The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1906-12-22
TELLS OF HIS TRIP.
Made Thorough Inspection Of
Great Work Now in Progress.
Task that Is an Epic and OF
Worldwide Importance - Health
Conditions Excellent, Malaria and
Yellow Fever Being Driven Out
workmen Are Seen at Work and
in Their Quarters and Are Inter-
viewed by the President.

viewed
In the month of November | visited the
Isthmus of Panama, going over the Canal
Zone with considerable care; and also Wis
tied the cities of Panama and Colon,
which are not in the Zone or under the
United States flag, but as to which the
United States government, through It's
agents, exercises control for certain san
itary purposes. | was three days ashore
not a sufficient length of time to allow
an exhaustive investigation of the MN
utip of the work of any single depart
ment, still less to pass judgment on the
engineering problems, but enough to en-
able me to get clear idea of the salient
features of the great work and of the
progress that has been made rs 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 inspected much as
one can inspect fifty or sixty miles or
Il great railroad, at the point where 1t
runs through mountains or overcomes
other natural obstacles.
| chose the month of November for my
visit partly because it is the rainiest
month OF the year, the month In winch
the work goes forward at the greatest
disadvantage, and one of the two months
which the medical department of the
French Canal Company found most I'M
healthy.
inspected the Ancon Hospital, going
through various wards both for white pa
tients and for colored patients. ! inspect
ed portions OF the constabulary Gone POI
lice). examining the men individually. l
slso examined certain of the schools and
saY; the school children, both white and
cOlored, speaking with certain OF the
teachers.
At the Culebra cut--the spot in which
most work will have to be done in any
event, we watched the different steam
shovels working: we saw the drilling and
blasting; we saw many of the dirt trains
(of the two diifercn: types used), both
carrying the earth away from the steam
shovels and depositing it on the dumps
some of the dumps being run out i'll the
jungle merely to get rid of the earth,
while in other cases they are being used
for double tracking the railway and in
preparing to build the great dams. L
visited many of the different villages, in
speeding thoroughly many different build
inss-the local receiving hospitals, the
houses in which workmen live, as we'll as
the commissary stores, and the machine
shops.
Talks with Scores of WOrkmen.
| talked with scores of different men
superintendent and head of departments,
divisions and bureaus steam shovel men,
machnists, conductors, engineers, clerks,
wives of the American employees, health
officers, colored laborers, colorcd attend
ants, and managers of the commissary
stores where food is sold to the colored
laborers; wives of the colored employees
who are married.
Each day from twelve to eighteen hours
were spent in going over and inspecting
all there was to be seen, and in examin-
ing various employees. Throughout my
trip / was accompanied by the surgeon
general of the army, DR.. Rixey; by the
chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commits
sion, Mr.. Shonts by Chief Engineer Ste
vens by DR.. Gorgas, the chief sanitary
officer of the commission; by Mr.. Bishop,
the secretary of the commission; by Mr.
Ripley. the principal assistant engineer
by Jackson Smith, who has had practical
charge of collecting and handling the la
boring force by Mr. Bierd, general man.
ager of the railway, ard by ~. Rogers
the general counsel of the commission
and many other officials joined us from
time to time.
Pays Tribute to Work Of French.
/ wish TO pay tribute to the amount
of work done by the French Canal Com
pany under very difficult circumstances
Many of the buildings they put up were
excellent and are still 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. ant
much of the work they did in the Guile
bra cut, and some of the work they die
in digging has been of direct and rea
benefit. This country has never made 9
better investment than the $40,000,00t
which it paid to the French company fol
work and betterments, including espe
cialy the Panama railroad.
An inspection Of the ground at thu
height of the rainy season served to con
vince me of the wisdom of Congress il
refusing 10 adopt either q high-levei o.
a sea-leyel canal. There seems to be
universal agreement among all people
competent to judge that the Panama
route, the one actually chosen, is mucl
superior to both the Nicaragua ant
| DaTien routes.
The wisdom OF tho canal management
! has been shown in nothing more cIearl.
! than in the way in which the foundation
4 of the work. have been laid. To hav
yielded TO the natural impatience of i'll
informed outsiders and begun all kinds o
experiments in work prior to a thorough
sanitation of the isthmus, and to fairl,
satisfactory working out of the problem
| of getting and keeping sufficient labo
supply, would have been disastrous. TIL
various preliminary measures had to b
taken first and these could not be takei
SO as TO allow us to begin the real worl
of construction prior to Jan. / of tn
present year. 1t then became necessar
to have the type of the canal decided, an