Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-03

Panama, has made a special report to the
State Department relative to present and
prospective conditions on the isthmus as
affected by the building of the Panama
canal, which report Is specially calculated
to present sore disappointment on the part
of adventurous Americans attracted to-
ward Panama by resumption of the vast
enterprise. 1t is understood that the Pam
anna commission is especially DESTROYS of
securing the widest publicity of the warn
ing sent out by Mr. Barrett. The report in
substance is follows:
Should Have Return Ticket.
First. No man seeking a position as
clerk. stenographer. typewriter engineer,
foreman or any similar class of labor which
the average American is willing to per-
form should come to the isthmus in ex-
pectation OF securing a position unless he
mas made some previous arrangement for
employment or has sufficient funds to pay
ms expenses In Panama and of return to
tne United states If he finds no opening.
More men of this kind are now coming to
Panama and Colon than there are positions
10 be filled. The cost of living is very high
prices have increased nearly 300 per cent
IN the last six months. and there is a great
shortage of cheap and wholesome lodging
and board accommodation.
second While Panama and Colon, as
we'll as towns In the zone and in the in
terror or Panama, are sure to experience
considerable measure of material and in
dustrial progress through the excavation
OF the canal, there are not at present many
opportunities for the establishment of new
mercantile. business and professional firms
ana there should not be an thrush of mer-
chants, business and professional men In
the expectation of finding considerable and
ready openings for establishing themselves
IL would be best for men DESTROYS of locat-
n1N-nc to-
10 come and look over the field before final
ly closing up their offices in the United
States.
The Number of Employees.
Third. 1t is the copcensus of oninion
among members of the commission and
others who have studied the situation that
both Americans in the United States and
Panamans here have greatly exaggerated
the increase of population which will result
from the construction of the canal and of
the NUMBER of men who will be EMPLOYED
ny the commission for the CARRYING on of
tne Undertaking. 1t is not probable. in
view OF the modern systems to be employ
ed In construction, that there will be at
any time more than twelve thousand or
H1teen thousand men directly employed as
ordinary laborers along the line of the
canal II we add to these some five thous-
ana to cover the small number that will
bring their families and the element that
might be termed camp followers. and if we
1urther add five thousand more who will
Itptesent hsh-class employees and all kinds
OF business and professional men who may
come mere on account of the work and all
others employed we have at the outside an
increase only of twenty-five thousand peo-
PIE. ms number. moreover. will not be
coming here all at once, but gradually
through period of years and as they NAV
be required. All estimates about their be-
ing some forty thousand to sixty thousand
people brought to this isthmus through the
construction of this waterway are exag-
gerated. and estimates on such basis will
prove most deceptive. AS the latest esti-
mate of population of Panama proper ac-
cordlng to Whitaker is three hundred and
forty thousand, this added twenty-five
thousand through a period of years is not
sufficient to create any great boom as that
term IS commonly used.
No Real Boom on the Isthmus.
Fourth. There is not yet any real boom
il Panama. in Colon. or in the zone but
rents FOR houses, stores and offices have
doubled and tripled during the last few
months and are now almost exorbitantly
high. In fact the Panama landlords are,
some OF them, SO unreasonable in their
charges that there is danger of their driving
business from Panama proper into a neigh
boring zone The United States in secur-
ing offices for this legation. is as much a
sufferer IN this respect as any merchant or
professional man.
Fifth. The disagreeable and unhealthy
features of the Panama climate have been
lidlculouSly overS;ated by those who have
studied the situation specifically while
passing across the isthmus in transit or
who desire to create a sensation. Members
of the commission and myself who are IA
m:liar with other tropical countries partic-
ularly those of Asia find it much cooler and
healthier here than in corresponding iati-
tudes of other lands. The former insani-
- isti, 10 Ia do, 80 l.,
old Panama Canal Company might have
characterized the construction of a similar
work in any other portion Of the world and
are responsible also for many of the terri
bic tales that are now told in the American
p'eSs AS a matter of fact, there has not
been during the months of July and August
a single uncomfortable night for sleeping,
while the average days have not been hot
ter than those of New York and Washing
ton.
Little Serious Illness
There has been hardly a single Instance
of serious illness among the considerable
number of young men who are here in the
employment of the canal while the per-
centage of sickness among the larger group
of laborers employed at Culebra is not
greater than that upon similar excavating
work in the United States. Among the
four hundred marines located half way
across the isthmus at Empire there has
while the percentage of those In the hos
pital is not larger than would be found
for the same number, at the average post
in the United States. There has not been
a single case of yellow fever for over a
month and there Is less malaria than Is
often found in sections of the United States
where there Is considerable turning of the
soil. The worst portions of the cities of
Panama and Colon are much cleaner and
more wholesome than the slums of our
North American cities and are far ahead OF
the average Asiatic city located In the
tropics.
MY corrections of overdrawn criticisms
of the Panama climate must not, however
be interpretated meaning that there are
not unfavorabie features here. They exist
as they do in all tropical lands and. OF
course the conditions of maintaining health
and enjoying life not. by any means
| as favorable as those In the average tenn
perate climates. When the present able
sanitary corps. who have charge of i'm
proving health conditions in the isthmus
! have carried out their plans for the i'm
| proyement of the canal strip and of the
| cities of Panama and Colon. there is nj
reason why this isthmus should not be one
| of the healthiest places In the world
Wisconsin Democrats Name a Ticket
4 dispatch from Oshkosh, Wis. says
| After struggling for hours over ma