The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1906-12-21

an the subject Of the i,aaama canal
10 tha Senate and House of Represent
lives:
In the month OF November I visited t
Isthmus Of Panama. going over t
Canal ZONE with considerable care al
y also visited the cities Of Panama al
Colon, which are NOT ~ the zone
under the United States iiaEs hut as
which the United StuteH EQyefnnet
through its agents. cTercises control
certain sanitary purposes. chose Y
month Of November Tor my visit part
because it is the ratuGSt month or u
year, the month IN wtiieh The work go
Onward at the greatest diRahVantn$
and one OF thp two months which u
medical department af the French tanj
company found most unhealthy
Following thc Introduction IN the me
sage tbs president gives a resume OF u
programme during the aays lie was q
The iathInDs, and then says!
AT the outset / wish 10 pay tFlpu{l
20 the ambtiti Of work done ny IN
French Canal company Under very. hlil
cult circumstances. Many Of the bulle
lngs they put up were cxceiie1t 30
are stili IN ush, though, naturally w
houses are Ho~ getting out or repair ~.
are being used as dwellings, only mn
other houses can be built. and much .
the work they did IN the Cnlebra GU
ana A0tje OF The work they did IN dig
Eing has been Of direct md real bGrthl
THIS country has never made a pglte
Investment than TIE $40, 1000 100 which
paid 10 tue French company for wQrl
and bet%lefrnents, Including especially IN
PatainR railroad.
An inspection on the ground az Nv
height Of the rainy season served 70 con
vince me NJ tho wisdom of congress "
refusing TO adopt either a high-ieVel o
a sea-lGrcl canal. There seems TO be
universal agreement among all peopl
competent 10 judge that the Panama
route, The one actually chosen, Is inuci
superior to both the Nicaragua ans
barien routes.
Preliminary Work Being Done.
The wisdom of the canal ~managefneu
has been shown In nothing more CLEARLY
than iu the way lu which The fotipda,
tions of ttlc work have been laidt To
have yielded to the natural inpatieuce
OF ill-lnfprined outsiders and begun all
Kinds of experiments Ia work prior to a
thorough sanitation OF the istIimus, and
20 a fatriy satisfactory working out OF
the problem Of getting and keeping a
sufficient labor supply. would have been
dlsastrous. the various preliminary
measures had to he taken tFsti and
these could not be taken so us to allow
us to begin the real work OF coastruc+
ton prior To January l OF the present
year. 1t then became necessary TO have
the type OF the canal decided, and the
only delay has been the necessary delay
until the 18th day OF June the date
settled that we should have an S5-feot
level canal, Immediately after that the
work began in hard earnest and has
eyer since s,nd II tuitl ea,,IfnaSS ne1In
proeress ~ tiie r%,ttttra xyhan sh. ean'
tracts are let the conditions will be such
,,mn,Int N napfa,n,n m@a 'nSfe"St"s
~ = 81
Successful Sanitation.
The first great problem TO be solved.
upon the solution of whici, the SUCCESS az
the rest OF tho work depended, was tho
problem OF sanitation, This was from
the outset under the direction OF Tr.
w, e, Gorgas, who IL to be made d full
member OF tile commission. II must be
remembered tina 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 or
Panama and Colon, In addition Ia the
ganitation work proper. he has had To
90 All the work that the Marine hospital
Hervicc does az regards the nation, that
inc health department officers do In the
various states and cities. ana that Col,
warning did IN New York when he
cleaned its streets The results have
been astounding. The isthtn us had been
z byword for deadly unhealthfulnese.
NOW, after " years of our oGcupa ton
the conditions as regards sickness and
the death rate compare favorably with
REASONABLY healthy localities In tho
United States Especial care has been
devoted 70 mtniuiglng the risk due to tho
presence OF those species OF mosquitoes
INV u4ft REtti H fohilu ~ nTDDAN4IG
malarial and yellow feycrs, III All the
settlements. the little Temporary towns
or ciiics composed Of the white and black
employees, which. grow up here and
there IN the trOpic jungle as the nae,ls
OF the work dictate, the utmost care 10
exercised 10 keep the conditions healthy. |
Everywhere are to be- seen the drainage
bitches which In removing the water
nave removed the breeding places AZ I'M
mosquitoes. while the whole Jungle ia
cut away tor q considerable spaee around
the hahitations. thus destroying lid
places IN which the mosquitoes take shcl- |
ter. These drainage bitches and clrarInrs |
are In evidence In every settlement, and |
together with the i%nvariable presence al
mosquito screens around the piazsas, and |
OF mosquito doors TO the houses, not 10
speak Of the careful fumIgation that has |
gone on In all infected houses, do,lbtless |
explain the extraordinary absence OF
a single mosquito, and this not Of the
dangerous species, was seen by any
member OF our party during my three
days On the isthmus. Equal care is
taken by the inspectors OF the health de-
partment to secure cleanliness IN tho
houses and proper hygienic po~nditions Of |
every kind, I inspected between 20 and
% water-clasets, both those used by the
ooiored iaborers. In almost every case !
r cssn an Ky ee Saa perisc'i, a ~ 9ne
cssc. affecting a settlement OF unmar-
ried white employees, / found them very |
bad jndes.i. nut the buildings were nj
Inherited from ttIc French company and
were being used temporarily while other
buildings were In the course Of constric-
ton. and right near the defective water
closet a new and excellent closet with a
good sewer pipe was In process of CON
struction aud nearly flushed. Neverthe.
less this did not excuse the fact that the
bad condition had been allowed to pre-
vail. Temporary accommodations, even
II only such as soldiers use when cainped
I'm the field, should have been provided,
Orders to this effect were issued. / APP
pend the report OF DR., Gorsas on the In
TACT tn0t Ia this instance, as In almost