The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-20
The Great White Light on Panama,

The Great White Light on Panama.
Whatever else ma be said Of the
Presidents visit OF inspection to the
Panama Canal Zone. certainly no one
will accuse him of having arranged the
trip with any view toa luxurious junket.
As a matter Of fact he has selected pre-
ciseIy the most uncomfortable month in
the whole wear, and this with enlight-
med elaboration. He knew before lcav-
ing Washington that November would
give him the lsthmuS at its worst and
dreariest. 1t marks the close and cul-
mination of the rainy season. President
ROOSEVELT therefore saw the canal
after twelve or fifteen weeks of almost
uninterrupted rains and through the
steaming mists of the most dishcart-
eping 'downpours of the whole year.
Even the Tsthmus of Panama, justly
famous as il is for depressing and abom-
Unable climatic conditions, could never
have looked more wretched in the whole
course of its ~disreputable career.
This, however, is what the President
preferred. II is characteristic of him
and his way Of doing things" that he
wished TO see the darkest side of the
picture and TO measure the obstacles
confronting him under circumstances
which wOHld reveal their most formi-
dable proportions. Any one can 60 to
Panama in January. February, March
or April, see the Isthmus en- fetc. a. it
were, and return to civilization loaded
down with halycon FORECAST. The opti-
mism which energies unrufied from a
November experience is the variety that
fiourishes on wear and tear, that tri-
umphs owe an encouragement, that
discerns the silver lining to the black
est cloud. and finds flowers and fruits
and sparkling streams where others find
only the wan and bitter desert sands.
So we have the President drawing happy
Ruguries from a sea Of liquid mud, sur
prising the rainbow in a cave of gloom,
Transforming landslides and %washouts
into useful excavations, multiplying
steam shovels in the magnificent arith-
metio of his enthusiasms, and drying
the soaked overalls of the working force
before the ardent fire of a prophecy
which scorns restraint.
The country, therefore. will derive
from THEODORE RoOsEvELT's differences
and representations more real comfort
than has ever yet been extracted from
any other source or from all other sources
combined. The American people fuzzy
understand that the President has taken
the canal situation at its very worst, has
permitted no dancing ray of sunshine to
confuse his senses or beguile an always
brisk Imagination. And when he tells
them, with the dampness Of Panama
still curling his Homeric hair and the
mud Of Culebra still stifening his shoes
when he tells them, despite all this, that
the canal is on a boom and that it's COM
pletion is easily in sight, the teeming
millions will arise AZ one man and tear
the welkin into tatters with their accla-
nation. Little they reck of the peevish
and jaupdiced PoULTNEY BIGELow tee
tering about among a debris ~ dead
oats and blighted waterInelons at Colon.
Suppose BIGELow did encounter a Whit
or TWO Oh SOME perfume nOI DTeWed III
Araby. Suppose he saw some ugly
crust upon the surface of IA distant and
neglected pond. What Of it, anyhow?
And who il PoULTNEY BIGELow, when
it to that?
President ROOSEVELT has given more
than fifty hours TO personal observation
on the Isthmus. He has travelled on
slow trains, on crawling trains. in fact,
so as to see the Culebra cut with his own
eyes. He has heard the school chill
dren sing at Gatun. He has climbed
up to the operating level of a e
shovel and had a heart TO heart confab-
ulation with the engineer, and he has
seen a real train carrying dirt away
from the 10 yawning cash in the
Cuiebra hill. These are the things that
count in serious investigation. Away
with PoULTNEY BTGELow and his lean
and slippered pessimism.
rs ThN DrnUraaa .f LTuavsa A.. l....,