The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1906-12-20


The following is the text OF President
Roosevelts special message to congress
on the subject of the Panama canal:
To the Senate and House of Representa-
tives:
In the month of November | visited the
Isthmus of Panama. going over the
also visited the cities of Panama and
Colon. which are not In the zone or
under the United States flag, but as to
which the United States government
through its agents, exercises control for
certain sanitary purposes. l chose the
month of November for my visit partly
because 1t Is the rainest month of the
year the month in which the work goes
forward at the greatest disadvantage,
and one of the two months which the
medical department of the French Canal
company found most unhealthy.
Following the introduction to the mes
sage the president gives a resume of his
the isthmus. and then says:
At the outset wish to pay tribute
60 the amount of work done by the
French Canal company under very diff
cult circumstances. Many of the build
lngs they put up were excellent and
are still In use. though, naturally, the
houses are now getting out of repair and
are being used as dwellings only until
other houses can be built. and much of
the work they did in the Culebra cut
and some of the work they did in dig
ging has been OF direct and real benefit
This country has never made better
investment than the $40 900, 900 which IL
paid to the French company for work
and betterments. including especially the
Panama railroad. --...
height of the rainy season served to con-
vince me of the wisdom of congress in
refusing to adopt either q high-level or
a sea-level canal. There Seems to be "a
universal agreement among all people
competent to Judge that the Panama
route, the one actually chosen. is much
a ~ "a ~ o. md
Darien routes.
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-
lions of the, work have been. laid To
have yielded to the natural impa tience
of il-informed outsiders and begun all
kinds of experiments in work prior to a
thorough sanitation of the sthmus and
TO a fairly satisfactory working out OF
the problem of getting and Keeping a
sufficient labor supply, would have been
disastrous The various preliminary
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. u then became necessary to 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 an S5-foot
level canal. Immediately after that the
work 6esan IN hard earnest and has
been continued with increasing vigor
ever since; and II will continue so &c
progress In the future. Which, the con
tracts are let the conditions will be sucl
as 70 insure constantly increasing
amount of performance.
Successful Sanitation.
The first great problem to be solved
upon the solution of which the success o
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 b,
remembered that his work was not mer,
sanitation as the term is understood IL
our ordinary municipal work Through
1ut the zone and i'll the two cities o
Panama and Colon, In addition to tn,
sanitation work proper. he has had L
do all the work that the Marine hospita
service does as regards the nation, tina
the health department officers do in tn
various states and cities. and that Col
Warning did In New York when IN
cleaned its streets. The results haV
been astounding. The isthmus had beer
byword for deadly unhealthfulncss
Now, after two years of our occupation
the conditions as regards sickness am
the death rate compare favoraby wit
reasonably healthy localities In tn
United States. Especial care has bee
devoted to minimizing the risk due to IN
presence of those species of mosquitoe
malsrial and yellow fevers. In all tn
settlements, the little temporary town
Or cities composed of the white and blac
employees, which grow up here an
there in the topic jungle as the need
Of the work dictate, the utmost care
exercised to keep theeconditions healthy
Everywhere are to be seen the drainag
bitches which Ia removing the waite
have removed the breeding places of tn
mosquitoes. while the whole Jungle
cut away for a considerable space arOun
the habitatiOns. thus destroying IN
places in which the mosquitoes take she
ter. These drainage bitches and clearing
settlement
together with the iuvurable presence d
mosquito screens around the piuZZas, an
pt mosquito doors to the houses, not I
speak OF the careful tumIgaton that ha
gone on in all injected houses doubles
explain the extraordinary absence q
mosquitoes As matter of fact. lou
single mosquito, and this not OF IN
dangerous species, was seen by an
member of our party during my tire
days on the tsthmus. Equal care
taken by the inspectors of the health do
partment to secure cleanliness in tn
houses and proper hygenic conditions ,
every kind. Inspected between 20 an
20 water-Closets, both those used by th
white employees and those used by ia
oolored laborers. In almost every case
found the conditions perfect, In but on
case did | md them really bad. In tn
case, affecting settlement of unmal
ried white employees, / found them yer
bad indeed, but the buildings were "a
inherited from the French company az
were being used temporarily while 9th,
buildings were ina the course OF COustru,
ton, and right near the defective watt
,loset a new and excellent closet with
good sewer pipe was in process Of COZ
struCtiou and nearly finished. Nevcrth,
less this did not excuse the fact that IN
bad condition had been allowed TO pr,
vail Temporary accommodations. eve
~ only such as soldiers use when caupe
i'm the field, should have been provide
orders to this effect were issued. an
pend the report OF Or Gurgas on the 10
.Cident. I was struck, however by tH
fact that IN this inatauce. as in almu.
sVery other whore a complaint was mad
which proved Ia nave any Jusuhclto
whatever " appeared that STEPS mad a.