Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-12-17
SPECIAL CANAL MESSAGE.
Third Day.

through the Culebra cut, stopping OIL
to see the marines, and also to lnVes-
tigate certain towns; one, OF wnlie
employees. as to which in certain
respects complaint had been made 10
me; and another town where wanted
to see certain houses of the coloreo
employees. We went over the Sue Oh
the proposed Gatun dam. having on
the first day Inspected the sites OF the
proposed La Boca and Sosa dams. we
went out on little railway to the
reservoir, which had been built TO sup
ply the people Of Colon with water
for their houses. There we took lunch
at the engineers mess. We then
went through the stores and shops Oh
Cristobal, inspecting carefully tne
houses of both the white and colored
employees, married and unmarried 70
gether with the other buildings. we
then went to Colon and saw the nre
department at work; In four minutes
from the signal the engines had come
down to Front street, and twenty-one
21b-inch hose pipes we're raising
streams of water about seventy-nve
feet high. We rode about Coloh'
through the various streets, paved
unpaved, and in process OF paVlns'
looking at the bitches. sewers, euro
ing and the lights. then went over
the Colon hospital in order to COM
pare it with the temporary town or
field receiving hospitals which ! had
already seen and inspected. also
inspected some of the dwellings OF
the employees. In the evening at
tended q reception given by the Amer
lean employees on the isthmus, which
took place on one of the docks IN
Colon. and from there went aboard
the Louisiana.
Each day from twelve to eighteen
hours were spent in going over and
inspecting all there was to be seen.
and in examining various employees.
At the outset wish to pay a trap.
ute to the amout of work done by the
French Canal company under very
difficult circumstances. Many OF the
buildings they put up were excellent
and are still in use, though, naturally,
the houses are now getting out OF re-
pair and are being used as dwellings
only until other houses can be bulit,
and much of the work they did IN
the Culebra cut, and some OF the work
they did in digging has been OF direct
and real benefit. This country has
never made q better investment than
the s4O,000,00O which it paid to the
French company for work and better
ments. including especially the Pan.
anna railroad.
An inspection on the ground at the
height of the rainy season served 10
convince me Of the wisdom Of con-
gress in refusing to adopt either q
high-level or q sea-level canal. There
seems to be universal agreement
among all people competent to judge
that the Panama route, the one actual
" chosen, is much superior to both
the Nicaragua and Darien routes.
Preliminary Work Being Done.
The wisdom Of the canal manage
ment has been shown in nothing more
clearly than in the way in which the
foundations of the work have been
laid. To have yielded to the natural
impatience Of ill-informed outsiders
and begun all kinds of experiments in
work prior to thorough sanitation OF
the isthmus. and to q fairly satisfac-
tory working out of the problem OF
getting and keeping a Sufficient labor
supply would have been disastrous
The various preliminary measures had
to DO taken first; and these could not
be taken SO as to allow US to begin the
real work Of construction prior to Jan.
1 Of the present year. It then became
necessary to have the type OF the
canal decided, and the only delay has
been the necessary delay until June
%, the date when the congress def.
nitely and wisely settled that we
should have an S5-foot level canal.
Immediately after that the work be-
gan in hard earnest and has been
continued with increasing vigor ever
since; and it will continue SO to pro.
gress in the future. When the con-
tracts are let the conditions will be
such as to insure a constantly In
creasing amount of performance.
Successful Sanitation.
The first great problem to be solved.
upon the solution of which the success
of the rest OF the work depended, was
the problem OF sanitation. This was
from the outset under the direction of
DR.. w. G. Gorgas, who is to be made q
full member Of the commission. 1t
must be remembered that his work
was not mere sanitation, as the term
is understood in our ordinary munich
pal work. Throughout the zone and in
the cities of Panama and Colon, in adj
dition to the sanitation work proper,
he has had to do all the work that the
marine hospital service does as re-
CARDS the nation, that the health de-
partment officials do in the various
states and cities, and that Colonel
Waring did in New York. The results
have been astounding. The isthmus
had been a byword for deadly I'm.
healthfulness. Now, after two years
Of our occupation the conditions as
regards sickness and the death rate
compare favorabiy with reasonably
healthy localities in the United States.
Especial care has been devoted to
the risk due to the pres
ence of those species Of mosquitoes
which have been found to propagate
malarial and yellow fevers. In all