REPORT OF BOARD OF CONSULTING ENGINEERS, PANAMA CANAL.


we have now, so that it is absolutely necessary for them to work continuously in order to exist, and the other one is to import a different class of laborers.
 The CHAIRMAN. What labor have you had experience with that seems to be available for importation to the Isthmus?
 Mr. DAUCHY. I do not know that there is any. I have had in mind the Chinese or Japanese, but I have had no experience with them.
 Mr. WELCKER. If night work were resorted to, what would be the increase in the number of laborers?
 Mr. DAUCHY. It would practically double the number of laborers in all departments.
 Mr. WELCKER. Would it be possible to have that great number of men on the Isthmus50,000 men at onetime?
 Mr. DAUCHY. You mean as regards caring for them, housing and feeding them?
 Mr. WELCKER. Yes.
 Mr. DAUCHY. I think there would be no difficulty in that.
 The CHAIRMAN. You speak of doubling the number of laborers for work at night; that woqid scarcely apply to track work, would it?
 Mr. DAUcHY. Yes; because the number of men required for track work is nearly proportional to the traffic over the track. If the traffic was at night it would require an additional force during the day to keep the tracks in proper shape.
 Mr. WELCKER. When the installation of 80 to 100 shovels is completed and the work is at its maximum efficiency and the tracks completed and in perfect condition, what does Mr. Dauchy think would be the full number of days of labor per year permitted by the climate? How many working days would be permitted by the climate in a year?
 Mr. DAUCHY. You mean how many days out of a year each man will average in a month?
 Mr. WELCKER. No, sir. I mean how many days it will be impossible to work on account of rain and other things-great calamities on the tracks, etc.
 Mr. DAUCHY. Well, that would be considerable of a guess on my part, but I should say, taking all phases of the wet season into consideration, that a loss of 10 per cent of time would be placing it sufficiently high, perhaps considerably too high.
 Mr. HUNTER. Has Mr. Dauchy taken this into account, Mr. Chairman, in his estimate, of the effective value of 1,250 cubic yards a day?
 Mr. DAUCHY. With regard to the 1,250 yards per day being the effective output of a shovel, when I made that statement I answered the General's question as to what was generally considered the efficiency of a shovel; that is, under the most favorable conditions. We have always figured down there, in estimating the number of steam shovels required, that when our tracks were installed properly and everything was in condition the efficient output of each shovel would be 1,000 yards per day, counting full time.
 Mr. HUNTER. That is, taking 300 days a year?
 Mr. DAUCHY. Yes; 26 working days a month, or something like that.
 The CHAIRMAN. That means you would expect to do that every day except holidays and Sundays?
 Mr. DAUCHY. We would expect to average that.
 The CHAIRMAN. Irrespective of weather?
 Mr. DAUCHY. Yes, sir.
 Mr. HUNTER. That is, 300,000 cubic yards a year per shovel?
 Mr. DAUCHY. Yes.
 The CHAIRMAN. 30,000,000 a year for the 100 shovels?
 Mr. DAUCHY. Yes. Of course, there is this to be considered in counting the number of units at work; there must be a gradual increase to that point, and beyond a certain point there must be a gradual decrease again. You can not figure on working 100 shovels from the time they are installed until the work is completed.
 Mr. RANDOLPH. Could you figure on 40 per cent of those shovels?


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