The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-08

giving to vegetation that rapidity in
growing found only in the tropical
countries.
It is notable, however. that in the
case of the few cleared plots where re-
cent attempts to cultivate bananas
have been inaugurated comparatively
little difficulty is experienced in keep
ing the land clear. This is due to the
attention paid to drainage. and it
stands as a fact that once this land is
drained and thoroughly redeemed its
equal for richness and productivity can
hardly be found.
Government to Be Progressive.
Given roads, drainage and decent
methods of communication-for the
diminutive ponies and minute carts
now in use in the towns are of lit
tie account in connection with any
interior operations on extensive scale
all of the possibilities of this land
which have recited can be turned to
profitable account. The policy of the
new government toward the conces-
sionaires, while not entirely outlined,
is in the direction of progress. The
killing concessions has already
been abrogated, and in that act is a
great incentive for the development
of the cattle-raising industry on the
isthmus. 1t is commonly believed that
other concessions, which being now in
the hands of spectators serve only
to retard progress, will also be vacat-
ed. For instance, the concession for
mining coal on the Pacific slopes of
the isthmian strip is held by one man,
who has never made an effort to open
a coal mine, and who now holds onto
the concession solely because he hopes
at sometime or other to be able to
unload it on some firm or corpora
ton who will turn it to practical ac-
count The timber concession is in
the same class, and so are numerous
others.
The balefulness of recognizing the
validity of these grants or of per-
hitting them to be held solely as a
speculation is realized by the new
government, and since a spirit of pro-
gress seems to animate those in charge
of affairs something will almost GER
tainly be done to make the present
untamed areas available for purposes
of cultivation and development. Just
how this end will be accomplished has
not been determined, but the wealth
of the country's resources is too we'll
understood, in a vague and indefinite
way. for the new government sto
countenance a policy of having it all
locked up under the control of non
enterprising concessionaires.
A way will, therefore, be found I'M
der which the development of the
country can not only be permitted, but
invited. And when that time comes
Americans will be more than welcome,
for all that has been done on the
isthmus of progressive nature has
been done by Americans. 1t is, to be
sure, very little, but Panama
knows that America possesses the
men, means and enterprise to convert
this land from the jungle it is into the
rich area it should be. and to raise
the whole country from it's present
state of commercial nothingness to one
of consequence; to employ the native
labor now habitually idle, and to en-
dow the new republic with prosperity.
Kind of Americans Needed.
That an invitation, couched in the
strongest and most alluring terms,
will go from here for Americans to
undertake this work is undeniable.
Americans should, however exercise
great good judgment among themselves
in accepting that invitation. This eli
mate was not made for white men to
live in, and as the sanitary measures
to be inaugurated by the United States
will embrace, beside the canal zone,
only the cities of Panama and Colon,
from the states unless he is fitted
in all respects to perform the work Of
the pioneer.
In the higher attitudes, among the
mountains, the eternal rain is the most
serious obstacle to good health, but
1t should be remembered that these
higher attitudes are now, and for some
time to come will be, the most mac
cessible portions of the isthmus. The
first work of development must, by
the force of circumstances, be done
in the lowlands, where breed the per-
nicious fevers which make the 18TH
mus the haunt of pestilence, and where
general climatic conditions are enerv+at-
ing and most facilitating
There is, also, the additional objec-
tions that no work done here can be
Immediately remunerative. Time must
be allowed for fruits to grow, for
trees to reach the bearing stage, and
for all work to be brought to that de-
gree of production that will insure
return in the form of money. 1t fol-
lows from all of this, that the man
who comes to Panama must have two
things-perfect good health and means
sufficient to maintain himself for a
protracted period. OF good health, he
will require a more generous quantity
than any man finds absolutely essen