The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-14

rats and mice spread the fieas which carry bubonic plague infection. Re- quest is made that everybody shall join in the crusade of extermtnating tne rats and mice, and that the dead body of every rat on the Zone be turned over to the Sanitary Department.
 Great as will be the benefits Of the canal from a commercial standpoint. they promise to be outrivaled by the great contributions to public health which the sanitary department is max ing. They have proved that proper
 methods can absolutely prevent epi- demicaf disease, and their work marks the beginning of the epoch when humanity Is released from the thral- dom of old King Contagion.
 The Panamanians have always been
 indifferent to ffith. When the Ameri-
 cans took charge of things the two
 cities of the Isthmus, Colon ana Panama were about the dirtiest places | in the world. There were no sewers, no water supplies. no precautions 1 against disease, and no paved streets worth the mentioning. As they are situated at the two ends of the Canal | 1t would have been useless to try to I have the Canal Zone free from epi- demics if these cities were not free. I So the treaty with Panama provided that the United States should have
 perpetual sanitary Jurisdiction over
 these cities
 Then the United States laid them a
 system of sewers. gave them a whole some water supply and paved their
 streets. In return she is collecting a
 sufficient rental from the water users of the two cities to reimbuse her for
 her outlay in fifty years. including in-
 terest charges The Americans have also insisted that the people should al Ta xvaA aR | ter viewing the wonders that have | been done in transforming these two | flthiest spots on the map Into two clean looking cities. that former Min
 lister Buchanan remarked to Governor
 Blackburn during his recent visit to
 the Isthmus: Governor. if when was here as the American Minister an 1 angel from heaven had come to me
 and announced that in these few years
 r should return here and behold so
 great change, I could hardly have be-
 iieved it possible"
 The work of the sanitary department has brought the death rate down to
 the point where 1t Is no more than that
 for the average American city. Of | course the death rate among the negro
 population will ever remain high on
 the Isthmus. as 1t does everywhere. They are predisposed to pulmonary. dis l orders, and the dampness of the cii-
 mate together with their disregard Of
 the simple laws Of health. make it but
 natural that the death rate should be
 high with them.
 But among the whites there are few l if any American cities which can boast
 50 low a death rate. During the past l year they had death rate of only 2 7e 1 per 1000 among the Americans on the
 Zone. Deducting those who died from l wounds received in accidents, the death rate from disease is found to have been 1 only 6.74 per 1000, or as small as l would be expected to occur among any l similar body of men in any part of the l United States. The death rate among l the women and children living in com mission quarters was almost as low I as that among the rnen--an extraordi- 1 nary condition. The rate for the en- tire population of the Canal Zone was l only little over twenty-one per 1000 I during 1907, which is about the same
 sh owing as was made in New York, and a better one than was made in Wash ington, Baltimore and New Orleans. l Conditions are still improving. Tn l 1908 there were almost double as many 1 deaths fin propprtion to the p6pulation 1 from malsFta as, there were in 1907. 1 The same Is' more than. true of dysen- | tery. From pneumonia, in 1908. there
 were 720 deaths out of total popula- tion of 66,000. Tn 1907. with a total population of 102.o00. there were but | 56s deaths While the total mortal
 ity among the laboring force in 1907
 was 2s.7T per thousand there were only 4.BTI per thousand who died of | tropical diseases, including malaria. And this on the fsthmus once descrlbe ed | in the GoHsFnnent instructions to the British merchant marine as being about | thesmost dnifeaithful spot in the world! 1 Another Achievement for American l brains and American grit.
 l (Copyright, ir1eos, by Frederic J. 1 Haskin.)
 Tomorrow 1-The Panama Canal " | The Force,,,