THE SUNDAY OREGOJflAN, PORTLAND, NOVEMBER 3, 1907.
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Construction Camps On the .
Line of the 0. R. S N. Governed by. Regulations
Established in Japanese. War Camps
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AJMITATION pay" 1 the con
i elusion, baaed not on humanity.
but coldly on dollari and cents,
of the Pacific Coast Construction Com
pany that la running eight grading camps
along the line of the Oregon Railroad &
Navigation Company between Bonne
ville and Troutdale.
Time was, and la, when grading camps
. were under practlctlly no sanitary con
trol whatever. The drinking water was
taken from wnere ever it happened
to be the most convenient, the food
was tested not at all. except per
haps by a passing whiff from the cook
house, and refuse matter was allowed
to pile up and decay In disease breed
ing heaps any and e-erywhere. Such
is the condition of the average grading
or construction camp.
But In the eight canips run by
the Pacific Coast Construction Com
pany, with headquarters at Latourelle,
things are different. The company
management reoognlzed that perhaps
better surroundings might result In
enough bettex work from that force
to more than pay for the cost of keep
ing things clean and healthy. So a
doctor was given full power, aided by
a man In each camp, to clean up and
keep things clean. Incidentally any
man who disobeyed the rules in regard
to sanitation was promptly discharged.
Next to "soldering" the worst thing a
man can do In a Pacific Coast Construc
tion camp is to violate one of the
company rules about sanitation.
One Man Supreme In Command.
The whole matter la under the personal
charge of Dr. W. C. Belt, one of - the
capable physicians on the Pacific Coast
Under him Is a man In eah camp who
does nothing but what In the army Is
called "policing. The doctor sees that
all drinking water comes piped from
some pure cold spring, free from all
chances of contamination. He tests the
water thoroughly, not only before It Is
chosen to supply a camp, but also from
time to time. The result Is only one
rase of typhoid fever among an average
of 1000 men for over 14 months, and that
was brought In from the outside. In some
other camps typhoid has almost broken
up a camp. It being a disease due almost
entirely to a tainted water supply.
All water used for other than drinking
purposes, such as dish-washing, Is treat
ed with sulphate of copper, which in
sures that no germs live in It. The men
are encouraged to bathe In the Columbia
Blver as often as they will. This, how
ever, the company can only enoourage,
not enforce, for some men have a nat
ural dislike for water on their bare skins
the year round, and the company Is help
less. IMsinfectlon Without End.
AH bunkhouses are disinfected reg
ularly and frequently with germ-killing
fumes, and are perfectly free from ver
min of all kinds. If a man Is so troubled
personally he in discharged "or made to
free himself, with the doctor's aid, at
once.
All refuse matter from the kitchens is
either burned or burled daily. No empty
tin cans, old bones, potato peelings and
other matter Is allowed to stay above
TO GET RID OF RATS
General Instructions of Special Value to Portlandt This Time.
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'HEN It conies to undesirable cltl-
sens there Is an astonishing lot to
be said about the rat. It Is a plain fact
that the rat cauBes losses In this country
amounting to many millions of dollars
annually. According to Government re
ports the rat does more damage to prop
erty than all the other injurious mam
mals combined.
There are three kinds of house rats
the black,, the roof and the brown rat,
and not one of them Is a native of this
country. Like the rest of us they came In
as aliens and, also like the rest of us,
they have stayed and thriven. The
brown rat has taken the lead over Its
less robust relatives.
It is a truly remarkable beast. If it
were not such a plague one would be
forced to hold its extraordinary powers
and performances In admiration.
In spite of the fact that It has been
and Is pursued in constant warfare it
has steadily Increased In numbers. It
will eat anything, live anywhere and. U
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ground. The horse and mule stables are
cleaned from one to three times a day,
and crude oil and carbollzed .water . is
freely used to kill, not only disease
germs, but &-r all fly eggs and to keep
down, as far as Is praottcal, all disa
greeable odors.
Incidentally the doctor has a can of
crude coal oil handy when Inspecting all
the food supplies; and tainted or sus
picious stuff, either meat or vegetable.
Is promptly treated to a liberal dose of
crude oil. Contractors find It poor busi
ness to send bad raw food supplies to
any of the Pacific Coast construction
cam pa. .
The closets, which the men are strictly
required to use. are supplied with a lib
eral pile of unslaked lime. And their
location Is frequently changed. All brush
Is cut In and. around the camp site, pools
of water drained, ditches dug to carry off
rainwater, and no old clothing, shoes and
such matter Is allowed to remain un
burled or unburned. All meat is kept
In screened cages with a free circulation
of air where it Is cool and where germs
cannot multiply on It. No better meat Is
served In any Portland hotel than Is
eaten daily on the scrubbed tables of the
Paclflo Construction Company.
While the med are at work, the bunk
houses and tents are kept open to air.
Straw In the bunks is ohanged very fre
quently, the old being at once burned
with the stable refuse. At certain times
the bunks are washed or sprayed with,
carbollzed water or other disinfectants.
Very. Low Death Rate.
Now, how does all this compare In ac
tual results with the army, for instance?
In the army are only picked men, yet
the death rate Is from 12 to 15 per 1000,
and over 25 per 1000 In the average grading
camp. The Paclflo Construction Company
has had five deaths, three from disease
and two from accident, among an average
of 1000 men In over U months. And the
men they have to deal with are far from
a picked lot. The boss merely looks his
man over and hires him or fires him
after a keen but hurried superficial in
spection. The men are of all kinds,
nationalities, and even races.
The ai-erage man lasts but eight days.
