The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-02

 measures. and peculiar local conditions combined to make the work of the health officials peculiarly dificult. They entered upon 1t with zest. however, and with grim determination that has borne fruit.
 Fully 4,O00 men were employed in this campaign for freedom from dread disease, and they had behind them an appropriation of $2,0o0, GOO. Science and money, working together, have proved an all-powerful combination.
 It was absolutely necessary to purify the canal strip to banish yellow fever from the Isthmus, else the value of the canal to the world would be seri- oiisly impaired, ships from all parts of the earth are expected to use that cutoff passage. and through them con-. tagion might be spread far and wide.
 By stamping out yellow fever so soon after assuming control. and 50 long before the canal is completed the American Government not only suaran- thousands of workmen needed. but an unimperiled highway for the com merce of the nations.
 At present, so far as known. there is not single case af yellow fever in Panama--at least. along the canal strip The last case reported was year ago.
 More than that. the sanitary authori-
 
 the disease in the Isthmus Should 1t manifest itself again. it is not believed thatsit would assume grave proportions, so well have the experts the situa- ton in hand.
 Thus a great barrier to the construc- tion of the canal has been lifted. The removal of this difficulty leaves no hindrance in the way of making the dirt fly" on the great ditch that Is to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and which will be used in carrying such q vast amount of the worlds commerce..
 Upon the solution of this problem whether or not yellow fever could be banished from the isthmus--depended not only success in building the pres ent water way, but the degree of it's usefulness to humanity when finished.
 When the Panama Commission took up the work to which 1t had been as- signed, this disease problem presented even greater difficulties than those of engineering.
 An army of workmen could not be maintained there, and certainly capa- be content to remain there should pre- vious conditions prevail.
 Fever Baked France.
 Because of the ravages of yellow fever, work had to be abandoned on the canal on two separate occasions under the regime of the French Government.
 In October, 1884, when the French Company had on the isthmus a force of 19,2S4 men. it lost 161. During the same month in 1905, however, the 18th milan Canal Commission and the Pan anna Railroad Company, employing 19,6S5 men, lost only 55.
 If yellow fever could not be banished from the isthmus, 1t seemed probable hat flssA La the canal ports to the ports of the Phil- ippine Islands, those of South China, and other parts of the Orient, as well as the Pacific Slope
 The lifetime of the yellow fever bearing mosquito is about three months which is ample time for a ship to reach 1 Asia from the Isthmus of Panama The stegomyia fasciata mosquito abounds in the Orient, and climatic and sanitary conditions there are favorable to the | propagation of the disease.
 Once introduced into the cities and towns of China. the loss of life would | be enormous and the effects upon com | merce disastrous, while the difficulty | of inducing the Chinese and other OrI- 1 entals to adopt modern sanitary meth | ods of dealing with the scourage would | be very difficult
 The Panama Canal Commission had | one great advantage over its predeces- | E0r, the brench Company, in dealing | with the epidemic of yellow fever. | When the French Government under | took the work of digging a canal, the | cause of the disease and how to combat 1t were unknown.
 Through the discovery of the late Major Walter Reed of the United States army. the causative agent in the trans mission of yellow fever is now known to the world. As result of his scien- tihc researches in Havana in 1900, he demonstrated scientifically the the ory that yellow fever is transmitted from one person to another through the bite of the female mosquito, stegomyia fasciata. He also showed how the pest co1ld be fought and the disease elim- mated
 4 Big Man for Bis Task.
 Credit for having rid Panama of vel low fever belongs to Col. W. C. Cor E gas of the Medical Department of the United States Army. When President