Los Angeles herald., 1908-08-24

n YSTER BAY, Aug. 23.-President
Roosevelt today made public
" report submitted to him August
by special commission consisting
of James Bronson Reynolds, Samuel
B. Donnelly and Henry Beach Need
ham regarding conditions in Panama
The commission was appointed April
25 last That the president is pleased
with the report is shown in letter
which he sent to each member of the
commission on Friday. He expresses
particular pleasure over the fact that
the commission upholds the admin
istration of Col. Goethals. chairman
of the Isthmian canal commission, and
the president has had a copy mailed
to Col. Goethals requesting recon-
rnendations made by the commission
be put into effect Immediately SO far
as possible.
The president will submit the report
to congress with appropriate recon-
mendations.
The commission reports that 1t IN
spected the entire line of the canal ex-
cavation from La Boca, the southern
or Pacific terminus, to Cristobal the
northern or Caribbean terminus, and
Travelled through the excavation sew
eral times, interviewing the men at
work"
Indicating the scope of the inspection,
the commission reports that it visited
the "government workshops, construc-
tion plants, warehouses, shipyards,
dredges, commissary stores, living quar-
ters (that Is, hotels, messes, kitchens
and camps), schols, club houses, courts,
police stations and the convalescent
home at Taboga."
Presidents Letter
President Roosevelt's letter to the
investigators says:
aI doubt If there is any piece of work
undertaken on behalf of the American
people in recent years in which the
American people have more reason 20
be proud than of the work done on the
Panama canal.
alTha success has literally been as
founding. Five years ago, when we
undertook the task, no sane man Wouiu
have dared to hope for the results
which have already been achieved. The
work itself has been advanced more
expeditiously than we had ventured 70
think, and the rapidity of the rate oi
DTORTeSS mas SGloQlAJ AhNA
iMeanwhile the treatment of hygienlc
conditions on the isthmus has been
such as to make 1t literally the model
for all work of the kind In tropical
countries. Five years ago the isthmus
of Panama wa1 q byword for unhealth-
fulness of the most d. dly KIND. Al
present the canal zone is one OF the
healthiest places on the gloDe, ana tne
work is being prosecuted with such ire
mendous energy, is being prosecuted
under conditions SO favorable to the
health and Wellbeing of the workers,
that the mortality among them is abb
normally small. ss
"a Model Employer"
Finally in addition to the. extreme
efficiency of the work under Col.
Goethals and his assistants and the
extraordinary hygienic success acniev-
ed under DR.. Gorgas, there is the fur
ther and exceedingly gratifying fact
that on the isthmus the United states
government has been able to show
itself a model employer. There are
matters to correct, of course. as your
trip showed, but on the other nane
n IL true that the United States is look
ing after the welfare. health and COM
fort OF those working for 1t as no other
Government has ever done in work OF
like character"
In prefacing it's report the commits
sion says:
work on the Isthmian canal has
passed through two stages. those o.
blaming and of preparation. 1t is now
IN the third stage, the stage OF con-
struction. Both the earlier stages re-
ouired the presence Of a large work
ing force. necessarily quartered in tenn
norary and makeshift accommodations
because of these conditions, inevitable
al The outset, early critics Of the cana
enterprise mistook the initial and tenn
porary outfit for the permanent equip
ment.
@The terrible scourge Of yellow
fever. against which the French strug-
gled in vain; the filthy and pest
breeding state of the principal Pana-
man towns, the rough lumber camps
and other hardships of the first two
eras have been eliminated through thu
brilliant and persistent activity OF th'
department of sanitation. the depart.
ment of municipal engineering and th'
building department.
Yellow Fever Gone
"Today we find yellow fever. driver
from the isthmus, malaria and pneu'
naonia greatly reduced and mgr
average Of health established.
although the governments object i
| to dig the canal and provide living
quarters for temporary enterprise II