Evening star., 1904-04-25
This portion of the island Is considerably
below the sea level. AS a Jesuit is is
practically nothing but huge pool Of stag

This portion of the island is considerably
below the sea level. AS Jesuit is is
practically nothing but huge pool of stag
nant water and Shiny mud.
The population consists OF Jamaica
negroes. Chinese and japanese, with the ne
groes predominating. The personal habits of
these people are filthy in the extreme and
when you consider that they are living in
dirty frame huts, built directly over gt-
gantic marsh, with an absolute lack Of
any attempt at sanitation you can readily
understand that the result must be any,
thing but desirable. The principal business
thoroughfare of Colon, known as Front
street, is used by the Panama Railroad
Company a shifting yard
The Colombian currency is still in use on
the isthmus, and Is exchangeable for
United States coin at the rate of two for
ore. 1t gives one rather a pleasant sensa-
ton upon making a so cent purchase to
present dollar bill and receive a dollar
and half change, but when you under
take to spend the dollar and a half Co
lombian, you quickly realize that you are
nothing ahead of the deal The police
force of Colon, numerically at least, would
make Major Sylvester regard ii as an ideal
place for a police superintendent With a
population not exceeding 1900 people, their
police department numbers over $50 men
| These for the most part are native Pan
amans. They are small wiry little chaps,
resembling the Japanese in appearance,
and with their neat blue uniforms and
| white helmets present a trim and business
| like appearance.
The sanitary officers accompanying the
| commission have concluded that they can
| convert Colon into reasonably heaithy
place. They will undoubtedly have theif
hands full. 1t Is not possible at present to
I form any idea as to the death rate foi
| the reason that no official statistics are OBJ
! tainable but from what l saw while there,
| there is no doubt in my mind that the
mortality among the natives is heavy.
| Visit to Panama.
The commissioners upon their arrival at
| Colon were taken directly to the De Lesseps
| house and the next day set out for Panama
! upon a special train to pay their respects to
| the president and members of his cabinet.
As the train pulled into the station at Pan
anna 1t was welcomed by committee OF
| prominent citizens arrayed in the conven-
| tioral frock coat and silk hat. some Of them
| o. a style in vogue years ago. The COM
mssioners were placed in carriages and
| driven to the palace, where, between a
| double line of Panaman soldiers. gorgeously
uniformed in red trousers and blue coats,
| with an abundance of gold lace, they as
| cended the palace steps to the tune or Hla-
| watha played by the native band In at
| tendance From the number OF times that
| tune was played while We were in Panama
| I concluded that the players were elther
air or else they played that particular piece
| better than any other in their repertoire
| and wished to put their best foot foremost.
| After greeting President Amador the
party was driven to the Grand central
| Hotel where breakfast was served. From
| the breakfast table the commissioners re-
| turned to their train which Immediately
/ pulled out for La Boca. A stop of half an
| hour was made there to enable the party
| to look over the ground at that point, when
! they again boarded their train. and after
| side trip through the Culebre Cut, returned
| to Colon. reaching there about o CLOCK.
/ NlA bars n
certainly got over every inch of the canal
| zone during their stay. Early each morn
ina they would leave Colon on their speclal
car or in boats, returning after hard
| day's work late in the evening. The pur-
| pose of their present trip was TO INFORM
| themselves as to existing conditions there
| that they might return TO Washington ana
| formulate a plan of action with thorough
| knowledge of the situation on the isthmus.
A Year Before Beginning.
Admiral Walker told me 1t would prob
ably be at least year before work was
| begun on the canal The sanitary problem
will doubtless be taken up Immediately and
the appointment of sanitary officer fol-
lowed by work along this line before any
construction work on the canal is-attempt-
| ed The next thing the commission will
| have to consider and determine Is as TO the
| character of the canal 1t Is going to build
| 1t Is generally conceded that sea-level
canal would be more desirable than the
lock style, but II presents greater engineer
ing difficulties, would take far longer to
build and would be vastly more expensive.
The natives on the isthmus are expecting
great things from the great American gov
ernment. They do not seem to realize that
some time must elapse before any actual
work on the canal is begun, but are COM
ing into Panama and Colon from the 18TH
mus and surrounding Islands in crowds an
ticipating Job on the canal. And their
idea of job is big pay and little work.
Real estate in both the cities Is at a
premium. You can acquire lease ON any
property at any price Most of the property
| owners and business men there have beer
holding on for years expecting that the
United States would Ypdertake the Som;
pletion Of the canal. and they all feel Happy