Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-23
THE WAR on DISEASE
Sanitary Conditions on the
Isthmus Improved.
FILLING FHELOWLANDS
FUMIGATIoN OF THE HOMES IN
PANAMA.
Secretary Taft Confident That There
is No Longer Any Danger Of Vel
low Fever in the Canal Zone.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
Secretary Taft Is confident that sanitary
conditions on the Isthmus of Panama are
so much improved that there Is no longer
any danger OF yellow fever. and that when
the plans of the government are carried
out 1t will be as healthful as any other
place in the tropics. People travelling
across the Panama railroad are always told
That every tie represents human life at
tending the building, and it is probable that
the mortality suffered in the construction
OF that road was greater than in any battle
or In any epidemic known to history. 1t
was built through a pestilential swamp,
reekipg with miasma, and no precautions
whatever were taken to protect the health
OF the laborers. The greater part of the
men who died, like those who are employed
at present. were Jamaica negroes. They
furnish the best labor now found in the
Il opics, but as everybody connected with
the canal testifies they are very poor COM
pared with what we are accustomed in this
zone. Secretary Taft says that another
year Will be required to solve the labor
problem. There are now altogether 1900
men at work, and they are not satisfactory
The engineers would like to get rid of them
and substitute Japanese, Chinese or Ital-
ians, which possibly may be done in the
future.
The labor unions have secured the appli-
cation of the elght-hour law, which is de-
moraiizing, as everybody down there works
ten hours, and they are decidedly opposed
to the employment of Chinese or japanese
There seems to be no good ground for their
position, because American labor will not
go there, and hence there cannot possibly
be any competition with our workmen at
home. Mr.. Gompers says that 1t is a mat
ter of principle. and not question OF race
color or climate: that no man should work
more than eight hours day. be he white,
black or yellow, and he argues that the
government of the United States should
set example to the rest of the world in
the treatment of its employees. This eight
hour rule will increase the cost Of the canal
ten or twelve million dollars. and accord
ing to the judgment of the engineers will
postpone its completion for a year or two
IL not more
improvements Accomplished.
The Japanese government, as + told you
in a recent letter, sent sanitary inspectors
to the dsthmus last spring, who reported
against allowing japanese subjects to go
there, but 1t is believed that since the sani-
tary improvements have been made they
would come to different conclusion. and
the Japanese minister will be asked to adj
wise his government to make a second In
spectfon. 1t is also proposed to have an
Inspection of affairs made by the italian
authorities in case it should be found ad-
visable to seek labor in Italy. Within a
few months, Secretary Taft says there will
be no reason for any one to object to work.
ing on the fsthmus on account of the cli-
mate or sanitary conditions. The first thing
the commission did was to secure an abun-
dant supply of pure, fresh water The
next step was TO lay sewers In the streets
of Panama, which, like New Orleans has
always depended upon surface drainage
About fifty per cent Of the sewers have
been already completed and the rest will
be finished before another year.
In order to make Panama really health
full" said Secretary Taft the other day,
the commission has decided to pave streets
which for centuries have been dirty-muddy
In rainy weather. dusty in dry weather. and
full OF diseases in all weathers. The whole
isthmus, from Panama to Colon, when our
commission first went there, was grown up
with underbruSh, with weeds, and with all
that jungle that tropical soil and unre-
strained weather rejoice in. Now, from
point to point, as the population increases
and as the work is elaborated, the Jungle
Is being cut down. the hills are being
shaved, and under the tremendous work of
the sanitary department pools are being
drained, swamps are being relieved of
water, and In every way the stagnant water
surfaces and the propagating ground for
the deadly mosquito are being reduced.
When one thinks of a strip forty-seyen
miles long and half a mile wide, in the
center of the tropics, with marshy swamps
and water accommodating everywhere the
task of reducing the stagnant water sur
face so as to prevent the generation of
mosquitoes seems impossible: but 1t must,
and can, be done
The Mosquito Evil.
The mosquito" continued the Secretary.
is the worst enemy in the propagation of
disease that man has in the West Indies
and American tropics. One variety In the
fsthmus carries the germ of the deadly
yellow fever; another variety carries the
germ of malaria, while a third fnfects its
victim with the lnatfsnrna .aisnalno - IL