Then he moves on down the track with
his blankets,, most of them for their usual
drunk. When their money Is gone they
Bometlmes come back and repeat the performance-
Over a period of 14 months
the company has had to do with over
14,000 men. The company has over 2000
men a month to deal with to maintain
a working force varying from 600 to 1000
men from time to time as the work re
quires. The average pay Is 2.M a day,
and men are hard to get at that price.
The profit to the company per man aver
ages 50 cents a day. The average profit
per mile Is somewhat more.
So hard is labor, cheap manual labor,
to get at this time and for long time
past, that the company has taken a hint
from the Japanese army system of sani
tation to make their camps the best In
America. And it pays. The men them
selves say that they would on the whole
rather work in these camps for GO cents
per day less than in other camps where
death and disease lurk In food, drink
and bed. i
female, contribute from 2S to 50 or even
Ufnore recruits annually to the census re
turns. .
It will destroy grain no matter when,
where or how It finds It freshly planted-,
actually growing or at any stage, from
the field to the mill, elevator, ship's hold
and even in a feed trough under another
animal's very nose. It Invades stores and
warehouses and eats fur or feathers, silk,
wool or cotton, leather or lace and gro
ceries of any description, pure or adulter
ated. It gnaws lead pipes, flooding house's;
It gnaws matches, burning them; it un
dermines foundations, causing them to
sag. It carries diseases from house to
house, from city to olty, from continent
to continent. In short, as a comprehen
sive pest It is absolutely without a rival.
No wonder therefore that the Depart
ment of Agriculture has seen fit to issue
a special bulletin on the various methods
of getting rid of the beast. It declares
that a mere statement of all the methods
practiced In historic times would nil a
volume, but It Is content to recommend
five as most efficacious cow. (They, are
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poisons," traps, ferrets, fumigation and
ratproof construction of buildings.
The poison most highly recommended
for dealing with mice in ordinary houses
Is borium carbonate. It is cheap, has
no taste or smell and in the small quan
tities used for poisoning rats and mice
Lis harmless for larger animals.
Its action, on rodents Is said to be slow,
but reasonably sure, and It has one de
cided advantage, the animals before dying
leave the building in search of water.
The poison may "be fed In the form of
dough made of one-fifth barytes and four
fifths meal, but a more convenient bait is
ordinary- oat meal, with about one-eighth
of Its bulk of barytes. mixed with water
Into a stiff dough; or the barytes may be
spread upon bread and butter or on pieces
of molfitened toast. -,
The prepared bait should be placed In
rat runs, a small quantity at a place. If a
single application of the poison falls to
drive all rats from the premises it should
be repeated with a change of bait.
Strychnine Is a more virulent poison, but
its action is so rapid that the animals of
ten die upon the. premises.
The two poisons most commonly used
for rats and mice are arsenic and phos
phorus, nearly all commercial preparations
containing one or the other as a basis.
While experiments prove that rats have
great powers of resistance to arsenic. It
may sometimes be used advantageously
as an alterative poison. Preparations of
phosphorus sold by druggists are often
too weak to be effective; and home-made
mixtures, when of sufficient strength, are
dangerous, as rata may carry the baits
into walla or crannies and thus cause
flres.
Trapping if persistently followed is one
of the most- effective methods of destroy
ing rata. The improved modern traps with
a wire fail released by. a baited trigger
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and driven by a colled spring have
marked advantages over the old forms,
and many of them may be used at the
same time. These should be baited with
small pieces of Vienna sausage or bacon.
In illustration of the effectlveneFS of
traps. It may be related that a vear or
two ago a large department store In
Washington experienced heavy losses of
gloves, lace curtains and other merchan
dise from rat depredations. For several
months the damages were from $10 to 130
nightly.
After many unsuccessful attempts to
abate the nuisance the managers were
advised to try the Improved traps. As
a result 136 rats were killed during the
first 20 nights, when the losses practically
ceased, and the metnod has been continued
In the store ever since.
Ferrets are useful for driving rats out
of hiding so that the dogs can kill them.
Rats may be destroyed In their burrows
in the fields and, still more Important, In
levees and rice field dikes by the use oz
carbon blsulphid as a fumlgant.
The best way of excluding rata from
buildings, whether in the city or country,
is by the use of cement In construction.
Raking la the Money,
Life.
In order to become rich It Is necessary
merely to follow the perfectly simple
procedure of any king of finance. Thus:
Borrow all the money you can upon
the property you already own.
With the money buy more property.
Combine the two properties, float a loan
upon them and with the money buy a
third property.
Merge the three properties, use the
merger as security for" a loan and with
the money buy another large property.
Consolidate this with the others, seleot
a board of directors and authorize your
self to float twice as much stock as there
is.
Sell this stock and with the money buy
five or six more properties.
Organize a holding company which will
carry the stocks of all the properties.
You are now so wealthy and so Influen
tial that you do not need to make any
more loans.
Increase the stock of your properties
and sell bonds l'oon them.
Authorize yourself to buy every thing In
sight with this money.
Now you will have control of every
thing; also you will have the say-so In
any number of subsidiary companies and
a controlling voice in eight or nine in
surance companies and National banks.
After this there doesn't seem to be
much for you " to do except to get the
dyspepsia, get bald and prattle gently
about the excellence of moral proverbs.
Cold Air and the Equator.'
Professor Hergesell, of Strasburg Uni
versity, announced durlr.g a congress of
German scientists, in Iresden, that the
atmosphere at high altitudes is coldest
over the equator and warmest over the
poles. He declared balloons at a distance
of IS miles from earth on the equator
ial zone had found a temperature 14S de
grees below xero. At a similar height In
central Europe the temperature recorded
was 18 to So below zero. " '