The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1907-10-30
GLIMPSE AT PANAMA
Fine Letter From Edgar Garri-
SON at Canal Zone.
CONDITIONS ARE BETTER NOW

CONDITIONS ARE BETTER NOW
Sights That Greet the Eye-Filth Ev-
erywhere-Natve Government.
Ancon. Canal Zone. Oct. IL. 1907.
Friend Meyers:
The last mail brought in my
Review. and | see you had sufficient
nerve to publish the poetry which
sent you. That poetry told the situa-
tion. but. assuming that it only par
TALLY paid my obligation. I will try
to give you some Of my own observa
tions.
On the evening of the 18th of
August. 1905. l was first introduced to
the city of Panama. We both survived
the introduction. ! cannot say that
| was surprised with the conditions.
for the papers in the State had been
for months filled with articles regard
ing this deadly and filthy spot. When
l say the word filthy. | apply same in
a sense which. to an American at
home. is unknown. At that time you
could have driven blindfolded through
this city and other senses would have
told you that it was inhabited by
human beings. or at least had recently
been.
The first night | spent at the
Central Hotel l had a delightful
evening as | dreamed that / was
afflicted with yellow fever and was
dying. On awakening i was pleased
to find myself even in Panama. al.
though at times since than | have
thought it might have been relief to
have gone elsewhere.
/ rented a room in house built on
a sea-wall overlooking the Pacific
where nineteen foot normal tide
lulled me to sleep for some FIVE
months. but. owing to the fact that
there were no sewer or closets then
in Panama, the denizens OF that beau
titul place gradually pre-emptied the
beach and forced me to seek other
quarters. If had used kodak on
that beach and taken the films to the
States. | suppose l would now be
doing time for having those pictures
in my possession. Morals and
" Virtue" are words that have no
equivalent in the Spanish language.
Some wag once designated Panama as
the place where-the birds had no
song-the flowers no fragrance-the
men no morals-and the women no
virtue. To my knowledge. he was
never taken issue with.
To explain myself fully. want to
state. there are two classes in Panama
viz. those who are better than we
are, and those who make no such pre-
tensions. There are some very good
families here. so have been in
formed. but they must be very few
and far between. and possibly have
escaped our notice. The Panamanian
is descendant (true indeed) and is a
mixture Of Spanish. Indian. French.
Chinese. poor niger and white trash.
with considerable Of the monkey
thrown in. and if this don't make a
combination hard to beat. do not
know what other ingredient can be
added.
Panama. at that time. was a city
of thirty thousand inhabitants, and
covered territory not as large as
that occupied by Denison. The only
bird in the city was the turkey
buzzard. They were here by the
thousand. and if you made a quick
kick on the street at one of them,
you possibly might reach them.
They perched on the house tops and
were everywhere. Since the city has
been cleaned by the Americans, they
hover on the outskirts. but are in the
air over the city all the time. Speaks
we'll for the former conditions, don t
it. Again, every house or a large
number of them had their pet pig.
An Arkansas razor-back is a beauty
compared with the scraggly ones they
have here. The pig received the
fondling while the naked imps around
the door took care of themselves.
Now the pig has been relegated to
the rear by our Sanitary Department
and in his stead every house has its
NANCY dog. Dogs are nearly as thick
as police, and that's going some.
At that time they had no sewers OF
closets, for the beach was convenient.
as the city is on a point that runs out
into the sea. They had no water
works and water was peddled from
house to house and sold at thirty
cents Bryan's money Us cent gold)
for five gallon can. The water was
wet. but farther than this it was not
guaranteed. The Americans have
installed a water system which covers
the city. We have built LARGE