The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-01-26
SHONTS SPEAKS ON
THE ISTHMIAN CANAL

I1du W UG 0TcClCu ALI C4aAPPOo ~
appliances and men,
In this preliminary work We have
| spent about $27, 900 900. Of this amo-
unit about So. 500, 900 have been expend
| ed in government and sanitation; nea
rly 5000, 900 in construction of quar-
tiers aid other buildings, docks, wha-
rves, railway enlargement, water
works and sewer in the Zone, and
in engineering work; over SIC, 1000, O0O
in permanent plant; over $780, coo
in the construction of sewers and
waterworks N street paving and i'm
~provements in Palam and Colon.
The last named will be refunded ulti-
mately to the Government.
In regard to the success of our an
itary work, President Roosevelt says
in his special message to Congress.
written after his personal inspection
on the IstimuS, that the results
have been astounding" and that 1.-The
conditions as regards sickness and
the death rate compare favorably
with reasonably healthy localities in
the United States" We have driven
yellow fever permanently from the
Isthmus. That is the supreme achieve
ment. For fourteen months there has
not been a single case of this terror
of the Tropics. The Stegomyia mos
4oAlOg vi VIM III
life is three months, and which is the
bearer IF the yellow-fever germ, has
been thrown out of business, for it
mas nothing to carry. 1t is as harm
less to health as the ordinary fly. The
only way by which yellow fever "a
return to the Isthmus is by being
brought in from the outside, and ag-
ainst this a rigid quarantine is main
tanned. So far as general health con-
1ifinnc orn nnnnnrnnd I non uiun Won
no stronger evidence of their favor
able character than by stating the
fact that among abou 5000 white
Americans, including women and Chill
1ren, on the Isthmus there was for
three months in the rainy season of
last year-August, September and Oc-
tober-not a single death from dis.
ease In commenting upon this Doc
tor Gorgas, the chief sanitary officer
says:
Take 5000 people in New York City
selected at random, and estimating
their death rate on what occurred in
New York City last year, they would
have had o thirty deaths from
disease. Of course. this is more or
less accidental, but l think it is pretty
good proof that conditions are not
so unfavorable to Americans, when
it is possible for a body of 5000 peo-
pie, including some 1900 women and
children, to spend three months with
u a death from disease.
The average daily sick rate among
the employees of the Commission dur
ing the ten months from January /,
1906, to October 81, 1906, was 2S per
thousand, which is no higher than
might be expected in an equal body
of laborers engaged in construction
work in any part of h world.
The sthkkI$ fiuet TIL AR ARARA
The Isthmus is to-day as safe a
place to visit as most other parts of
the world, and much safer than ma
ny parts of the United States, so far
as danger from disease is concerned.
Observance of sanitary laws and regu
lations is compulsory and is rigidly
enforced We have a hospital system
which is surpassed by none in the
world, and 4 privileges of it are
not only, like the blessings of saliva
ton, free to all, but they are compul-
sorry. Whenever an employee is dis.
covered with too high a temperature
he is compelled to go to the hospital
whether he wishes to or not.
L shall not ear you with details
about what we have done in building
quarters for our employees and pro-
viding them with wholesome food and
Pd1 "obSl VI ~ ASA NAS AoNA
mus, is hope many of you will in
the near future, you will find scat
tered along the line of the canal a
succession of trim villages, contain
ing populations ranging from a few
hundred up to 5000 each. At Gatul.
the site of the great dam which will
hold back the waters of the great in
land lake of 10 square miles, there
is a village which has sprung into ex-
iofnn nn rrffhfn fAt.- r1Anthr %.%~
up or the hill top, supplied with pure
water n with a modern sewerage
system. 1t overlooks the quaint ma
tive village below on the banks of the
ChagreS which, when the dam shall
have been constructed and the lake
filled, witt be IS feet under water.
New homes for the inhabitants of this
village are to be provided upon the
nearby nillsides- You will see at
Culebra, builded upon bluffs overlook
ing the great cut and surrounded like
an amphitheatre by rising slopes of
beautiful hills, a town of 5000 inhabi-
tants, with a modern sewerage system
and an abundant supply of pure water
A year and a half ago the site of this
town was covered with an impenetra-
BILE jungle. with scarcely a sign of hu
a habitation. Nearby is another
town, called Empire, n a few miles
this side of it is the new village of
Las Cascadas, which six months ago
existed only as piles of lumber. Cor
COMA is another village of similar size
and character. In each of these five
towns or villages, in addition to the
quarters for the employees. there are
mess nails, and, nearly completed. a
clubhouse or reception building. These
structures. in the larger places, are
alike in design. They prOvide a front
building of two stories connected with