The Citizen. [volume] (American Fork, Utah) 1903-1912, 1906-12-22
The WORK IS BEING PUSHED
Perfection of Sanitary Conditions
in Canal Zone Has Taken
Much Time.
He Found But Little Ground for Com.
plants and Refutes Statements Of
crities-calls Some Writers "sIa,.
derers and Liars" - Approves Of
Type and Route Of Canal.

type ana Route OF Canal
% the iG,,lowing is the text OF President
On the subject OF the Panama cann1
To the Senate and House OF Represen,a-
IN the month OF November vIsi,.d ,,o
lsthmua OF Panama, going over The
Canal Zone with considerable care. and
ceIon s Which 'h are cities rn, Of Panama and
under the United States flag, but as 10
which the United States government
certain sanitary purposes I chose ibe
month OF November for my visit par,iy
because u Is the rainest month of the
year, the month In which the work goes
forward at the greatest disadyantagn
and one of the two months which thc
meu.ca, department OF the French Canal
company round most unhealthy
Following the Introduction to tho mos.
sage the president gives "A resume OF his
psr ois,h, during the days he was on
AZ .ne outset J wish TO pay tribute
70 the amount OF work done by the
French Canal company under very ain.
cult circumstances. Many of the buii1
lngs they put up were excellent and
are stun IN use, though. naturally, the
houses are now getting out OF repair and
are being used as dwellings only until
other houses can be built. and much nj
the work they lid in the Culebra cut,
and some OF the work they did in do
Eing has been OF direct and real benefit.
This country has never made n better
pa,d ' 90 ~. 'h Erer the 100000 which i
Panama railroad.
height OF the rainy seasc, served to con
vince me OF the wisdom of congress in
refusing To adopt either "A high-ievel or
sca-lcvcl canal There seems 10 be "A
universal agreement among ali people
competent To Judge that the Panama
Route route tn. one actually chosen. is much
Dnrien routes.
- Preliminary Work Being Done.
The Wisdom Of the canal management
has been shown Ia nothing more clearly
than In the way IN which the FONDA.
tons o. the work have been laid TO
OF lil-informed outsiders and begun an
Kinds OF experiments Ia work prior To "a
thorough sanitation OF the isthmus aud
70 fairly satisfactory working out OF
the problem OF getting and keeping n
suthcieni labor supply. would have been
disastrous, The various preliminary
measures had Ia bc taken first; and
these could not be taken 40 as To allow
US 90 begin the real work OF construr.
Won prior TO January l OF the present
year u then became necessary to have
the type of the canal decided, aud the
only delay has been the necessary delay
when The Congress a d lei IISgiS' The date
settled that We should have an S-foot
levei canal Immediately after that the
been continued With G incpsssn ana v, Gss
ever since. and u will continue so To
progress ~ the future, wh,I the CON
tracts are let the conditions will be such
as TO insure "A constantly Increasing
amount ot performance,
Successful Sanitation.
The FIRST great problem TO be solved
upon the solution OF which the success of
th. rest of the work depended, WAS the
prohl-in OF sanitation. This was from
III" outset under the direction of Or
W, &. borgas, VINO II to be made "A fun
member Of the commission IL must be
remembered that his work was not mere
sanitation as the term IN understood In
out ordinary municipal work Through
out the zone and In the two cities of
Panama end Colon. IN addition To the
do hil the work that the Marine hospital
serNlc" does as regards the nation, that
the health department officers do In the
various states and cities. aud that cot
Waring did In New York when he
cleaned It's streets. The results have
been astounding The isthmus had been
a bySord Tor deadly uuheaIth fulncs,
Now, after two years of our occupation
tha conditions as regards sickness and
reasonably healthy localities IN the
United states Especial care has been
devoted tn minimizing the risk due to the
presence of those species OF mosquitoes
which have been found To propagate
malaral and yellow fevers. In an the
settlements tie little temporary towns
employee, which grow up here and
there IN the tropic jungle as the needs
exercised To keep the conditions hcalthy
EVerywhere are Ia be seen the drainage
bitches which In removing the water
have removed the breeding places of the
mosquitoes, while the whole Jungle il
cut away Tor A considerable space around
the hnbitntions, thus destroying the
places Ia which the mosquit oes take shell
ter These drainage bitches and Cleariugs
are ~ evidence m every settlement, aud,
together with the invariable presence OF
mnsuulto screens around the piazZas, and
~ mosquito doors To the houses, not "a
speak OF the careful tumgation that has
gone on la all infected houses, doubtless
explain the extraordinary absence OF
mosquitoes ~ "a matter of fact but
a single mosquito, aud this not of the
member Of our party during my three
days on theS isthmus, Equal care Is
Iaken by the inspectors OF the health de
partment to secure cleanliness In tn
houses ana proper hygienlc conditions o
every kind. inspected between 70 ant
white employees and those used by IL,
COlored labOrers, Ia almost every case
found the conditions perfect In but on,
case did | md them really bad, In thii
case, Affecting "A settlement OF unmur
ried white employees, I found them yer,
bad Indeed. but the buildings were al
Inherited from the French company an,
were being used temporarily while otnu
buildings were In the course OF corstru,
ton, aud right near tne defective waite
good sewer pipe WAS la process of con
structioU aud nearly finished. Neverthe
less this dld not excuse the fact that IN,
bad condition had been allowed TO pre-
vail Temporary accommodations, even
II only such as soldiers use when Campe
Ia the held. should have been provided
orders TO this efieCt We're issued. | ap
pend the report OF Ut Gorgas on the ~
eideni, was struck, however, by tn
fact that In this instance. as IN almls
every other where complaint was mad,
which proved 10 have any justification
whatever. Il appeared that steps had al