The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-24
ROOSEVELT PLEASED
WITH PROGRESS ON THE PANAMA
 CANAL.
He Writes Appreclative Letter to Members of Special Communication, Who InvestiEafed Conditfons
 on the Iefhmus.

special commission, consisting of James Bronson Reynolds. Samuel B. Donnolly and Harry Beech NeedhaTn, regarding conditions in Panama.
 The commission was appointed April 25 last to insestigates conditions, es- pecially as regards iabvr and accom- modations on the Isthmussof Panama."
 That the President Is pleased with the report is shown in a letter which he sent to each member of the com mission on Friday. He expresses par ticular pleasure over the fact that the commission upholds the administration of Colonel Goethals, chairman of the Istmmian Canal Commission, and the President has had a copy of the report mailed to Colonel Goethals, requesting that the. recommendations made by the Commission be put into. effect in- mediately so far as possible. The President win submit the report to Congress with appropriate recommen- dations.
 President Rooseveit,s letter of ap- preciation, sent to the Commissioners on Aug. 2i. Is as follows:
 "Gentlemen:--I have received your admirable report upon conditions at Panama. I am greatly impressed with 1t, and shall submit 1t to Congress with appropriate recommendations as soon as that body convenes. Meanwhile, shall send your recommendations to Colonel Goethals and ask himl to put them into effect so far as possible, and where hesdeems this impossible or ini- practicable. to report the fact to me with his reasons. I am naturally ex- tremely pleased at the very satisfac- tory- showing that your report makes of conditions under Colonel Goethals and hts associates. T. doubt if there is any piece of work undertaken on behalf of the American people of re- ror% yAara fs$ xsyhfrh ha ATfaarfraF raee- pie have more reason to besproud than the work hitherto done on the Panama Canal. The success has literally been astounding. Five years ago, when we undertook the task, no sane man would have dared to hope for the results which have already been achieved. The work itself has been advanced more expeditiousIy than we had ventured to think and the rapidity of the rate of progress has steadily increased.
 "Meanwhile, the treatment of hy- gienic conditions on the isthmus has been such as to make 1t literally the model for all work of the ktnd in tropical countries Five years ago, the Isthmus of Panama was a by- word for unhealthiness of the most deadly kind. At present. the canal zone Is one of the shealthiest places on the globe and the work which Is being prosecuted with such tremen- dous energy, is being prosecuted un- der conditions so favorable to the health and well being of the workers that the mortality among them Is ab- normally small NsfA
 "Finally, in addition to the extreme efficiency of the. work under Colonel Goetha1s and his associates and the extraordinary hygienic success achiev- ed under Dr. Gorgas. there is the further and exceedingly gratifying fo Fl. f-tf4 n. States Government has been able to show itself a model employer. There are matters to correct, of course, as your report showed, but, on the whole, 1t is true that. the United States Gov ernment is looking after the welfare, health and comfoyt Of those, working for 1t as no other Government has ever done in work of like character.
 Again thanking you fors your re- port, l am, Sincerely yours, Theodore .Ronsevelt." In prefaeing its report the commits sion says:
 Work on the construction of the | isthmian canal has passed through | two stages, those of planning and of preparation. It Is now in the third and final stage. the stage of construc- | ton. Both the earlier stages requir- ed the presence of a large working force, necessarily quartered in . temporary and male-shift acconmoda- ton. Because of these conditions, in evitable at the outset, early critics of the canal enterprise mistook the in- l itial and temporary start for the per | manent work.
 The terrible scourEe of yellow fever, against which the French sstrug- gled in vain the filthy; and pest breed ing state of the principal Panama towns, the rough labor camps and
 
 two eras,. have been S eliminated through the persistent activity of the department of sanitation. the depart ment of municipal engineering, and the building department. To-day we find yellow fever driven. from the isthmus. malaria and pneumonia great ly reduced. and a high average of health established. Although the governments imme- diate object on the isthmus is to dig the canal and to provide living guar ters for a temporary enterprise, it has. in fact created comfortable homes and we'll organized social communities for It's working force"
 Of the progress of the work the report says:
 This year over two and a third million cubic yards were excavated in each of the winter lnonths--the dry season in Panama--a million yards being approximately equal to a square mile one foot deep. To prepare this | immense mass for removal, AO5 tons | of dynamite were used per month and to make the dirt fly to this extent. s2 | nlnety-hye ton steam shovels. twenty seventy-ton. ten forty-flve- and twenty-four others were In constant use. A total of 4.146 cars and 302 locomotives moved this mass to the dumps. fleet of eighteen barges, | fifteen dredges and thirty-one other vessels were at work In the dredging service.
 "on April 30 last. 2s.11s men were actually at work for the Isthmian | Canal Commission. and TOTS at work for the Panama Railroads total of 33.lss."
 A revision of the wage schedule would work to advantage the commis- sion finds. The report deals with this subject as follows:
 The wage sch hedule should be sim plihed, the grades reduced in number and the same pay and hours required Canal Commission and the Panama Railroad. Much cause for existing complaints would be eliminated by the above mentioned charges"
 The commission dwells at length on the difhculty of holding skilled work ingmen at the Isthmus and in this re- l spect says that the wage rates paid on the isthmus are but ten per cent. l higher than the rates paid on build | ing construction work fin the city of | New York It recommends that no | reductions be made.
 l Regarding the number of hours the