Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-12-20
CANAL REPORT
IS SUBMITTED
Commission Submits Statement
of What Has Been Accom-
plished in Panama
SECOND STAGE NOW REACHED
Sanitary and Other Important Prob
Ions Having Been Solved, Actual
Construction Will Now Commence
Labor Question Has Been Difficult
Plan Of Reorganization.


Washington, Dec 20.-The annua
report of the isthmian canal commits
sion, covering the work accomplished
prior to December 1, was submitted
to the secretary of war today. The re-
port is exhaustive. That portion of II
dealing with the problems first met
and the methods of sanitation, is as
: follows:
During the year the first stage OF
canal work, that of preparation, has
virtually been past, and the commits
sion finds itself in position to enter
upon the second stage, that of actual
construction of a lock canal at an ele-
walton of s5 feet, authorized by con-
gress in June last.
"Of these two stages the first was
at once the more difficult and the
more important. If not done thorough
ly and intelligently in every part the
actual work of construction would be
handicapped from the start. It was
necessary, as in the launching of any
great enterprise, to create all organi-
cation with which to work 1t was
necessary also to make the isthmus. by
thorough sanitation, healthful place
in which to work; to provide suitable
quarters and food for employees; to
construct proper terminal yards and
railway tracks and intermediate yards
for the the handling of the vast guam
titles of material and supplies; to in
stall a system of railway tracks thru
the cuts; to put the various levels in
the cut in proper condition for the in-
stallation and operation Of the max
mum number of steamsshovels; to pur-s
chase and assemble the plant for con-
structing the canal; to work out all
I engineering problems; to perfect a
government and create system of ac-
counts, and to formulate a preliminary
plan for carrying forward the work in
each department..
Emphatic testimony to the thor
oughness with which the preliminary
work has been done was borne by the
senate committee on inter oceanic cam
ais in it's majority report. made to the
senate on May IL, 1906, after an inves-
tigation which extended over period
of six months, and included every de-
tail of the work and every act of the
canal officials.
Sanitation.
"The work of sanitation thruout the
canal zone has been continued with
great energy during the year. The
most serious problem that confronted
the health department when 1T was or
ganized two years ago was the elm
ination of yellow fever, which had been
an important factor in the failure of the
French company and was regarded as
one of the most formidable obstacles
been completely removed. Altho there
has never been SO large number of
nonimmunes on the isthmus as during
the past year, there has not been a
single well authenticated case of yell
low fever during that period. The last
case in Panama was on November III,
1905. There was a single case in Col
on on May II, 1906, which was officially
declared to be yellow fever, but the
medical authorities We're not clear that
this diagnosis was correct. 1t did not
result in the spread of the infection.
"The isthmus is now completely free
of this disease, an achievement which
demonstrates the high efficiency of the
health department. In combating 9TH
er diseases the department has been
scarcely less successful. The average
daily sick rate among employees of the
commission during the ten months
from Jan 1. 1906, to Oct. 81, 1906, was
2S per thousand, which is no higher
than might be expected in am equal
body of laborers engaged in construc-
tion work in any part of the world.
During the same period the death rate
among the whites was about 171s per
thousand, and among the blacks nearly
SO per thousand.
The Labor Question.
Another years experience with ne
gro laborers from nearby tropical is
lands and countries has convinced the
commission of the impossibility of do
ing satisfactory work with them. Not
only do they seem to be disqualified by
lack of actual vitality, but their dispo-
sition to labor seems to be as frail as
their bodily strength. Few of them
are steady workers. The majority of !
them work just long enough to get !
to supply their actual bodily /
with the result that while |
the commission is quartering and car
Ing for about $4,000 men the daily eff |
fective force is many thousands less. |
Many of them settle in the jungle. /
building little shacks, raising enough |
to keep them alive, and working only
a day or two occasionally, as they see
ft In this way, by getting away from /
the commissions quarters, practical
control over them is lost and it be- |
comes very difficult for foremen to CAL
culate on keeping their gangs filled.
The most serious question in regard
TO this class of laborers Is that of
feeding them. ordinary methods having
Jailed to induce them to take suffi-
,ient nourishment to give them the
physical strength necessary to enable
lhem 70 work efficiently. To such an