The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1906-12-19
SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE
PRESIDENT COVERING coNDi.
TioNs ON isTHMUs.
DECLARES HIMSELF CONVINCED
OF THE SUCCESS OF THE
sTuPENDoUs TASK.

Today sent to congress the following
special message or the Panama canal:
TO the Senate and House Of Repre-
sentatives:
In the month of November l visited
the isthmus OF Panama, going over
the canal zone with considerable care;
and also visited the cities Of Panama
and Colon, which are not In the zone
Or under the United States flag, but
rs to which the United States govern.
ment, through it's agents. exercises
was three days ashore-not a sufa-
cient length of time to allow Of an
exhaustive investigation Of the mimi.
tiae of the work of any single depart
ment. still less to pass judgment on
the engineering problems. but enough
to enable me to get a clear Idea Of the
salient features Of the great work and
of the progress that has been made
as regards the sanitation OF the zone,
Colon and Panama. the caring for and
housing of the employees and the actual
digging Of the canal. The zone Is a
narrow strip Of land and It can be in
spccted much as one can inspect fifty
Or sixty miles of a great railroad ut
the point where 1t runs through noun
lains or overcomes other natural OBJ
stacles.
The president then details the pro-
Eramme he carried out during his stay
on the canal zone. He says it rained
almost continually during that time
and that conditions were at their
worst when inspected. Continuing.
he says:
At the outset | wish to pay a tribute
to the amount of work done by the
French Cana! company under very
difficult circumstances. Many of the
buildings they put up we're excellent
and are still in use. though, naturally,
the houses are now getting out of re-
pair and are being used as dwellings
only until other houses a be built.
and much of the work they did In the
Culebra cut. and some of the work
they did in digging, has been of direct
ind roal benefit. This country has
never made a better investment than
tIlC V1ODOVV,pOV wiz ~ Polu w WV
French company for work and better
ments, including especially the Pan
nma railroad.
Preliminary Work Being Done.
The wisdom OF the canal manage
ment has beer shown in nothing nor
clearly than in the way in which the
foundations Of the work have been
laid. To have yielded to the natural
impaticncc of i'll informed outsiders
and begun all kinds of experiments in
work prior TO Il thorough sanitation of
the isthmus, and to a fairly satisfac-
tory working out of the problem OF
getting and Keeping Il sufficient labor
supply, would have been disastrous.
The various preliminary measures had
to be taken first: and these could nn
be taken SO as to allow us to begin
the real work Of construction prior to
Jan. | OF the prcsen; ycar. 1t then be
came necessary to have the type OF
the canal decided and the only delay
has boon the necessary delay until the
oath day of June, the date when the
congress definitely and wisely settled
that We should have an S5-tOot level
canal. immediately after that the
work hc%an in hard earnest and has
been continued with increasing vigur
ever since. and ii will continue SO to
progress in the future. When the con
tracts are let the conditions will hr
such AS to insure Il constantly increas
tnS amount of performance.
Successful Sanitation.
The first great problem to be- solved
upon the solution of which the success
of the res, of the work depended. WAS
the problem of sanitation. This was
from the outset under the direction
OF DR.. W. {. Gorgas. who is to be mad,
u full mombtr ot the commission. 1t
must be remembered that his work
was not mere sanitation, as the tern
Is understood in ~ ordinary muuic
ipal work. Throughout 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 service does
as regards the nation. that the health
| uCpNl NulCiA pllNSIS wv III ~ Wi I'u.
states and cities and that Colonel
Warning did in New York when h,
cleaned its streets. The results have
been astounding. The isthmus had
been a byword for deadly unhealthiu.
hess. Now. after two wears of gu
occupation, the conditions as regards
sickness and the death rate compar
tavorably with reasonably healthy 10
c~alities in the United States. Espe
Cial care has been devoted to minimiz
ing the risk due to the presence ~
those species ~ mosquitoes which
have been found to propagate mataria'
and yellow tcvcrs. Equal care is take,
by The inspectors of the health dcpart
ment II secure cleanliness in III.
house" and proper hygienir conditions
of every kind. | inspected hrtweel
invent. and thirty water closets. bolt
thosa l;sed by the white employees an.