Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workers

by Harry A. Franck

Harry Alverson Franck, better known as Harry A. Franck was an American travel writer during the first half of the 20th century.

Genres: History

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Harry Alverson Franck, better known as Harry A. Franck was an American travel writer during the first half of the 20th century.

http://www.harryafranck.com/

Reviews

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

anecdotes form 1912 in panama C Z . author franck is a world traveler (and well educated tramper), ships and backpacks etc. knows or can pick up most any language with the briefest of encounters, and gets a job 1st as a census taker, then a cop. on the ground, first hand accounts of all the immigrant labor, their work and living conditions. also accounts of the whites, the "golds" they are called, who have special jim crow privileges. the silvers, all non-whites who have jobs, but live in separate quarters (some good digs, others very reminisent of south african shanty cities) and the panamanians (who most still call themselves colombians in 1912 and were none too happy about usa/panama changing countries on them) and of course the outsiders, the indians (bottom of totem pole so to speak).
so no ground breaking events or plot, just a series of cases and day to day living digging IT, and living in a tropical hell hole/paradise.
has pictures but many out of focus of otherwise obscure (too bad jack london didnt get there with his superior camera skills!)
fun and interesting on the ground history.

i want to read franck's book about walking in spain and his book of traveling the globe.

i forgot to add, for my sake probably, there were about 5500 whites and 55,0000 "others" working and or living in CZ in 1912

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't kidding about that Panama Canal business in my profile, I'm utterly fascinated by it. Harry Franck is this uber curmudgeon who wrote all these bitter travelogues in the early 1900's. This one is about him essentially showing up during the digging of the Panama Canal and getting a job as a census taker and then a cop in the Canal Zone. It's a fascinating book, even though not much really happens. It's more a series of interesting vignettes about the lives of the workers and managers of the Canal Project. I'd give it more stars, but Franck can be a pretty ugly racist at times. But have you ever read a travel book written before, say, 1960? They're pretty much all racist. So there you go.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 3 out of 5]

For six months, beginning in December 1911, Harry Franck worked as a Canal Zone policeman while the Panama Canal was nearing its completion, which would come in August 1914. Franck was a prolific writer of travel non-fiction, undergoing journeys that can only be described as epic, and usually afoot. But in the Canal Zone Franck rooted himself to one place for an uncharacteristically long time. And it shows. This book has none of the pace (literally and figuratively) of, say, Vagabonding Down the Andes. As a result, it seems stagnant, repetitive, and fragmented. His first month after being hired, he is loaned out to the Census Bureau to conduct a US census of everyone in the CZ. That is probably the best part of the book. Otherwise, I can see why Franck was always looking for greener fields. A couple of things, finally, however. Contemporary readers are often shocked at his frank use of language regarding race and nationality. That is all true enough. But don't forget the occasional passage where he wonders if the people of Panama live a truer life just through taking things one day at a time, assured of enough food to eat and a place to live. Not coincidentally, he sympathizes with the native inhabitants who are evicted from their homes (and burned out if they refuse to leave) in order to make way for a man-made lake. Franck also takes aim at American hypocrisy about race, noting that officially there is no color line in the CZ. There is, however, a caste system arising out of people who are paid in gold dollars (overwhelmingly white) and those who are paid in Panamanian silver (Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, blacks from the Caribbean, indigenous people, and other South Americans). Thus there are accommodations and services for "Gold People" and lesser goods and government supplies for "Silver People." Quite a game!