions existing on the Isthmus, and I have found negroes to be the least desirable class. They are a positive detriment and nuisance, eating and wasting more food, calling for more medical attendance, doing less work, and causing more trouble than any other class.” As an alternative, the author recommends the use of “the native peons of the lowlands of Mexico, Central America and South America.”