The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1906-12-22
Sends Special Message to Congress Giving Re-
suits Of His Observations in Canal Zone--
Replies to Critics and Makes
Recommendations.
Recommendations.

The following is the text OF President
Roosevelts special message to congress
on the subject of the Panama canal:
To the Senate and House of Representa-
In the month OF November visited the
Canal Zone with considerable care; and
also visited the elite. Of Panama and
under the United States flag, but as to
which the United States government.
certain sasitaTy n' pur nsrs,Se' chose the
month OF November for my visit partly
because 1t 10 the rainest month OF the
forward at the greatest disadvantage.
and one OF the two months which the
medical department Of the French Canai
Following the introduction to the mes
sage the president gives a resume OF ms
programme during the days he was on
the isthmus, and then says:
At the outset I wish to pay tribute
to the amount OF work done by the
French Canal company under very uini-
ings they put up were excellent and
are still In use, though, naturally, the
houses are now getting out OF repair an ana
other houses can be built, and much OF
the work they did In the Culebra CUT
and some OF the work they did ola h IN S,E
This country has never made better
investment than the S40.0V0OOo which u
paid to the French company Tor WORK e
Panama railroad
An Inspection on the ground at the
height OF the rainy season served TO CON n
refusing to adopt either high-level or
sea-level canal. There sseems TO De a
universal agreemden. among The al Panama
route, the one actually chosen, Is much
superior to both the Nicaragua ana
Darien routes.
Preliminary Work Being Done.
The wisdom OF the canal management
has been shown In nothing more clearly
than In the way In which the founda-
have yielded TO the natural impatence
OF ill-informed outsiders and begun all
kinds Of experiments experiment, IN Wv, work prior to ra
to a fairly satisfactory working out OF
the problem OF getting and keeping
sufficient labor supply; would nave Deen
mea sures had to be taken first; and
these could not be taken so as to allow
us to begin the real work OF construc..
ton prior to January I of the present
year. 1t then became necessary to have
the type OF the canal decided. and the
until the 29th day OF June, the date
when the congress definitely and wisely
settled that we should have an S5-foot
level canal. Immediately after that the
work began In hard earnest and has
been continued with Increasing vigor
ever since; and II will continue so to
tracts are let the conditions will be such
as to- insure constantly increasing
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 DIR.
w. C. Gorgas, who is to be made full
member OF the commission. II must be
remembered that his work was not mere
sanitation as the term Is understood in
our ordinary municipal work Through
out the zone and In the two cities of
Panama and Colon. in addition to the
sanitation work proper. he has had to
do all the work that the Marine hospital
the health department officers do In the
various states and cities, and that Col.
Warning did In New York when he
been astounding. The isthmus had been
a byword for deadly unhealthfulness.
Now, after two years Of our occupation
the conditions as regards sickness and
the death rate compare favorably with
reasonably healthy localities in the
80 be rs has 70
presence of those species OF mosquitoes
which have, been found to propagate
settlements, the little temporary towns
or cities composed of the white and black
employees, which grow up here and
OF the work dictate the utmost care is
exercised to keep the conditions healthy.
Everywhere are to be seen the drainage
have removed the breeding places OF the
mosquitoes, while the whole jungle Is
cut away for considerable space around
the habitations, thus destroying the
places In which the mosquitoes take shell
ter. These drainage bitches and clearings
are IN evidence In every settlement, and;
mosquito screens around the piazzas, and
of mosquito doors TO the houses, not to
gone on in all infected houses doubtless
explain the extraordinary absence of
mosquitoes AS a matter of fact, but
a single MOSQUITO, and this not OF the
member OF our party during my three
days on the isthmus. Equal care Is
partment to secure cleanliness In the
houses and proper hygienic conditions OF
every kind. Inspected between 70 and
30 water closets, both those used by the
white employees and those used by the
colored laborers. In almost every case |
found the conditions perfect. In but one
case did / find them really bad. In this
case, affecting n settlement OF unmar-
ried white employees. ! found them very
bad indeed, but the buildings were al,
were being used temporarily while other
buildings were i'm the course OF construc-
ton and right near the elSset with
good sewer pipe was in process OF con-
struction and nearly finished. Neverthe-
less this did not excuse the fact that the
bad condition had been allowed to pre-
vail Temporary accommodations, even
IL only such as soldiers use when canped
in the field. should have been provided.
Orders to this effect were Issued. APP
pend the report OF DIR. Gorgas on the In
cident | was struck, however, by the
fact that in this instance, as In almost
every other where a complaint was made
which proved to have any tustihcation
whatever, 1t appeared that steps had al.
ready been taken to remedy the evll
complained OF, and that the trouble was
mainly due to the extreme dimculty, ana
often impossibility, of providing In every |
place for the constant increase IN the
numbers OF employees. Generally the pro.
vision 10 made In advance, but II Is nos
possible that this should always be the
case; when II Ia not there ensues a
period OF time during which. the condi-
tons are unsatisfactory, until remedy |
can be provided but ! never found |
case where the remedy was not being |
provided as speedily as possible.
improvements In citIes.
The sanitation work in the cities of
Panama and Colon has been just as
important as In the zone itself. and In
many respects much more dimcult be-
cause II was necessary TO deal with
the already existing population, which
naturally had scant sympathy with
revolutionary changes. the value Of
which they were for a long time not
able IN perceiye In Colon the pOpula-