The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1906-01-16
ADMIRATION
FOR ROOSEVELT
PouItney BigsIOw Expresses
Friendship for President.
ALSO FOR SECRETARY TAFT
Says Conditions Are Bad, With No Pro-
vision for Recreation Of Men In
Canal Zone
ALSO FOR SECRETARY TAFT

| Poultney Bigelow lectured on "Impres-
| sions OF Panama last night at Brown
university. The address. which has at
tracted much attention is the frst or
series Mr.. Bigelow will deliver at the col
lego on the hill.
| Mr.. Bigelow said he was In Colon only
| 2S hours. but during that time he visited
many cottages OF negro laborers and saw
enough 10 Justify all the criticism he had
made. He said he had been served with
a subpoena TO appear In Washington and
testify before the senate committee on
inter-oceanic canals. Mr.. Blgelow said in
part:
II want to get You into the atmosphere
OF Panama II there was anything for
which we as a people were especially
dtted it was to undertake the great en-
gineering feat of putting through the
canal There are certain things that We
have to know perforce. We are citizens,
and the citizens pay the taxes. Congress
must determine whether the canal shall
be built Congress must spend the money
| and select the men 10 do tho work.
| I'm the second place, congress must
| select the man TO carry out the techni-
| cal part of the work. You understand
| that the engineer must know minutely
| more than the textbooks can tell him. Mr..
| Parsons. who engineered the subway in
| New York. mentioned the other day that
| he didn't know where the sewers were.
| He found In the course of the work that
! the sewers were In dangerous proximity
/ TO the water
MUST HAVE LIBERTY.
! However, the engineer must have his
! liberty; he cannot be hampered by RED
| tape Panama, is as you know, tropical
| country, and my hobby in life Is the
study OF tropical life the government,
conditions, etc 1t used 10 be saying
that every sleeper i'm Panama represented
a corpse. Yet every year brings the prob
| lemof white mans life in the tropics near
| er a solution
my visit to Colon was very short.
| arrived there at 10 o'clock i'm the morning
and at once started out along the main
| street There the most conspicuous thing
was the ambulance dnging up and down
| the street and every once in while a
body was showed in and carried away.
| Beyond this there is a swamp where the
| poor people have TO live and where santa ,
| tion Is unknown There are many places
like Colon that have been drained ana
! put into sanitary condition.
ITO go into that swamp was just like
! putting your nose to New York sewer.
| l secured a companion and we must nave
visited 80 or 90 houses. fners one
| think that | can testify TO. ana that Us
| the cleanliness of the cabins OF the ne
| groes We are accustomed TO consider
the personal habits OF the negroes as un.
! cleanly. but ] was struck by the neat
| interiors Of the cabins. AS rule just
| below these cabins was this oozy bog.
| IL was most sinking swamp, ana yet
1 q "A lla V1a In
| Now IL makes no difference whether
| you have stamped out the yellow fever
] or not. What difference does II make
what the color OF the fever, If you die
| OF it? our official reports say that only
n few cases OF yellow fever remain. but
| II people are dying Of fever of another
| color what does IL natter
| II would venture to say that many. IL
! not all. prominent engineers OF the coun-
try have declined the position Of building
| this canal. At the same time these great
| engineers are practically muzzled. since
! they have a great many interests that
would be injured II they talked freely
| OF the manner in which this work is being
done Now. here are these 10000 people.
| why don't they take them and put them
up on the hills?
WILL BE BUILT
"The canal itself Will OF course. be
! built but there is one point that / want
to speak about That is that the canal
will be as important colonial possession.
+ Today we have ortft-fe,eoe people 4f4- -Gelen
! ana @ONO moro IN Panama. NOW liiS
strip OF country might be put into proper
condition and let out for farms
1T will be at least 10 years before the
canal is built but there is sure 70 be
great increase OF population. When Eng
land took Hong Kong u was bare rock.
but now there isn't standing room FOR
the population. When England took
Singapore there was nothing but jungle.
but now there Is great city. So we
shall see at Panama great city, and
we should see that the same laws apply
| al. ,lxrt 20 attr hnF
| "In going 20 work I'm building this canal
we must bear In mind that the laborers
| should not be men who can be thrown
away after we have finished with them,
but men who will make good colonists,
| and who will build up a country that shall
| reflect glory on America. The negroes
! OF Jamaica are good workmen. and down
there i'm Colon have heard OF instances
| OF the negroes being treated with offhand
| Justice AS a race we are brutal. and one
| not OF our color. our blood, Is apt 10 get
scant courtesy. even Justice. at our hands.
"The first prerequisite OF what / am
| talking about now Is To have one man
! In charge OF that jo5 who can proceed
untrammelled. making life job OF it,as IL
| were As vet we haven't taken any steps
! toward making n life job OF II. Men are
not going 20 be happy there without their
Sweethearts and other things that go TO
| make up n home. I am tSld that Just be-
! fore arrived there one 90 the contractors
| brought a load Of 200 women from one Of
| the French islands, women who couldn' 1
| speak the language OF the men az Colon II
| would have cost no more 10 have brought
their wives. Today for the whole length
| of that isthmus I couldn't discover any
thing that had been done for the recrea-
tlon OF these 10000 men.
II have the most loyal friendship and
! admiration for Roosevelt with whom 7
| used 10 sit at the same bench I'm law
school and also for TAFT but they both
err. I think, I'm regarding the people and
| the pe0pie-S REPRESENTATIVES, HE HHraE0n-
istic Because we, as citizens. raise this
| question. Il does not give rise tO an oc-
casion 10 question our patriotism. but
rather this r. the time when they should
enlighten US and take us into their con-