The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-17

on the great Culebra cut, and who. with his own hands, raised the first Panama ian flag ever flung to the breeZe6 in this city, is ''the man who cleaned up Ha- vana." He was in full charge of the san atary work in the Cuban capital during the American military occupation. with what praiseworthy results everybody knows, Havana having under his direc- tion been transformed from pesthole into a delightful winter health resort Colonel Black has now been statiored here for months. and while his work has been purely of an engineering quality, he has made a close study of isthmian san itary conditions and requirements.
 On one of the earliest steamers leaving New York after the establishment of the new republic Surgeon Major Guy L. Edie, United States Army. was passenger for the isthmus. Dr. Edie was the man in charge of the sanitary work in Manila during the American military occupation of the Philippine metropolis, and his work there was as successful was that done by Colonel Black in Havana. Dr. Edie has just sailed from tho sthmus for the States, having executed his mission, which was, by direction of the War De partment. to thoroughly study the prob- lem of sanitation on the isthmus and to report to the department exactly what it
 
 10 do in order to mako this a fit place for white men to live in. An Experts Views of the Problem.
 Tn previous letters l have sketched, from the layman's viewpoint, the deadly ,rnsanitary state of this strip of land be- tween the two oceans. Before Dr, Edie sailed from Colon I had an interview with him, fin the course of which he explained the situation from the viewpoint of the experienced expert.
 For purposes of sanitary consideration the isthmus must be divided into three uarts," said Dr. Edie 'The first division extends from Colon to Bohio, distance of about A miles; the second from Bohio to Corozal. on the Pacific side, a distance of about 2s miles, and tEe third from Co- roxal to Panama. five milee. The Cities Of Colon and Panama, over which We se cure in the new treaty sanitary control. are included in the first and third dvis- ions, respectively. In the first division nna begins to strike the hill country about seven and one-half miles from Co Ion. Advancing from west to east through the third division. rising ground Is found about five miles from Panama, while the second division lies almost en- tireIy in the high ground.
 '.The City of Colon stands upon a coral -ssland which lies very low in the water
  vast and almost impossible swamps. The only elevations in that vicinity are abrupt hills or volcanic peaks. Between Gatun and Bohio. in the first division, there Is an elevated country. but this Is all sur rounded by the same vast swamps and fnorasses except on the east, where the high ground stretches away into the mountains.
 "All of this first division is unhealthy defiantly so. The prolific cause of disease fin this division is found in the low-lytng ground, the entire absence of drainage the frequency of pools, ponds and quag- mires, where mosquitoes may be bred un- molested; the absence of an adequate supply of pure water and the utterly ,lnsanitary mode of living. These condi- ; 4fons are of such long standing that near Iv every house in Colon, as we'll as in fhe whole of the first division, Is infected with the germs of yellow fever and amalIpox. Life amid such surroundings has been and still Is, merely question of the survival of the fittest.' There are no reliable mortality figures or percent ages procurable anywhere on the isth- mus. but we know from reports, observa- fIon and the scant records of the Colom- bian Army that the death rate has been excessive in the high land as well as in 4he low, and especially in this first divis- ion.
 Country Not Necessarily Dangerous.
 From Bohio to Paraiso, in the second division. the altitude above sea level is l2O to 45O feet This is exceptionally good hlu country. we'll supplied with natural