The Savannah morning news., 1904-12-04


! of the Frenchmen. you are Justlned IN
| assuming that the work will not take
us more than half as long as they
[ thought il would take them. De Les
seps proposed to dig the canal in eight
years We ought to do it in four. once
we get really started. and in the fifth
year ships ought to be sailing through
| from ocean to ocean,
It has often been said that the
/ French engineers employed by the Ca
nal Company were much more skilful
in drawing plans than in carrying them
out with the needful professional and
! executive ability. This judgment has
been thoroughly justified by the expert
ence of Mr.. Wallace and his assistants.
/ The money paid to the Canal Company
by the American government was far
! in excess of the value received. unless
it is to be regarded as having been
! paid for the franchise merely.
French Work Badly Done.
Very little of the French work, or
even of the French plans, will be
available for the carrying out of the
American scheme. MIR. Wallace and
/ his men speedily found out that many
| egregious .blunders had been made by
their French predecessors. Their levels
| were wrong and so were their reports
on the geologic conditions to be met
| with in excavation, and even their
/ maps. In view of these blunders, it
was thought necessary to cast aside
the French plans and do all the work
over again.
De Lesseps proposed to have a sea-
level canal. but the American scheme
is for a lock canal, which will dis
pense with the need of an immense
amount of excavation, and will there
fore be much quicker in construction.
Unfortunately, this change of plan will
Hnr. ~ r,ff v,.,I,o
cavation useless, because the American
scheme involves a different method of
disposing of the surplus water in the
artificial lake to be filled by the dis
charge of the river Chagres. When
the American government first had
dealings with the French company it
was commonly said that at least a
third of the digging had been done,
and some of the French agents went
so far as to claim one-half 1t now
appears that not more than one-ffth
of the excavation that will be need
ed under the American plan has been
done.
Excavations Filled In.
Even the French excavations that
can be used are not satisfactory or
efficient. They have been badly carried
out, and in many cases landslides and
tropical rains have PLAYED havoc with
have to be done over again, according
to the reports of the numerous engi-
neers who have been busy surveying
every inch of the ground from coast
to coast for Mr.. Wallace.
THE only really efficient thing
from an engineering standpoint, that
we found on the isthmus was the Pam
anna Railroad" said the returned en-
gineer who has already been quoted.
It is a fine piece of engineering work,
and has been kept in splendid condi-
tion. 1t is now practically owned by
the United States government, as is
also its sister concern, the Panama
Steamship Company. Both are prov
ing of the greatest utility in trans
porting material for the canal work.
Without the railroad, the building of
the canal would be much more diff
cult and expensive. Indeed, 1t would
probably be necessary to build a rail-
road before starting on the canal"
The Sanitary Problem.
The sanitary problem is not proving
so difficult or serious as was at first
expected. The epidemics that have so
often decimated the isthmus have aris-
en- from filthy conditions of living and
an almost total neglect of sanitary
precautions. The American doctors
and engineers are carrying out water
supply and drainage schemes for the
towns of Panama and Colon, and par
ticular attention Is being given to the
task of preventing the pollution of the
water supply at all points along the
canal strip where laborers are likely
to be massed in considerable numbers.
The swamps are also being drained
and the rivers cleaned out.
These rivers were found to be full
of decomposed vegetable matter,
which made them foci of malaria
and other diseases. The burning of de-
composing vegetation all along the ca
nal zone has been one of the princi-
pal sanitary works.
Up to the present 1t has not been
possible to impose a proper regard for
the laws of sanitation upon the ignor
ant population of Colon and Panama.
They are reluctant to abandon their
immemoriai privileges of wallowing
in the filth collected in their houses
by generations of ancestors. Some of
the conditions found in these houses
by American investigators would not
be believed, even if they were fit to
print, WHICH they SArtainly are not.
But the people are being brought to
see reason, and in time Panama and
Colon will be made as healthy as the
average civilized tropical city. 1t is
not probable that they can ever be
made as healthy as Havana and other
Cuban cities have been.
Labor Problem n Serious One.
The most serious question at pres
ent perplexing the constructors of the
canal is the labor supply. Indeed, it
is not too much to say that there is
nowhere an adequate supply of suit
able labor in sight. The Island of
Jamaica supplied the bulk of the labor
for the operation of the French Canal
Company. This island has always
been relied upon by contractors who
have great works to carry out any
where in the neighborhood of the
Caribbean. But the islands legisla-
ture has at last come to the conclu-
sion that 1t is a serious mistake to
allow its population to be depleted in
this manner, and IL recently passed
law which makes IL practically i'm
possible for Jamaicans to leave the
island as contract laborers.
The hiring agent is required to pay
$500 to the government for each man
he takes, and also to enter into a penal
bond that the man shall be properly
looked after in sickness and in health.
and be sent back to the island after
his term is over. Furthermore, the
Jamaica government insists on having
its own inspectors on the spot, with
power to see that the men are proper
ly treated. and II even requires the
contractors to pay the cost of this in
spection service.
No Laborers From Jamaica.
ITpdar thasa circurnstapcaa a. is not