Arizona republican., 1900-11-04

a dense growth of vegetation. The na- tives who live in the forest sections are Fin notable contrast with those who live in the cultivated sections. which are covered with water one-haf of the year and dried up by tropical sun the other half. It is in the cultivated re- gions that malarial and miasmatic fe- vers are most prevalent. l might say in this connection that it is to the un- cleanly habits of the natives much of the sickness is due. l know. to a cer- tainty that since the Americans have enforced rigid sanitary measures in all pueblos where soldiers are located there has been great decrease in the mortality among the native population.
 Now as to the question of working in a miasmatic atmosphere CD it is only after all a matter of inclination as to whether a man wants to work or take a siesta, in the shade of tree smoking cigarettes or building palatial edifices of airy substance. As a rule no one really enjoys laboring under the ver- ticaI rays of a sizzling sun, but if he does no harmful effects will follow. The matter of knocking off work while the sun is still low in the east and taking a nap until the orb of day is near the western horizon is strictly a custom or habi. of the Spaniards, and no doubt gave rise to the belief that it was nee essary to avoid the heat of midday to preserve health.
 Take our own soldiers as an instance. The engineer corps have labored from sunup until sundown day after day without any deleterious results follow ing while those who continuously avoided labor and lay stretched on their backs all day doing nothing were the ones that figured on the hospital reports.
 In conclusion I will quote from Alfred Russell Wallace, who in an article en- titled White men in the Tropics" in the Independent of March, '99. says:
 The fact is that white men can live and work anywhere in the tropics, if they are obliged, and unless they are obliged they will not, as a rule, work even in the most temperate regions. Hence, wherever there are inferior races, the white men get these to work for them. and the kinds of work per- formed by these interiors become mira. dig. for the white man. This is the real reason why the myth. as to white men not being able to work in the trop- ics, has been spread abroad. It applies in most cases to agricultural work only, because natives can usually be got to do this kind of work, while that Of the skilled mechanics has usually to be done by white. men. And another reason is that it. is only by getting cheap labor in quantity that fortunes can be made in most tropical coun- tries. But when people come 10 reeog- nize that the fortune makers, whether by gold mining. speculating or any of the various forms of tfinly yelled slavery, are not by any means the hap piest. the healthlest or the wisest men, whereas those who really work, under the best conditions, so as to receive the whole produce of their labor, may be both healthy and happy. will usually live longer and enjoy life more, and by working in association may obtain all the necessaries and comforts of exist ence-then the enormous advantage of living in the best parts of the tropics will become evident"
 WALTER T. GREGORY.