Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-25
SANITARY PROBLEM
What It Means to Clean Up
Panama.
DISEASE AND DIRT
HOW DOCTORS AND ENGINEERS
MUST FACE THE TASK.
Negligence and Ignorance Of the
Inhabitants Reason for
Scourge.
DISEASE AND DIRT


Three medical experts connected with the
United States army and navy have gone
to Panama to make the preliminary ar
rangements for the cleaning up Of the
isthmus, so that the lives Of the many
thousands of men who will be employed
to dig Uncle Sans big ditch may be safe
guarded. 1t will be very much bigger
job than the cleaning up Of Cuba after the
American occupation. 1t will be. perhaps,
the greatest single sanitary task ever I'M
dertaken by civilized man.
The Isthmus Of Panama Is one of the
worst territories In the world, II not the
very worst. from sanitary point of view
and its record of disease and death for
centuries past has been appalling. But It
Is not necessary to despair on that &C.
count. Up to the present time modern san
itation has not tried what it can do on the
tsthmus.
De Lesseps' French Canal Company,
though 1t spent barrels of money lavishly
In many directions, never made any seri-
Gus attempt to render the territory less
unhealthy. The Frenchmen, apparently,
believed In prevention rather than cure.
They built ane hospitals and sanatariums
instead Of draining the swamps, cleaning
out the rivers. and making war on other
H.,
erected on the Island of Toboga, in the Bay
of Panama. cost the Panama Universal In
teroceanic Company over $4,000 and the
principal hospital of the company at Pan
anna must have cost, from first to last,
considerably over a million. The canal Of
ficiais and laborers are sent to the SANTA
rum to repair their wasted strength after
they are discharged from the hospitals, and
In the old days the institution was always
crowded. Nowadays there are not many
persons there, for only a small force of
men has been employed on the canal works
during the past two or three years, and
those simply In order to avoid the forfeit
ure Of the franchise.
Two Good Institutions.
The hospitals and the sanitarium are the
only institutions Of which the French COM
pany has right to be proud; their spIen-
did efficiency has attracted the admiration
OF many foreign doctors who have visited
Panama. But the large sums of money
they have cost would have been better
spent in preventing disease. The Ameri-
can medical experts will give their first
and principal attention to that task, al
though they will probably also recommend
the maintenance and enlargement Of the
hospital and sanitarium work.
The city of Panama and the town OF
Colon, the terminal points Of the canal, are
just about as insanitary as any towns
could be. large building In Panama was
used several years ago as a charity hos
pital, and many hundreds of people died
there OF yellow fever 1t was abandoned
as hospital and is now used as a store
house. AS it never was dfsinfected or
fumigated in any shape or manner, to my
mind it is a hotbed of the disease" said
Dr. Wolfred Nelson. Canadian physician
who spent five years on the fsthmus.
This is only a single example of many
similar plague spots which exist today in
Panama and Colon. unheeded by the ig-
norant, supine local authorities. It is no
wonder that the death rate In Panama for
the week ending March 13 last was 90 per
1.OOO OF population. as compared with a
death rate Of q in the least healthy city
OF the United States In Colon. during the
same week. the death rate was g. which
was an exceptionally low figure for that
town.
Like Their Filth.
Nobody who has not visited the isthmus
can credit the filthiness of the conditions
under which the population lives 1t has
been well said that "the filth Of ages Is
stored away In most Of the houses, even In
those OF the Weather classes. AS for the
average peasant, he wears a raiment or
dtrt-and very little else-from his birth to
his death. and seldom does he change it.
Unlike the majority of tropical peoples
bathing. and in consequence they suffer
from many loathsome skin diseases. AS
number Of natives will doubtless be EN-
ployed along the canal works In various
capacities, II not actually as laborers, reg
ulations for personal cleanliness will have
to be rigidly enforced by military disci-
pline.
Practically speaking. the streets of Pam
anna and Colon are only cleaned by the tor
rental storms of the rainy season. Colon
Is intensely hot and sickly in the dry sea-
son, locally termed the healthy season"
and, In the words of a local doctor, is
fh.da n md ooff ,,,e -,
season, which lasts for nearly eight months
out of the twelve.
Sanitary Conditions.
From commercial point of view the
town Is built upon an excellent site; from
a sanitary point Of view ON the very worst
possible Site The center of the place Is
practically lagoon. Houses are built all
around the swampy ground, and in some
cases actually upon it. There Is scarcely
any outlet for the foul, fermentfng water,
which naturally breeds disease all the year
around.
This disgraceful state Of affairs will. Of
course. be remedied without delay by the
American doctors and engineers as soon as
they take charge Of the sanitation Of the
town. Proper drainage will be provided
the swamp reclaimed, and the health Of
hundred per cent by that one work alone
The worst sanitary feature about Pan
anna u its suburbs
They are common and unclean," said
DR.. Nelson, and in many places grossly
offensive to the eye and smelling unto
heaven. The civil authorities Of Panama
are to blame. Money enough, In all con-
science, II exacted from the merchants and
others to keep things as they should be.
They are very careful about the collection
Of that money, but there 1t ends.
They Spread Disease.
'"This IL the kind OF thing you see in
the suburbs A lana leading from a main
thoroughfare to the seashore, with both CT
its sides lined with piles and piles Of rub
bish and old bedding. or bedding on which
people have died The natives of Panama,
after death. throw away cots, mattresses,
pillows and often the eating utensils of
the departed AS many people on the