The Globe-republican., 1907-04-04
SCOTT SAW CANAL
WORKERS ARE CONFIDENT
Says sanitation 10 Almost Perfect
Work Progresses Rapidly and
Excavation Should Pc Fin
Ished In Seven Years.

4
Kansas City, March 2S.-Represen-
tative Charles &. Scott Of lola, Kan,
a member of the congressional COM
mittee that has just returned from
trip to the isthmus. delivered q
speech Thursday evening before the
Young Mems Republican club In Kan
sas City, Kan. on THE Situation In
Panama in the course Of which he
said in speaking Of the Panama
canal:
"The first strong impression an
American receives on visiting the
Isthmus Of Panama, particularly II no
starts from Washington where the at
mosphere touching the canal has been
extremely optimistic Of late, is the at
mosphere Of confidence that at once
envelopes him. The congressional
party with which was associated
had not been at the dock at Colon
long before they realized that the at
mosphere was simply charged with
optimism and confidence. Not the en-
gineers only, but the men who are
engaged In conducting the work talk
with absolute assurance Of the sue
cess Of the great enterprise, admit
ting no more doubt that the canal
will be. built than they are living to
help build 1t. There was an air OF
exultation about these men, also, as
II they had a feeling Of pride in be-
ing associated with the gigantic pro-
ject which their country had under
taken
The second strong impression the
visitor received Is that the canal zone
has been taken out Of the tropics; that
1t is no longer part Of Central Amer
lea, but part Of the United States.
This Is due largely no doubt to the
intense activity everywhere in evil
dence throughout the zone. Riding on
a double-tracked railroad, with trains
gathering by every few minutes, hear
lag at short intervals the boom Of
dynamite blasts, riding through camps
where thousands of workingmen are
busily employed; inspecting great ma
chine shops, resounding with the din
Of acres of whirling machinery, one
finds 1t hard to believe that he Is in
the sleeping tropics.
Another thing which strengthens
the impression that the isthmus has
been taken into the temperate zone Is
the perfect sanitation. The city of
Panama, little while ago a veritable
pest hole, is now as clean and well
kept and as wholesome a town as is to
be found on the Pacific coast of either
continent. Work has not progressed
SO far at Colon, but 1t Is under way.
Between these terminals health con-
ditions are Just as perfect as re-
searches of modern science, backed
by unlimited resources, can make of
them. The men of the, zone do not
talk of the germs or climate or health
any more than we do here In Kansas.
Many Of them who have been there
two years or longer declare they have
never been sick day, and expect to
remain indefinitely with no apprehen-
siOns' of a break down.
We were there, Of course, In the
dry season, when everything puts on
its most favorable aspect, and yet the
permanent American residents told uc
that conditions in the dry season were
not materially different as far as san-
itary conditions were concerned In
the five days no one of our party felt
or saw or heard mosquito, SO thor
oughly has DR.. Gorgas done his work
In graduating the yellow fever car
rier.
The "dirt' is flying at rate closely
approximating 100000 cubic yards
a month, and that means that, so far
as the excavations are concerned, the
bulk of the work should be done in
six or seven years. The construction
of the great dam at Gatun, and the
building of tie stupendous locks prob
ably will protract the period of com
pletion.
The men on the works however,
really seem to believe that If ev-
erything goes right the canal should
be finished within seven years from
this date.