The Elbert County tribune., 1906-12-20
Preliminary Work Being Done.


The wisdom of the canal management
has been shown in nothing more clearly
than in the way in which the founda-
tions OF the work have been laid To
of il-informed outsiders and begun all
kinds of experiments in work prior to a
TO fairly satisfactory working out of
the problem of getting and keeping n
iisastro,,s ,rh -, si'" Iii III fe -, nesn @
measures had to be taken first; and
these could not be taken so as to allow
US to begin the real work of construc-
ton prior to January l of the present
year 1t then became necessary 10 have
the type OF the canal decided. and the
only delay has been the necessary delay
until the 18th day of June. the date
when the congress definitely and wisely
settled that we should have S5-foot
level canal. Immediately after that the
work began in hard earnest and has
ever since; and it will continue so to
progress in the future When the CON
as to insure constantly increasing
amount of performance
Successful Sanitation.
The first great problem to be solved
upon the solution of which the success OF
the rest of the work depended, was the
problem of sanitation. This was from
the outset under the direction of DR..
w C. Gorgas. who is to be made a full
member of the commission. 1t must be
remembered that his work 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 10 the
sanitation work proper. he has had to
do all the work that the Marine hospital
service does as regards the nation, that
various states and cities, and that Col.
Waring did in New York when he
been astounding. The isthmus had been
a byword for deadly unhealthfulness
the conditions regards sickness and
the death rate compare favorably with
United States. Especial care has been
devoted to minimizing the risk due to the
presence of those species of mosquitoes
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 heal by.
Everywhere are to be seen the drainage
Rave removed the breeding places of the
mosquitoes while the whole jungle is
cut away for considerable space around
the habitations. thus destroying the
places in which the mosquitoes take shell
ter. These drainage bitches and clearings
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
mosquitoes. As a matter of fact, but
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 the
houses and proper hygienic conditions of
every kind. ! inspected between 20 and
so 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 CASE did | find them really bad In this
case. affecting settlement OF unmar-
ried white employees. found them very
bad indeed but the buildings were all
Inherited from the French company and
were being used temporarily while other
tione and right near the defective water
closet a new and excellent closet with
good sewer pipe was in process OF con-
struetjon and nearly finished. Neverthe-
less this did not excuse the fact that the
bad condition had been allowed TO pre- pre-,
II only such soldiers use when cafnpen
in the field, should have been proyided.
orders to this effect We're issued ap-
pend the report of DR.. GorEas on the IN
cident. was struck. however, by the
fact that in this instance. as in almost
everv other where a complaint was made
which proved to have any )ustlheatioih 10
whatever. il appeared that steps had al,
ready been taken to remedy the eNll
complained of. and that the tronnie MaS 5
mainly due to the extreme difhcuity: ,.aru a,u
often / npossiblity, of providing IN every
place for the constant Increase IN the
numbers of employees. Generally the pro-
possible that this should always be the
case: when it Is not there ensues
period OF ume aurlhg snctorv p,ntil a remedy
can be provided; but / never found a
case where the remedy was not beihg
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 ana IN
many respects much more dihicult, pc,
cause IL was necessary to deal Win
tbe already existing population, which
naturally had scant sympathy WIFI
revolutionary changes. the value OF
abie 10 perceive. In Colon the popula-
ton consists largely of colored labor
era who having come over from tne
SUs.t indies to work the canal,
abandon the WORK and either then take ,kself' e
me Unennltnr Colon with the least de-
sirabie among the imported laborers'