Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-03
WORK ON THE |STHMUS
Things Are Getting Under
Way in Fine Style.
EXISTING CONDITIONS
HOW THE SANITARY PROBLEM
HAS BEEN HANDLED.
Canal May Possibly Be Completed
Within Five Years-Labor Sup
ply is Inadequate.

Written for The Evening Star.
They are getting a move on with the
work down in Panama" said an American
engineer who returned to the United States
the other day. after spending some months
on the isthmus on the staff of Chief Engi-
neer Wallace. who is in charge of the con-
struction of the isthmian canal.
Millions of dollars are already being
expended. merely for the preliminary
work" the man continued. "One of the
first things Mr.. Wallace and his assistants
found on reaching Colon, was that the dock
accommodation was grossly inadequate.
There were not enough wharves. or good
enough wharves. to unload the vast bulk
of engineering material that will be re-
uuired. The first thing to do. therefore,
was to erect new wharves and great guam
titles of lumber have been imported from
Portland. Me-. and other points for this
purpose. At one dumping place on the
docks at Colon l saw no less than million
feet of lumber. and that was only portion
of the great stock which has been bought.
THE cleaning up of the isthmus so as
to prevent another enormous death rate
like that under the French regime, was
another matter that had to be attended TO
from the very start. One OF the first Things
done was to take over the hospital at Co
lon and enlarge its capacity by adding a
rev wing and a water tower. The hos
pital at Panama has also been enlarged
and improved.
Improving the Hospitals.
These hospitals were the greatest pride
of tn, French canal company Millions
OF dollars were spent upon them and they
were undoubtedly the most efficient branch
OF the company's work and the best hos
pitfalls all the way from Mexico to Peru.
But they were not good enough for the
American doctors who were sent down to
take charge of the sanitary work. They
have been vastly improved in many re-
spects.
'This Is only one example of the in
adequacy of the French work, as judged
10y American ideals. Before We went down
there we had heard a great deal about
their blunders and their graft but We had
not heard the huudredth part of the truth.
I'VE were led to suppose that there would
he a great deal of engineering material
available for use on the construction Work
right at the very points where 1t was re-
CURED But we found this was not the case.
With the exception of a few dump cars ana
other bits of secondhand stuff that can be
used successfully, everything will have to
be new The French working locomotives,
river launches. drilling and excavating ma
chiuery and material OF all Kinds nave
simply been allowed to rust to pieces.
Even if they had been properly cared for
it is not probable that we would have been
able TO Use tnem 10 any tA-
tent. They are old-fashioned and ineffi-
cient, according to modern ideas. and they
could not be economically used on great
work which has to be completed within the
shortest possible time. Even when they
were bought away back in the eighties,
they were not of the latest types. and since
then there has of course. been a great i'm
provement in engineering machinery and
methods.
Within Five Years.
wallace will have al hiS nd
all the latest appliances of modern mechan-
ical genius When you consider this fact
alone. and contrast it with the antiquated
machinery of the Frenchmen. you are just-
fed in assuming that the work will not
take half as long as they thought it would
take them. De Lesseps proposed to dig the
canal In eight years. We ought to do it in
four. once we get really started, and in the
nth year ships ought TO be sailing through
from ocean to ocean"
1t mas often been said that the French
engineers employed by the canal company
We're much more skillful I'm drawing plans
than in carrying them out with the needful
professional and executive ability. This
Judgment has been thoroughly justified by
the experience of Mr. Wallace and his as
slstants. The money paid to the canal COM
pany by the American government was far
i'm excess OF the value received unless il is
10 I've regarded as having been paid for the
franchise merely.
Very little OF the French work. or even of
the French plans. will be available for the
carrying out of the American scheme Mr.
wallace and his men speedily found out
that many egregious blunders had been
made by their French predecessors. Their
levels were wrong. and were their re-
ports on the geologic conditions to be met
with In excavation. and even their maps
In View of these plumbers 1t was thought
necessary to cast aside the French plans
and do all the work over again
On q Different Plan.
Dc Lesseps proposed to have a sea level
canal. but the American scheme is for a lock
canal. which will dispense with the need of
an immense amount Of excavation and will