The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-08-28
Colonel Biddle Says He Found
Weather Pleasant and People
Healthy on Isthmus.
CANAL WORK IS PROGRESSING.
Excellent Work of Marine Hos
pital Service Credited With
Considerably Improving
Sanitary Conditions.
SPECIAL,

| REPUBLIC SPECIAL
Washington, Aug. 2T.-Colonel John Bid
die, Engineer Commissioner of the District
OF Columbia. has returned TO his desk aft
er n months vacation spent In Central
| America. looking over the canal property
| which the Government has acquired from
Panama and the Panama Canal Company.
Colonel Biddle may have struck the
isthmus at a particularly inviting time.
At any rate. his report OF what he saw
| there IL quite refreshing when compared
with some gloomy stories that have APP
peared describing the dangers OF the canal
zone.
81 was much surprised and pleased with
what 1 saw during my stay in the canal
zone said the Colonel to-day. The ell
mate there surprised me first. There was
never a day during the two weeks / re-
nalned there that the thermometer rose
higher than eighty and was informed
that the temperature held between seventy
and eighty during the entire time OF my
visit. The nights We're cool and there was
an absence OF mosquitoes that surprised
me.
w are Informed by the medical peo-
pie that mosquitoes are the cause of many
" "" "oVs oAt 81 VIC tOoh pittduilbllS
against them. We slept under MEETINGS
and tucked them in under us at night. but
I did not see any mosquitoes to amount
to anything throughout my stay.
when l started for Panama / loaded
up with all sorts OF rubber things to keep
out the rain. as this is said to be the
rainy season. but i did not wear any of
them. An umbrella was all that was nee
R4R1TI and h11tA..A ,.e - -.
twice during the whole time 1 remained
on the iSthmus.
Il spent my time going over the canal
pIoPerty ana by means. of the railroad
trains. boats and other conyeyances was
&Die TO examine thing pretty thoroughly.
Win Mr. Wallace. Chief Engineer OF the
ana Commission. and others as guides. 1
mad no difficulty In seeing all nv time
would permit and / was very much pleased
ana surprised at the conditions.
-Inere Is some little rivalry between the
towns OK Colon and Panama. The latter
is the seat of Government of the Republic
and Is quite a town. 1t has considerably
less rainfall than Colon. even though IL is
put forty-fve miles distant. Colon Is
hardly more than the residence of the rail-
road and steamship officials, but is a pleas
ant place to live in because of the north
east trade winds which sweep 1t all day
and reduce the temperature considerably.
But. as ! said before. there was no hot
weather during the time I was on the 18TH
mus or at least weather that 1 would call
hot.
The health OF the people who live on
the canal zone was very good, / thought,
and was much surprised at this. There
were no cases of yellow fever. small
p0x or the plague on the canal property.
although there We're all three at points on
the coast. The excellent work of the Ma
rine Hospital Service might be responsible
for this. There were two persons kept in
quarantine while I was there. on suspicion
that they had yellow fever. but / learned
that their ailments G6yelnppd infn ylalartaI
fever only. The Canal Commission was
kept busy with its meetings durin. The
time I remained on the isthmus. and ..e
work seemed to be getting on nicely"