Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-11-19
DESCRIBES CONDITIONS ON THE lsTHWUs
Gigantic Task Of fOonmission in COnquering
Filth and Disease.
PURE WATER SUPPLY FIRST PROVIDED
Action has Already Resulted in Greatly
Reducing Death Rats.
ORGANIZATION WORK AND CONSTRUCTION
Expenditures Up 90 December Will
Amount to seO,OOO, OO,OOO-Rebuild-
ina of Panama Rail-
roads.


ST. LOUIS, Mo-, Nov. 1s.-Secretary of |
War William II. Taft was the guest Of
honor at the monthly banquet tonight Of |
the ST. Louis Commercial club He ar |
rived early in the evening from Wasing !
ton and was met at the Union station by |
a delegation from the CoseFnercial club and |
escorted to the residence of Charles Nagel, !
president Of the club where he will be en-
tertained until tomorrow evening, when he
departs for Kansas City to deliver an ad-
dress there OH Monday night.
The banquet tonight was held at the st.
Louis club and covers were laid for 100.
When Secretary Taft arrived he was ac-
corded an ovation. The banquet hall was
beautifully decorated with the American
colors and silk nags. while the table was
plentifully graced with roses,
President Charles Nagel presided and
made a brief speech introducing Secretary
Taft, who spoke on the subject, The Pan
anna Canal"
Secretary Taft's speech.
Secretary Taft went into the history OF
the operations of the United States gov
ernment in connection with the canal at
considerable length. He detailed the or
/ ganization of the first commission, the APP
portionment OF work among members of the
executive committee and finally gave again
his version of the Wallace episode. This
! latter explanation was incidental, and did
| not vary from what was made public at
! the time Engineer wallace severed his con-
nection with the canal. The experimental
work of excavation, done by Engineer Wal
lace on the Culebra cut. and on which his
support of a sea level canal is based, was
pronounced of doubtful value. because of
J the fact that II was done under conditions
! not likely to prevail in actual working con-
ditions, owing to the length of haul that
will be necessitated by the proper dlsposi-
ton Of the soil. BY the FIRST OF Decem-
Der. says Secretary Taft, the United States
government will have expended $60,000,0OO
in its efforts 10 acquire an isthmian canal.
This includes the payment to Panama for
the canal strip. the payment TO the French
Canal company for its rights and property
/ and the money expended In preparatory
! work. How part OF this was, nut. out Is
told in the secretary's description of the
battle with the fevers of the isthmus.
Fight against Fever.
Conditions as affecting health In the
canal strip and what has been done to
better them are graphically described by
Secretary Taft in the following language:
Referring to the amount of preparatory
work needed, it has already been noted
that there We're left standing along the
canal some 2115 structures erected by the
French With the rapid decay that follows
neglect in the tropics, most of these struc-
lures We're in such tum6ledown condition
paired, aud they had to be repaired with
material brought from the United states:
The amount OF timber actually ordered and
needed for the repairing and cohstruc ION
OF the houses is upward Of $4,000 feet
3 abi n This will itself lhOgO
who know of the incidental delays In prac-
tical transportation, either from Oregon or
there has been muCh delay IN persuading
competent carpenters from the United
States in sufficient numbers to come TO the
isthmus. The towns of Panama and Colon.
and the sixteen towns and villages lying
between them along the line OF the candl
and the railroad, all must be furnished
with water. Panama as a settlement is one
of the oldest towns in ArnsTIca, and yet
there has been no means of furnishing
, water TO the Panamanians except from c!s-
terms, puddles and receptacles for water
/ often covered with green scum and as pro-
: ductive of disease as is possible to imagine.
The first thing that the Lrst commission
did, and to them Is the credit due, vas to
/ water supply for Panama. Engineer
, Wallace and his assistants ievis,d Il the
) partly constructed by the French some
eleven miles from Panama, built the Il nm
2 twenty feet higher and ran the wat,r rires
TO Panama. and then laid The mains Into
: Panama, so that on the Fourth of July
1907 the watercocks In the city of Pen
. mitted TO drink pure water This ieser-
Q voir furnishes water also to the towns be-
tween Y and Panama ,o on the Pacific siee
- one for Empire, another one for has OnlspC
; and others for Colon are being constructed
. together with water pipe systems ~ ali OF
. them. Sewers are now being construotc @,
- In Panama. and about so per cent OF then
, have been completed In order 70 make
e has decided II to be necessary to pave The
streets which for centur IS hive beer
dry - weather. and FUN OF dissase /. al
weathers. The whole isthmus STIR trC n
: Panama 20 Colon when our cCiaIaIssior
went there first was grown up With under
brush with weeds. and with AL that Jungl,
r that. a tropical soil and weather Unre
point, as the population increases, as tbs
! work is elaborated, the jung.e Is being cu
down. the hills are being snaVei tnl unde
the tremendous work of the saaitary de
partment pools are being dcItTud swamp
= I relieved OF water, and II everv way tn
n stagnant water surfaces and the propd g4t
Z ing ground for the deadly mosquito are be
ing reduced. When one thinKs OF ST ];
forty-seven miles lo1g tnd hall m,!
Il marshy swamps and water aucuaiuiatinj
). everywhere. the task Of reducing tho stpg
: nant water surface so 80 tn prevent IN
e generation OF mosquitoes seems imp. ssibie
IT But IL must be and can be done.
e warfare on Mosquitoes.
The MOSQUITO Is the worst enemy in tn
a propagat tlon OF disease in the West Indie
"a and American tropics that man has. On
variety IN the isthmus carries the germ
y OF the deadly yellow fever. and anothe
variety. carries the germ OF malaria Will
a third infects its Victims with the loath
/, some disease of elephantiasis. !. Petroleum
prevents the gene alton Of mosquitoes,
yellow fever mosquito lives only abou
:. ninety days. The custom Of the yelloS
" fever mosquito Is not 20 depart far froH
the place OF It's birth. IL Is not ordinaril
born In the open. Its fellow who carrie
the malaria germ IL born In the stagnan
pools that are found In the meadows an
on the hills and IN the valleys but IN
% yellow fever mosquito is ordinarily to b
Il found in the forgotten corners OF the eel
N lars and dark rooms OF tropical houses
" in neglected utensils, In cisterns puddle
n OF water within the back yards. or in IN
70 closets OF the residents While with petro
"A leum and with drainage a large part o
a. the surface which generates the malari
n mosquito may be reduced, the yellow feve
mosquitoes must be attacked In houses b
10 / fumigation, either with sulphur a
! | pyrethrum. Al one time Il was though
% sufIicient In the town OF Panama when
(Continued on Second PaEe)