I would put that date a little closer in time actually. And I actually have a precise date. I think that labor was unfathomably cheap until July 6th 1935, when

I would put that date a little closer in time actually. And I actually have a precise date. I think that labor was unfathomably cheap until July 6th 1935, when the National Labor Relation act was enacted. Both the tunnel and the canal (under USA supervision) didn’t start construction until 1904. But that said, by far the majority of the deaths during the construction of the Panama Canal were under French supervision, in the 1880s. This effort failed primarily because of the heavy toll on human lives. While people did die under the Americans, and while labor conditions were horrendous, it was nowhere near on the same caliber as the decades prior. Further indicating that you cannot just disregard human lives completely and still get the job done (you could only do that to an extend; until July 6th 1935 that is).