The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-01-30
Notes and news
Of Interest .;
.AAAA By m. +. u. $3.50

"A Look ut Panama is the title e a
most interesting article in the yanuary
Outlook by Albert Edwards. An "unof-
fetal sketch" by an intelligent observ-
ing traveller has distinct value to the
reader pwho wants to know lust how
things are in Panama. The writer's de
scription of the great cut is graphic, TT
is between Gorgona and Empire that
YOU get your first look into Culcbra cut.
It is as busy place as an ant hilt. 1t
seems to be alive with machinery. There
they are insignificant, lost among the
mechanical monsters which are jerking
work trains about the maze of tracks
which are boring holes for the blasting,
which are tearing at the spine of the
continent-steam shovels which fill
car in five moves, steam shOvels as
acudae and delicate as watch, as
mighty-well, ! can think of nothing
sufficiently mighty to compare with
these steel beasts which eat a thousand
cubic yards a day out of the side of the
hills But it is not until you get beyond
the cut and look back and see the profile
of the ditch against the sunset that you
get the real mpression-the memory
which is to last. The scars on the side
of the cut are red. like the rocks of Our
great western deserts The work has
stopped, and the great black shovels are
silhouetted against the red of the sky.
Then there comes a moment, as your
train winds around a curve, when the
lowering stn falls directly into the
notch of the cut and it is illumined in
an utterly unearthly glory The night
falls rapidly in the tropics and when a
few minutes later we reached Panama,
it was too dark to see anything of the
quaint old city, so we drove at once to
Ancon, the American suburb, and put tip
at Tivoli, the government hotel. A cot
pie of dozen of congressman had come
down on an unofficial visit to the zone.
It is safe to say that men on the 18th
MUS are more afraid of congressman
than they are of yellow fever mosqul-
toes. The Canal Commission has its
plans all worked out; if Congress will
grant the money. and leave them alone,
the canal will be built OH schedule time.
Yet, not only their personal regulations,
but what is more important, the success
Of the work, is utterly at the mercy of
Congress. [ certainly hope that the av
erage intelligence in the House is higher
than among the representatives | saw at
the Tivoli / heard congressman ask
how much of the ice used on the 18TH
mus was artificial The man who was
doing the hohors deserves medal for
the serious way in which he explained
that in the tropics all ice is artificial.
In discussing sanitation, another con-
gresham was heard to say that nothing
could make him believe that mosquito
bites could give man yellow fever
And another said if it is true four mil
lion dollars is an awful lot to spend kill
ing them. (Think of it'll Yet these men
will go home and make speeches. out of
their copious ignorance, and say i'm
pressively i know because | have been
there
THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT.
IS the reclamation of the tropics from
fever plaques. And this is due to the
work Of Col w c. Gorgas, chief SAM
tary officer Of the Canal Zone. He is the
army doctor who cleaned mp Havana
To the layn1an who knows nothing much
Of ai1opheles and stegomyia, the excess
lively heavy vegetation of the jungle |
looks threatening1y sinister 1t is Col
onel Gorgas who has pulled its teeth
Statistics show that there has not beenI
a case of yellow fever on the zone for
three and half years And today there
are only a quarter as many men in the
hospital with the dreaded Chagres fever
as there were in 1000 The health sta
tistics of the zone now compare favor
ably with those of our most healthful
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