Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1906-12-20
Successful Sanitation.


The first great problem to be -,
upon the solution of which the success NJ
the rest of the work ds-andad WAS az
problem of sani;Sion This was from
the outset c.-ider the direction OF DR..
w, L. -orsas, who is to be made n full
/ member of the commission. 1t 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
service does as regards the nation that
the health department officers do in tie
Various states and cities, anu that Col.
Warning did in New York when he
cleaned its streets. The results have
been astounding. The isthmus had been
Now, after two years of our occupation
the conditions as regards sickness and
the death rate compare fayorably with
United States. Especial care has been
devoted to minimizing the risk due to the
presence of those species of mosquitoes
which have been found to propa gate
malarial and yellow feVerS In all the
settlements, the little temporary towns
or cities composed OF the white and black
employees, which grow up here and
there in the tropic jungle as the needs
exercised to keep the conditions healthy
Everywhere are to be seen the drainage
bitches which in removing the water
have removed the breeding places of the
mosquitoes, while the whole jungle il
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,
together with the inVariable presence of
mosquito screens around the piazzas, and
of mosquito doors to the houses not to
| speak of the careful fumigation that has
gone on in all infected houses, doubtless
explain the extraordinary absence of
mosquitoes. As a matter of fact but
| n single mosquito, and this not of the
4 hxr
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 betw cen 20 and
| 80 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 I find them really bad. In this
| case, affecting a settlement of unmar-
| ried white employees, l found them very
| bad indeed, but the buildings were all
| inherited from the French company and
| We're being used temporarily while other
| buildings were in the course of construc-
| ton; and right near the defective water
| closet a new and excellent closet with a
| 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 accommodate tons, even
| if only such as soldiers use when camped
! in the fed, should have been provided.
| Orders to this effect were issued. l APP
! pend the report OF DIR. Gorgas on the in
| cident. l was struck, however, by the
| fact that in this instance, as in almost
| every other where complaint was made
which proved to have any justification
whatever. it appeared that steps had al
| ready been taken to remedy the evil
! complained of, and that the trouble was
| mainly due 10 the extreme difficulty, and
| often impcssibility, of providing in every
| place for the constant increase in the
/ numbers of employees. Generally the pro-
! vision Is made in advance. but it is not
/ possible that this should always be the
case; whc! it is not there ensues n
period of time during which the condi-
| tons are unsatisfactory, until remedy
can be provided but L never found a
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 difficult, be-
| cause il 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 to perceive. In Colon the popula-
ton consists largely of colored labor
ers 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;
| thus peopling Colon with the least de-
sirable among the imported laborers,