Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-12-17
ROOSEVELT TELLS CONGRESS ABOUT The PANAMA CANAL


Washington, Dec. 1.-THE president
today sent to congress the following
special message ON the Panama canal:
To the Senate and House Of Repre-
sentatives:
In the month of November I visited
the isthmus of Panama, going over
the canal zone with considerable care;
and also visited the cities of Panama
and Colon, which are not in the zone
or under the United States flag, but
as to which the United States govern
ment, through its agents, exercises
control for certain sanitary purposes.
I was three days ashore-not sufti-
cient length of time to allow of an
exhaustive investigation of the MIMI
tiae Of the work of any single depart
ment, still less to pass judgment on
the engineering problems, but enough
to enable me to get clear idea OF the
salient features OF the great work and
of the progress that has been made
as regards the sanitation of the zone,
Colon and Panama, the caring for and
housing of the employees and the actual
digging of the canal. The zone is
narrow strip of land and it can be in
spected much as one can inspect fifty
or sixty miles of a great railroad at
the point where it runs through noun
tains or overcomes other natural OBJ
stacleS.
The president then details the pro-
gramme he carried out during his stay
on the canal zone. He says it rained
almost continually during that time
and that conditions were at their
worst when inspected. Continuing,
he says:
At the outset wish to pay tribute
to- the amount 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 built,
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 better investment than
the $40,0O0,0O0 which it paid to the
French company for work and better
ments, including especially the Pan
anna railroad.
e. 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 i'll informed outsiders
and begun all kinds of experiments in
work prior to thorough sanitation of
the isthmus, and to a fairly satisfac-
tory working out of the problem Of
getting and keeping sufficient labor
supply, would have been disastrous.
The various preliminary measures had
to be taken first; and these could not
be taken so as to allow us to begin
the real work of construction prior to
Jan. of the present year. 1t then be-
came necessary to have the type of
the canal decided and the only delay
has been the necessary delay until the
t2Sth day of June, the date when the
congress definitely and wisely settled
that we should have an 85-fcot level
canal Immediately after that the
work began in hard earnest and has
been continued with increasing vigoI
ever since; and it will continue so tc
progress in the future. When the con
tracts are let the conditions will be
such as to insure constantly increas
ing 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
a full member of the commission. /
must be remembered that his worl
was not mere sanitation, as the tern
is understood in our ordinary munic
ipal work. Throughout the zone AM
in the two cities of Panama and Colon
In addition to the sanitation worl
proper, he has had to do ali the worl
that the marine hospital service doe
: rs TSSdENS lile tAdI5 IAC ACoil
department officers do in the yariou
states and cities and that Colone
Waring did in New York when h
cleaned its streets. The results hav
been astounding. The isthmus ha
been a byWord for deadly unhealthfu
ness. Now, after two years of GU
occupation, the conditions as regard
sickness and the death rate compar
favorably with reasonably healthy Il
caiities in the United States. Esp
cial care has been devoted to ninimi
ing the risk due to the presence {
those species of mosquitoes whic
have been found to propagate malari;
and yellow fevers. Equal care is take
5s5@5z by the inspectors of the health depar
nent: to secure cleanliness in tt
!. houses and proper hygienic condition
OF every kind. Il inspected betwee
twenty and thirty water closets, bo1
those used by the white employees az
q those used by the colored Iaborers. 4
almost every case ] found the cond
tions perfect. 5#s.55s 535