The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-11
By w. Q. Hasklns.

By W. Q. Haskins. Panama, R. P, Aug. 1.-The Mum chausen tales concerning conditions on the Isthmus, which have appeared Tn the press of the States during the past few weeks, are viewed by thoae face to face with the situation here as anus ing. The bulk of these eo-catled state ments of conditions tn connection win the work of the canal. purport, anu probably do come, from employees or the Commission, but in nine cases out of ten their imagination Is allowed 100 free a rein.
 Inasmuch as The Advertiser has all ready referred to 1t, will cite one instance of these ridiculous exaggera- fiona The statement was made In uu- merous papers that funeral train was always held in readiness. and that sometimes 1t made as many as four 1 teen trips a day to Monkey Hili: presume the narrator mentioned Mon- key Hiu from the fact that this bury in9 ground became historic in the days of the French. although at the present l time 1t is not being used as place or | interment at all. The location of the l new Colon water works Is not far from | Monkey Hill. and the latter has been aba ndoned as a burial site. Further more, there Is not a train of any sort ! on the panama Railroad making i've trips a day. much less fourteen. The only shadow of truth in the whole story | is that If an American dies en the line the Commission has kindly arranged 10 have him brought in either to Colon, or | Panama, much in the same manner as a train is chartered in the States to | bring some one from one point to an- l other only in this case 1t is volun- l tary act on the part of the Commission | This is only a sample of the exag- l gerated stories the people in the states | 1A1 xrrft the press.
 1 Why They Do It.
 | Why do employees and others return ing to the States tell such stories, the | reader will naturally ask. It is ques- | ton easily answered. During the past few months many persons have taken l the civil service examination for ap- l pointment to positions under the com | mission. and have come down at saia- ries of s75 or $S3 3S per month. rms looks we'll enough in the States, but on reaching the Isthmus and going 10 l work they find that there are others | possessed of no greater amount or brains, who are getting more. Inis 1 combined with the scare stories, whlcn are freouently rehearsed for the bene- | At of every newcomer, creates feel ing of dissatisfaction. which quite often
 culminates in a resignation. lmmedi- = ately he proceeds to tell his tale or woe. and he is certainly postmaster ! in the telling. This Is one way to get
 revenge.
 The writer has spent thirteen months l on the Isthmus, coming to Panama | within six weeks after the transfer from French to American ownership. He has at various times tried 10 set forth in as true a light as possible the | conditions as they exist in the canal l strfp. and the cities of Panama and l Colon. There is much that has been done, and much that is stili undone.
 Mistakes have been made. but none so serious but what they can be rectined. One is in course of rectihcation now.
 sci in motion by Chairman Shonts. Chief Engineer Stevens. and the other members of the Commission now on the Isthmus.
 This is the subordination of all other work to that of providing quarters TOT the employees, and the bettermeht O,
 the sanitary conditions, which I shall frankly state are not all that couid
 be desired.
 | Lack of Quarters.
 One of the greatest, and at the same time well-founded complaints on the
 part of employees has been, and Is. lack true among the Americans out on what is commonly known as The Line, meaning that portion of the canal strip between the cities of Panama and Colon. Employees. in some instances, have been forced to sleep on the floor for weeks, before they could obtain pos
 session of a bed, or be furnished with one by the Government. It has taken 1 a wear for the Commission to see it's
 mistake Before attempting any actual
 work at all in the engineering line, the
 task of housing and providing for the
 should have had first consideration. In- | stead of doing this, the attempt was | made to carry on all branches Of the
 work at once, with the result that no
 clear amount of progress has been ac-
 complished to date in either. TO De
 Culebra, but pitifully small. when | gauxed with the job remaining. Col onei Gorgas and his men have been
 waging war on the mosquitoes and
 yellow Jaok," and tons and tons oi
 sulphur and pyretheum have been burned, but still there are mosquitoes and the yellow fever situation remains about the same, no better or no worse. True. also that some headway has been | made in side issues such as water works, sewers and the improvement oi
 the roads and the city of Panama now for the first time in her 300 years oi civic life. enjoys that greatest of all
 boons, plenty of potable water.
 But the results as SO far attained dc not correspond favorably with the
 amount of money and effort 1t has
 taken to produce them. and if the loriginaI plan was carried out. 1t would he reasonable to believe that the first lappropriation for building the canal lwould scarce be enough to serve the Isanttary department alone, much less
 accomplish the removal of the dirt l To Furnish Houses.
 The new Commission has taken a
 step in the right direction, and with. lin the last two days have formulated lplaus whereby all the more important engineering work will be held up un- Itil sufficient houses to furnish homes
 flor all the employees now on the 18th mus, have been erected, and until the lsanitation has so far progressed, as
 to warrant a resumption of canal op' lerations on a large scale. All propos-
 als for furnishing labor have also lbeen held up, in fact, building and san iitary operations alone will hold sway lin the Canal Zone during the next 1.-two. or three months.
 This is as 1t should be. The hous-
 ing of the employees properly, and lthe providing of suitable furniture will Induce a better feeling of content iment, while the sanitation game If sue IcessfuI, will lend an added feeling Of
 security.
 Colonel Gorgas. the chief of the San Iitary Department has battled hard Iduring the past year to stamp out
 yellow fever. That he failed in do