The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-11-22

of the year. Civil cases were filed against 749 persons. Of these 732 were disposed of and F were pending at the close of the year.
 Health--The health conditions on the isthmus are reported by the chief sani- tary officer as showing an Improvement over the preceding year. The total num- Der of admissions of employees to hos pitals and sick camps, including those sick In quarters. amounted to 46,194, represent ing for the year 23 49 as the number of men sick daily out of every 1000 names on the pay rolls, as against 3.s5 for the preceding year. The number of deaths was 530, and assuming that the average number of names on the pay rolls for the various months during the year amounted to A 261, the number of deaths would be equivalent to a death rate of 11.E per 1000, as against IS S2 for the preceding year.
 Cost of the Canal.
 The act of June 2S, 1902. authorized the construction of the canal and made pro- visions for the necessary funds, the amount stipulated being based on the re- port of the board of engineers in it's re- port of 1S99-19O1, and aggregating slA.- 23335s, including sanitation and police. A modification of the plans then sub mitted was made by the minority of the board of consulting engineers and adopted by Congress in 1906 which fixed the cost for engineering and construction exciu- sive of the purchase price, the cost or sanitation and civil government and the interest $139 ,705, 200 In the preparation of this estimate the same unit prices were assumed as were adopted by the board or 1899 1901. In the interval. however, wages tI nf and manufactured articles had risen Prosperous conditions in the United States combined with the unsavory repu- tation that the isthmus had regarding it's healthfulness, made it necessary, Tn order to secure labor, to increase the wage scales from 30 to 60 per cent over those paid in the United States for sim liar classes of work. Certain gratuitles as additional inducements were also of tered, which in the main have since been continued Moreover. the provisions of the eisht-hour law were made applicable to the isthmus.
 The unit prices were therefore material ly increased Various changes had also been made in the adopted plan, increas- ing the quantity of work to be done. In addition, more detailed surveys and plans than were originally available had been made, and the work had progressed sur hciently to give reliable data relative to unit coses This enabled revised esti- mate to be prepared and submitted at a hearing before the committee on appro- prations of the House of Representatives in February, 1909.
 This estimate shows that nearly 50 per cent more work is necessary in order to complete the canal than was contemplated by the original estimate and that the unit prices, due to labor conditions, cost of materials and gratuities given the em- ployes. have been increased about 20 per cent The estimate. as prepared, shows that the total cost of engineering and con- struction alone sums up to s297 .766,00O; to which, if the purchase price and the esti- mated cost of sanitation and civil govern ment be added, there results the sum of s375, 2O1, GOO as the total cost of the canal. .s-.sz--...-xz-yrx---sHr- ru-r.<-sq- Hr.-Zlx