The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-29
 IN PANAMA Towns Can Be Made 1 Healthy. lREPoRToFsURGEoN PERRY
 Task Will Be a Tremendous One.
 Complete Systems of Sewerage and Good Supplies of Water Will Have to Be Provided, He Says. H

Washington. Feb. 2s.-surgeon J. C Ferry of the public health and marin, | hospital service, who has been since Ias
 month at Colon making a study for Pres ident Roosevelt of the sanitary conditions on the isthmus, has submitted an exhaus. | tive preliminary report to Surgeon-Gen. eral Wyman.
 He devotes the greater part to the city of Colon. but also describes conditions at Panama and along the proposed route of the isthmian canal His conclusions are in the, main most hopeful. He de. scribes the condition of Colon as woo fully unsanitary and unhealthy, and says it's redemption will be an immense task. but that 1t should be successful. The conditions at the camps along the route of the canal he says, are far su- perior to those of Colon and Panama, and says that with proper sanitary regu- lations the health of the occupants should remain good.
 Situation at Colon. Colon Is built on the island of Man. 2anilla, bay of Limon, and Is connected with the mainland by the dam of the Panama Railroad. The island is leased from the Government by the Panama Railroad Company. The unoccupied por- ton of the island, by far the larger, says Surgeon Perry, remains today a primitive swamp covered with dense tropical vege- tation and stagnant water, furnishing ad- mirable breeding places for millions of mosquitoes. The swamp area Is not con fined to the island upon which Colon Is situated, but extends back of the town on the mainland for distance of fifteen miles this swamp being from three to five miles wide.
 The most common and fatals disease in Colon is malarial fever. especially the pernicious forms. This disease exists throughout the year, but is more prevail ent ana severe during the rainy season. All types of maiarial fever are more frequent in Colon than in Panama and tho perniclous forms mers prevalent
 Can Be Made Healthy.
 '"The question naturally arises: Can Colon be made healthy town?" says Surgeon Perry, "I think this can be ar- swered in the affirmative-that is. a healthy tropical city. The task Is a large one and is an engineering problem Briefly mentioned, 1t means filling in the entire island on which the town Is built, the installation of good supply of water and sewerage system"
 As to Panama, Surgeon Perry says:
 "The improvement of Panama and making 1t a healthy tropical city necessi- tates the installation of a good water supply and modern sewerage system. thereby removing breeding places for mosquitoes, etc."
 As to the towns along the route of the canal, Mir Perry says the inhabitants are almost exclusively negroes and Chi- nese. Ali the villages. are extremely filthy, with no sanitary regulations. no sewerage or water supply except that fud- nished by rain water or small springs or streams
 A number of excellent sites exist for camps in the hills and the canal com pany has located most of its camps in such localities The climate where these camps arc located is far superior to that of Colon or Panama, and with proper sanitary regulations by which they are retained as sanitary units, the health of the occupants should be good.