Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for October 05, 1977
October 04, 1977
October 06, 1977
Transcript:
Zonker: So by time the canal was finally completed, around 250 million cubic yards of earth had been moved by the Americans... and in the process, some 5,000 workers lost their lives! Kirby: 5000? Good Lord! Didn't that shock the public? Zonker: Well, not really. Everyone was too amazed by the engineering triumph to pay it any mind. Also, the figures were released in the middle of World War I. Kirby: Oh... so it kind of got lost in the shuffle, huh?
tomandtish_tom almost 4 years ago
Not mentioned here and another reason why the deaths didn’t draw much attention: Of the 5609 deaths during canal construction (accidents and illness), only 350 were white Americans. The vast majority (@4500) were West Indian workers.