The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-02-24
James Schuyler Who Accom-.
panied Taft to Panama.
Never Saw Anything Better Or
ganized Than Canal Project.
% YELLOW FEVER
Says That Dread Scourge Has
Reen Eradicated.
Panama Is a Delightful Place
to Live.

ct never saw anything better or
| ganized in my life than the work on
| the Panama canal" is the statement
made to a State Journal reporter this
| afternoon by James Dick Schuyler,
of Los Angeles, one of the consulting
engineers who accompanied Presi-
dent-elect Taft to the Panama canal.
Mr.. Schuyler arrived in Topeka at
noon today for short visit with his
sister, Mrs. w. Lawrence. of 221
| West Tenth avenue.
| at makes me proud that I am an
American every time I think of the
/ work on the canal" continued Mr..
Lawrence. 1.-The systematization of
/ the work is little short of wonderful
| even to the minutest detail. The work
| is proceeding fast and without hitch.
| This is the same sort of a project in
which the French nation made a dis
/ NAL failure.
"The- United States certainly bought
| this territory at a bargain. We paid
$4o,o0C.0o0 for the canal country, and
we found there fully $40,000.0O
worth of excavations left by the
| French, besides a vast amount of ma
| chinery which the Americans are
utilizing.
Forty thousand men are employed
on this work. Five or six thousand
are Americans, while the greater por-
ton of the remainder are Jamaicans
and a few of them Spaniards. The work
is being pushed but it is so vast a
fore January 1, 1915. 1t will certainly
be a monumental piece of work of
which any American can well be proud.
1.-The party was composed of seven
engineers in addition to Mr.. and Mrs.
Taft. We had a band from the May
flower and several Chinese cooks and
walters, and the officers of the armor-
ed cruiser, the North Carolina, on
fv-iT
quarters so that the trip was a de-
cidedly delightful one.
Mr.. Taft is a great man. He is
frank, open, jolly and as great man
estimation make our greatest presi-
dent. His great judicial mind and
character make him man among men.
"Mr. Goethals, the chief engineer of
the canal, is another fine man. He has
the great qualities of firmness and de-
cision and capacity which enable him
to keep in touch with every branch of
the work He is popular with every
man on the isthmus.
Panama is delightful place to
live. The temperature never gets above
SIS, and when the sky is cloudy the
climate is wonderful There are a lot
of American families there, and on
this account there are numerous social
events which make life pleasant. The
Y. M. c. A. has many buildings with
reading rooms and the usual associa-
ton equipment, which enables the
young men to feel more at home.
There is but little sickness on the
isthmus 1 saw but one mosquito while
there and promptly killed it. Yellow
fever has been exterminated, and not
a yellow fever mosquito has been seen
for over a year Everything that can
be done to promote health and COM
fort is being done, the United States
spending over two million dollars an
nually for sanitation"
Mr. Schuyler came direct from
Washin gton. With the party he ar
rived in New Orleans February II,
and went to Washington where the
engineers submitted their reports. The
party stopped in New Or
leans but five hours, taking their leave
of the president-e1ect at this place.