The Washington herald., 1906-12-18

&
Everywhere are 20 be seen the drainage
bitches which IN removing the water have
removed the breeding places of the mos
quitoes. while the whole jungle Is cut away
for a considerable space around the habi-
tations. thus destroying the places in
which the mosquitoes take shelter These
drainage bitches and clearings are H. evil
dence IN every settlement. and. together
with the invariablc presence Of mosquito
screens around the piazzas. and of mos
quito doors 10 the houses. not to speak
Of the careful fumigation that has gone
on IN all infected houses. doubtless ex-
plain the extraordinary absence of mos
Quiioes AS "a matter Of fact, but sin
gle mosquito, and this not Of the danger
Gus species, was seen by any member Of
our party during my three days on tie
isthmus Equal care is taken by the in
spectors of the health department TO Sc
cure cleanliness in the houses and proper
hygienic conditions of every kind in-
spected between twenty and thirty water
closets. both those used by the white en-
ployes and those used by the cOlored la
borers. In almost every case I found rhe
conditions perfect In but one case did
1 find them really bad. I'm this case. af-
fecting "a settlement of unmarried white
employees / found them very bad indeed
but the buildings were all inherited from
the French company. and were being used
temporarily while other buildings were in
the course of construction: and right near
the defective Water-closet q new and ex-
cellent closet with "a good sewer pipe was
in process Of construction and nearly fin
ished. Nevertheless this did not excuse
the fact that the bad condition had been
allowed 10 prevail Temporary accom-
.g.s
use when camped in the field should have
/ been provided. Orders 20 this effect were
/ issued. I append the report of Dr. Cor
gas on the incident ] was struck. how
/ ever, by the fact that in this instance.
as I'm almost every other where d COM
plant was made which proved TO have
/ any Justification whatever. It appeared
! that steps had already been taken TO rem
1 edy the evil complained of. and that the
trouble was mainly due to the extreme
difficulty. and often impOssibility. OF pro-
! viding IN every place for the constant in
/ crease IN the number OF employees. Gen
orally the provision Is made In advance.
/ bat it is not possible that this should al
/ ways be the ease; when il is not there
/ ensues a period of time during which the
1 conditions are unsatisfactory, until rem
I edy can be provided; but 1 never found
Z
provided as speedily as possible.
Hospitals and Their Treatment.
/ / Inspected the large hospitals at An
/ con and Colon which are excellent ex-
/ amples of what tropical hospitals should
/ be. ] also inspected the receiving hos
pitfalls in various settlements 1 went
/ through a number OF the wards in which
/ the colored men are treated, number of
/ those I'm which the white men are treat
/ ed-Americans and Spanlards. Both white
/ men and black men are treated exactly
alke and their treatment is rs good as
/ that which could be obtained iu our first
( class hospitals at home. All The patients
/ thai ] saw, with one or two exceptions,
/ were lab0rers or other employees on the
canal works and railways. most OF them
/ being cUlored uen of the ordinary labOrer
/ stamp. Not only are the men carefully
cared for whenever they apply for care
/ but SO far as practicable a watch Is KEEP;
/ 20 see that IL they need 10 they are sent
/ 10 the hospitals, whether they desire to
/ 90 or not. From n0 responsible source
/ did any complaint come 10 me as TO the
/ management OF the hospital service, all
/ though occasionally very ignorant Yves,
. India negro when DE IS first brought intl
I binary hospital routine.
Health Showing Remarkably Good.
Just al present The health showing on
. the isthmus is remarkably go0d-so much
4 better than ia most sections OF the Unit
[ Cd States THAI do not believe that fl car
/ possibly continue 5t quite It's present
average. Thus, early ia the present yeal
"a band OF several hundred Spaniards were
( brought 20 the isthmus as laborers, aut
additions to their number have been mad.
I from time 20 time, yet since their arriya
in February last. but one Of those Span
. laTds thus brought over 10 work Ola Ia.
/ canal has died OF disease. and DE Of ty
pE0id fever. Two others were killed one
in a railroad accident and one by a dy
Mantle explosion. There has been for th,
last six months a weu-nigh steady de-
cline in the death rate for the population
of the Zone. this being largely due 90 tn,
/ decrease in deaths from pneumonia, wh.cl
has been the most fatal disease on MS
isthmus in October there were ninety
nine deaths OF every kind among the en-
plOycs OF the isthmus. There were ther
On the rolls 500 whites. Stven-eighIhs OF
them being Americans. OF these white.
bat two died Of disease, and as il hap
pened neither man was an American Oh
the G.003 white Americans, includIn.
some 1,219 women and children. not a sin
sic death has occurred in the past thra,
months, whereas in an average city il
the United States the number OF death.
for a similar number of people IN tha
time would have been about thirty from
disease. This very remarkable Showing
cannot Of course permanently obtain. bu
il certainly goes to prove that if good
care is taken the isthmUs is not a par
tieularly unhealthy place. In October %
the 1900 negroes on the roll. eighty-sil
died from disease pneumonia being Ia,
most destructive disease, and malaria
fever coming second The difficulty O
/ exercising q thorough supervision owe
the c0lOred labOTeTs is. OF course. great
er than is the case among the whites
and they are also less competent 10 TAX
care of themselves, which accounts TO
the fact that their death rate is so mucl
higher than that of the whites IN spite o
the fact that they have been used to sim
liar climatic conditions. Even among tn
colored employees It viii be seen that tn
death rate is not high.
DiminutiOn of Mosquitoes.
In Panama and Colon the death rat
/, has also been greatly reduced, this be
, ing directly due to the vigorous work o
the special brigade Of employees who hav
been inspecting houses where the stego
myia mosquito is to be found and de
stroying its larvae and breeding places
/ and doing similar work in eXterminatinl
p the malarial mosquitoes-in short, in per
. forming all kinds of hygienie labor.
little over a year ago all kinds Of mos
quitoes. including the two fatal species
were numerous about the Culebra cut. i
this cut during last October every room
of every house was carefully examined
and only two mosquitoes, neither of theT
l of the two fatal species, were found. In
I f.1terfro ararer,- ia iucDectiOD and in dis