The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-14

CONCLUDED FROM FIRST PAGE)
tabllsh or enforce even the most ordinary
regulations for sanitary Improvement, as
Wei as methods for preventing infection.
Garbage is left for days ct time in the
streets, in the small yards In the rear of
the residences, to decay and pollute the
earth as we'll as the atmosphere; Each
house has its own cesspool, and these go
unattended year in and year out The
small yards in the rear of private residences
are sinks of corruption, Uttered with rotting
otfal and decaying matter OF all sorts. Peo-
pie die of infectious diseases. and none save
the most desultory methods of disinfection
are ever invoked.
1t is, in the light of this, not strange that
Panama has a bad name. Health is well
nigh impossible in such a place, and when
we bring into account the general ignorance
of the populace, the universal poverty, the
torridity of sunshiny days, and the constant
downpour of rain that marks other days,
conditions seen to be ripe for pestilence.
The general situation is not, however, as
bad as IL is in the tranSiSthmian city OF
Colon.
COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION.
Fifteen thousand people are domiciled
cupied by the $500 in Colon, but Panama
stands high, whereas Colon is in swamp;
the houses here are, in the main, con-
structed of stone, with tile roofs, while
in Colon there are only fiimsy frame shacks.
Here the rains wash the streets; in Colon
they but accentuate the swamps and quag-
mires. The streets in Panama are little
better than dark alleys, but they are
paved. That the pavement is only the
toughest cobblestone is true, but even that
suf1ices to reduce the number of incubat-
ing places for disease-Spreading mosquitoes.
To clean up Panama would be a compare
lively simple task, and when the United
States authorities shall have completed the
H-'S, which they will begin as soon as
tn. treaty is ratified, this will be converted
into no mean city-its tropical location
considered.
The statements recently made in the
States TO the effect that Panama may even
become a popular winter resort should not,
however, be credited. IL can never acquire
that comeliness until there shall have oc-
CURED a change amounting TO complete
transformation, for as ii now is there are
absolutely no attractions TO draw visitors.
There is not in all the vicinity of Panama a
single driveway. Charming stretches of
country, where beautiful drives might be
made there are In abundance, especially
out over the savanna-or plain-a three
mile expanse of level country lying to the
eastward of the city. On this savanna,
where the vegetation closely resembles that
OF the temperate zone, the weather. resi-
dents of Panama maintain dry season" or
summer homes. With a little enterprise
and the expenditure OF a moderate amount
of money, a charming suburb might be
called into being on this plain. To-day ii
is little better than other parts of the
isthmus, and scarcely accessible during
any except the dryest ana hottest terms.
during which, because of its compact style
of construction, the city itself is unendur-
able
1T is A FEATURELESS CITY.
Within the city there are practically no
points calculated to evoke more than a
passive interest. The cathedral-there are
none save Catholic Churches on this side
he fctlp icf C,oa, ~ h 10
architecture, but despite it's age-it was
built in 176O of a soft yellow stone-it fails
to attract. Seen from a distance, age
worn ana with small trees growing in its
eave-troughs and about it's spires, it pre-
sents a pretty picture. Viewed at close
range, its age and the general air OF ne
gIect and decay it bears are repeIlant OF
other churches there are none of sufficient
Importance 10 engage interest The little
concrete shrines erected here and there
upon street corners index the Catholicism
of the place, but their number makes them
commonplace. The government building is
far from a snowy structure, while the
Cabildo. or city hall, is on the verge of
succumbing 10 the action Of time and the
There is no theater in the city; no place
of any special historic mountaineering
save an eXpanse of yellow houses with
red tile roofs and narrow balconies. chasm-
like streets, opening now and then into a
small and apparently poverty-stricken
square, or carrying one by a pile of old
ruins. OF these latter. only one deserves
especial mention, and that only because of
one feature This is the ruin of the Church
of San Domingo, standing well down toward
the water front Nobody seems TO know ex-
actly how old this church is. but tradition
has it that il was completed about 200 years
ago, ana that the night before il was TO
be consecrated 1t was destroyed by fire.
Ii stands now the site of one of the
wonders OF the world-a fiat arch built of
brick and without a keystone. This arch
has a span OF about seventy feet and meas
ures about eighteen inches on either side
Ii hangs something like forty feet above
the ground, absolutely unsupported, and
has hung there for two centuries, a small
brick link between two ruined walls. This
arch has been studied by architects but
none has ever solved the problem of how.
without a curve, IL was ever constructed in
the first instance, or why il did not fall
ages ago. II is to-day pointed 10 by popu-
lace which hungers for the canal as posi-
tive proof that the isthmus is free from
earthquakes that might endanger the
waterway.
Life in city so void of comforts must
Of necessity have drawbacks, and Of these