Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-29
LIFE ON THE |STHMUS
Ordinary Health Rules Should
Be Observed.
THE REIGN OF FILTH
WHY THE NATIVES HAVE DIED
so NUMERoUsLY.
Observations of DR.. John P. Gunion Of
This City, Who Was With
Survey Parties.

The American who let's alcohol alone and
observes the most ordinary health rules, 1t
is claimed, will have nothing to fear il he
goes with the rush to the new republic of
Panama when canal work starts under
American auspices. The disease DOGGY
threatens to keep many a good man away
from the isthmus, and merely because
somebody has told him that he Will have
only half a chance for his life after he has
worked there few months.
There is plenty of sickness, and much OF
1t in aggravated form, in Panama and the
other isthmian countries, but ii is mostly
among the natives, who are content to live
and die, if necessary, in the filth to which
they have always been accustomed The
easy going French contractor, who had
more of an eye to his pocket than to the
condition of the workmen who would bring
the money into his strong box winked at
the lack OF sanitation. If one native died.
there was always another to take his place.
1t was rarely that the contractor or any OF
the foremen persisted.
The medical reports made by physicians
from this city who went down during the pre-
limlnary' surveys give pretty fair ideas OF
what the conditions VIII be when canal
building begins in earnest once more.
Among those who We're on the medical stan
of the commission was Dr. John Z.
Gunion of this city, and of his observations
he says:
Conditions Near the Coast
I'm the vicinity of the coast the health
conditions are. during both the wet and dry
seasons, quite good, my observation being
that those who exercised ordinary hygienic
precautions had little more to fear of serf-
Gus illness than though they lived In a tenn
perate city, Washington for instance. 1
was with the Darien exploration party for
nd dtlr naif
was the temperature so high as l had been
led to believe ii would be. Indeed many
August days in this city are far more op-
pressive than the worst of the isthmian
days.
Back from the coast, the health con-
ditions are not at all bad. especially on the
high ground of which there is plenty. In
short. you may live or die the choice being
largely with the individual The man who
lives in the cities has to face worse days
than the one who goes back into the corn-
try. Sanitation is the thing last thought OF
in the cities What would be considered
absolutely essential in even the most graft
ridden American municipality has not yet
penetrated the ease-loving official in Pam
anna. Every man does as he pleases with
no to criticse reprove him. The
American Indian living in tepee on the
plains with no white man to Instruct him,
knows more of the right way of living than
the indolent revolutionist of the isthmus.
Tomorrow Is always time enough for him
to take up any proposed reform, unless 1t
be a revolution. Into this he enters heart
and soul with no thought for the welfare
OF his body should he be stricken in battle.
His family for generations back has fought
fever and he expects to do the same until
it conquers him.
Worse in the Cities Than Outside.
From an understanding of these facts 1t
is conceivable that disease is more preva-
lent in the cities. Panama City is at pres
ent rather poor place to live, though even
there it is better than at Colon. OF trpp-
ical and other diseases these cities receive
their share. So do Baranqulla, Savanilla
and Carthagena, in none of which could l
find anything that approached sanitary
system. l saw malarial fever in its many
forms. yellow fever, typhoid fever and dys-
EMERY, though not the tropical dysentery,
which found to be rare in this section.
These were the diseases which claimed
victims by thousands during the De Les
seps regime, but 1t should be remembered
that in the hey-day of the French controi
sanitary science had not attained the reia.
lively important position it now has. Every
recent discovery in the great and as yet
little explored field of bacteriology has con-
tributed its part toward placing sanitary
science in its present high position The
Frenchman knew nothing of the danger
that lurked in the common mosquito. he
always realized that malarial fever was
something to be avoided if he could man
age it. but he never slept under netting or
drained swamps as a preventative. TINS ls
a point which the American medical force
will keep to the fore all the time. sta
tistics for the first six months of American
control seem likely to show wonderful
decrease in malaria among the working
force The same is true of yellow fever,
for DIR. Reeds great work in hunting down
the same death-dealing mosquito as the
bearer of the worst of all the scourges
gives another inkling to what must first
be- done by the medical corps that goes with
the canal workers.
Remedies That Are Available.
'eWhat has been done in Havana can be,
and will undoubtedly be done In Panama
and Colon. Add to the means taken there
for stamping out sickness, the vaccination
of every employee and smallpox dangers are
reduced to a minimum. Disinfectings plants
are easily arranged and medical In.
spections have been so systematized that
contagion can be checked in the briefest
time. Camp and personal cleanliness can
he insisted upon. A certain police or MILL
tary discipline can even be maintained ana
safety be assured all who care to Seek
their fortune or gain new adventure IN the
isthmian lands.
colon and Panama, as the termini or
I the canal will require the greatest atten-
ton. But there is vast amount OF iapot
all along between these points. All that
will be needed will be competent ana
plucky physicians, men who do not Know
fear and the camps may be made and Kept
clean. Hospitals dioiis Tic ram oehu vi LIE
ground and nurses who can stand good
deal of hard work will do the rest Best OF
all. perhaps would be large central hos.
pitai in the mountains, where the heat
would never be oppressive, where the mos
quito would not penetrate, because there
would be no excuse for his being, and where
the sanitary system would be most easily
arranged With government assurance that
these things would be of prime Importance
in arranging for the canal work. no Amerl-
can need be afraid of going to Panama