The Washington herald., 1906-12-18

professional scandaluongers. who. from
time 90 time, have written about the com
missions work
improvements In Panama and Colon.
The sanitation work in The cities Of Pan /
anna and Colon has been just rs impor- !
taut as in the Zone itself, and ia many re-
spects much more difficult; because It was (
necessary to deal with the already ex /
listing population. which naturally had
scant sympathy with revolutionary
changes. the value Of which they were for
long time not able to perceive. In |
Colon the population consists largely u
colored Iaborers. who having come over
from the West Indies to work on the
canal. abandon the work and either take
To the brush or lie idle IN Colon itself; I
thus peopiEg Colon with the least de-
sirable among the imported laborers for
the good and steady men. of course, con- /
tinue az the work. Yet astonishing prog
ress has been made in both cities. In
Panama, 90 per cent Of the streets that
are 20 be paved at all are already paved
with an excellent brick pavement laid in
heavy concrete, q few Of the streets being
sin in process Of paving. The sewer
and water services IN the city are of the
most modern hygieuic type, some of the
service having just been completed
la Colon Che conditions are peculiar,
and it is. as regards Colon that most Of
the very bitter complaint has been made.
Colon IS built on "a low coral island. COW
cred at more or less shallow depths with
vegetable accommodations or mold. which
affords sustenance and strength 10 many
varieties Of low-lying tropical plants one
half OF tic surface of the island b. COW
cred with water at high tide. the average
height Of the land being one and 0ne-half
feet above low tide. The siigh- Juduia-
tons furnish shallow. natural rservrirs
OF fresh water breeding places for every
variety Of mosquito, AND tDs ground tends
10 be lowest IN the a-i Idle WLea lhe
town was originally Quit 10 attempt was
made 80 nH the low ground either IN the
! streets or on the building sites, SO that
/ the entire surface was practically e quag-
mire; when the qUagmire became nnpas-
/ sable certain Of the streets were crudely
4 Improved by filling especially tad mud
+ holes with soft rock Jr other material. IN
September, 1905. q systematic effort was
I begun 10 fOrmulits q general plan for
/ ae proper sanitation Of tine city. in Feb
( suary last temP, raUy relief inca slies WtIe
/ taken, while iE July The prosecution Of
\ the work was begun ia good earnest. The
/ results are already visible in the sewer
+ ing, draining. suuerln.s, and paving Of
+ the streets. some four months VIII b.
1 required before the work Of sewerage ana
/ street Improvement will Pc compile ei. bat
J the progress already made is very mark
/ ed. bitches have been aug through The
I town. connecting the salt water on both
sides, and into these the l0nds, which
I have served as breeding places for the
I mosquitoes are drained. These bitches
+ have answered their ulrDoss for Elcv aIa
probably the chief cause or the asl1uish-
/ ing dimnu-ion 10 the number Of Inosqui-
/ toes. More bitches Of the kind are being
1 constructed
Colon Water supply.
/ 1t was not practicable, with The force
1 at the commissions disposal and ia view
/ Of the need that the force should be ssed
+ in the larger town Of Panama, TO begin
f this work before early last winter. Water
mains were then laid IN the town and wa
ter was furnished 20 Che people early in
March from a temporary reservoir. This
+ reservoir proved to be OF insufficient ca-
/ p2city before the end OF the dry season.
and The shortage was made UP by hauling
water over the Panama railroad. So taIt
Of the very best water. Since that Ume
/ the new reservoir back Of Mount Hope
/ has been practically completed ! visited
/ IHis reservoir. Il Is "a lake over mile
long and half a mile broad. IL now car
ries some 100000 gallons of frst-class
/ water. j forward herewith a photograph
I Of this lake. together with certain other
photographs of what ! saw while was
on the isjhmus. Nothing but q catacIySu
I VIII hereafter render IT necessary IN the
I dry season TO haul water for the use Of
Colon and Cristobal
one OF the most amusing Gas well as
/ dishonesty attacks made upon the COM
mission was In connection with this reser-
v0ir. The writer IN question usually con-
fined himself TO vague general mendac-
its; bur in this case he specifically stated
that there was no water IN the vicinity
fit for reservoir II drank it. and it was
excellent and that this particular r-ser-
voir would never hold water anyway.
4 Accompanying this message. as / have
said above is a photograph Of The reser-
voir as ] myself saw it, and as il has
been in existence ever since tha article
in question was published. With typical
/ American hum0r. the engineering corps
still 1T work at the reservoir have chris
tened a large boat which is now used on
/ the reservoir by the name Of the individ-
ual who thus denied the possibility of the
reservoirs existence.
Colon Pavements.
rode through the streets of Colon, see
ing them at the height Of the rainy sea-
son. after two days Of almost mexampled
downpour. when they were at their very
worst Taken as a whole they were UNI
doubtedly very bad. as bad as PennsyI-
vanil avenue iR Washington before
Grants administration. Front street is
already in thoroughly satisfactory shape.
. however Some of the side streets are
q $50 in good condition. In others the
change in the streets is rapidly going
on. Through throe-fOurths of the town
il is now possible 10 walk. even during
the period Of tremendous rain in low
shoes without Wetting ones feet. owing
| 10 the rapidity with which the surface
water is carried away in the bitches Ia
. the remaining one-fourth of the streets
the mud is very deepLabout as deep as i'm
: the ordinary street of a lew-lying prairie
river town of the same size in the United
States during early spring. All men TO
whom I spoke Were a unit in saying that
the conditions Of The Colon streets We're
100 per cent better than year ago. The
most superficial examination of the town
? shows the progress that has been made
d and is being made in macad8miziug the
streets. Complaint was made 10 me 10y
, an entirely reputable man as to the char
acter Of some Of the material used for re-
pairing certain streets, On investigation
the complaint proved well founded, but
. il also appeared that the use of the ma
terial In question had been abandoned, the
commission after having tried il In one
OF two streets finding it not appropriate
Cnmf,Inints Nnf VIII Enundeh