Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1906-12-20

are sun III use, tnOuBH,
houses are now getting out OF repair am am
are being used as dwellings only uhts
other houses can be built, and inuch OF
the work they did In the Cuiepra cut Gut
and some of the work they did In dig
glng has been of direct and real benent
This country has never made q pettGt
investment than the A0,OOO,OOO whlcn u
paid to the French company Tor WORK
and betterments, including especially 'he
Panama railroad. A.
An inspection on the ground at the
height of the rainy season served TO con-
vince me of the wisdom of congress III
refusing to adopt either high-leVel OF
a sea-level canal There seems 10 pc u
universal agreement among, all people
competent to judge that the Panama
route, the one actually chosen, Us mue a
superior to both the Nicaragua ana
Darien routes.
Preliminary Work Being Done.
The wisdom of the canal management
has been shown in nothing more clearly
than in the way I'm which the founda-
tions OF the work have been laid To
have yielded to the natural impatience
of ill-informed outsiders and begun all
kinds OF experiments in work prior to q
thorough sanitation of the isthmus, and
to a fairly satisfactory working out of
the problem of getting and keeping
sufficient labor supply, would have been
disastrous. The various preliminary
measures had to be- taken first; and
us to begin the real work of construc-
ton prior to January ! of the present
year 1t then became necessary to nave
che type of the canal decided, and the
only delay has been the necessary delay
until the goth day OF June, the date
when the congress definitely and wisely
settled that we should have an S5-foot
level canal. Immediately after that the
work began I'm hard earnest and has
been continued with increasing vigor
ever since; and II will continue so to
progress in the future. When the con-
tracts are let the conditions Will be such
as to insure a constantly increasing
nj nj fnIsI a mr.
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 DIR.
w. G. Gorgas, who is to be made a 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
40 all the work that the Marine hospital
service does as regards the nation, that
the health department officers do I'm the
various states and cities. and that Col
Warning did in New York when he
cleaned It's streets. The results have
been astounding. The isthmus had been
byword for deadly unhealthfulness
Now, after two years of our occupation
the conditions as regards sickness and
the death rate compare faVorably with
reasonably healthy localities in the
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 propagate
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
of the work dictate, the utmost care Is
exercised to keep the conditions healthy.
Everywhere are to be seen the drainage
ditphaE which i'm ramnNinu ha
have removed the breeding places of the
mosquitoes. while the whole jungle is
cut away for a considerable space around
the habltations, 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 matter of fact but
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 hyglenic conditions o.
every kind. Inspected between 20 ant
80 water-closets, both those used by thu
white employees and those used by th'
colored laborers In almost every case
found the conditions perfect. In but on
case did / find them really bad. In thi
case. affecting settlement of unmar
ried white employees, ! found them yer!
bad indeed, but the buildings were al
inherited from the French company ant
were being used temporarily while othe
buildings were in the course OF construc
tion; and right near the defective waite
closet "A new and excellent closet with
good sewer pipe was In process of cor
struction and nearly finished. NeyerthC
less this did not excuse the fact that I'll
bad condition had been allowed TO pre-
vail Temporary accommodations eve
At only such as soldiers use when campo
orders to this effect were Issued az
pend the report of Dr. Gorgas on the \
eident l was struck. however, by II
fart mat I'm this instance, as in almo
every other where complalnt WAS MAJ
which proved TO have any lusuheau'
whatever, II appeared that steps mad q
ready been taken TO remedy the e,
complained of. and that the trouble w
mainly due TO the extreme dithculty, ~
often impossiblity of providing In eve
Mace for the constant increase In
numbers of employees. Generally me pI
vision is made In advance, but II is
case; when II Is not there ensues
period OF time during which the cor
lions are unsatsfaSStTry pn aHar fp pgims
case where the remedy was not bel
provided as speedily as possible.
improvements in Cities.
The sanitation work in the cities
Panama and Colon has been Just
important as IN tue NohS i'sNiAt anu
many respects much more dificult,
cause II was necessary 70 deal "
The already existing population, VIII
naturally had scant sympathy W
revolutionary changes, the value
which they were for a long time
able to perceive. In Colon the popu
ton consists largely of colored lab
ers who, having come over from
West Indies TO work on the car
abandon the work and either take
the brush or lie idle In Colon IT'S
thus peopIing Colon with the ieast
sirabie among the Imported LAHORE