Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-19

it a going government were passed by the
commission.
BY the 1st of December we shall have
spent SEQ, o00,O 600 in the course OF acqufr-
ing a transisthmian canal The two ques-
tions which the American people have a
right to ask are, first. Have We proceeded
without unnecessary delay; second, Have
we received our moneys worth?
First the Spooner act was passed in the
spring of 1902 The delay incident to Co
lombia's conduct certainly could not be
avoided. No one can deny that we closed
as quickly as could reasonably with
Panama in December 1903, and that there
was no unnecessary deliberation in closing
out the transfer of the French Panama
Canal Company's property to the United
States in May, 1904.
A Sparsely Settled Country.
Panama is a sparsely settled country
with few laborers available. The great
majority of those employed must be I'm
ported. For every laborer brought in at
least one person more will come who will
be dependent on him. We must there
fore count on an alien population of JOOoo
to be distributed along the line of the canal
for forty-seven miles. To get the best work
out of the laborers they and their families
must be housed; they must have healthtul
food: they must have pure, good water TO
drink and the filth and noisome drainage
caused by such a collection of human be-
ings must be taken care of so as not 10
promote disease. Finally, Panama has a
history of awful losses of life among work
men engaged in the construction of the
railroad and the canal from yellow fever
and malaria and these two diseases must
be stamped out All these things ought to
be done before the dirt begins to fly
Recurring to the amount of preparatory
work needed, it has already been noted that
there were left standing along the canal
some 2,1I5 structures erected by the
French. With the rapid decay that follows
-, yJa 4rr1N toe oct af
lures were in such tumble-down condition
as to be uninhabitabe. They had to be
repaired and they had to be repaired with
material brought from the United States
Transportation Problems.
Until lately 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
canal and the railroad, all must be fur
niShed with water
Panama as a settlement Is one of the Cd
est towns in America and yet for about
300 years during the dry season there has
been no means of furnishing water to the
Panamians except from cisterns, puddles
and receptacleS for water often covered
with green scum and as productive of dis
ease as is possible to imagine. The first
thing that the first commission did, and to
them is the credit due, was to make ar
rangements for the construction of wa
ter supply for Panama.
In order to make Panama really health
full the commission has decided IL to be
necessary to pave the streets, which for
centuries have been dirty-muddy in rainy
weather, dusty in dry weather and full of
disease in all weathers. The whole isthmus
strip from Panama to Colon when our COM
mission went there first grown up with
underbrush. with weeds. and with all that
jungle that tropical soil and weather un-
restrained rejoice in. Now, from point to
point, as the population increases, as the
work is elaborated. the jungle is being cut
down, the hills are being shaved, and I'M
der the tremendous work of the sanitary
department pools are being drained, swamps
relieved of water, and in every way the
stagnant water surfaces and the propa-
eating ground for the deadly mosquito are
being reduced.
The Fight Against the Mosquito.
The mosquito is the worst enemy in the
propagation of disease in the West Indies
and American tropics that man has. One
variety in the isthmus carries the germ of
the deadly yellow fever, and another va
riety carries the germ of malaria, while
e third infects its victims with the loathsome
disease of elephantiasis. Petroleum pre-
vents the generation of mosquitoes. vel.
low-fever mosquito lives only about ninety
days. The custom of the yellow-fever mos
quito is not to depart far from the place
of its birth. 1t is not ordinarily born in the