Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1910-04-06
Some of the Interesting Sights in
the Quaint Tropical City.
CLEANED UP BY UNCLE SAM
A Description of the People, Their
Mode of Living, the Old Churches,
PlaZas, Markets, Beaches and
Other Places of Interest
to the Tourist.

to Panama have been devoted to a
description of the canal itself, not
ing in detail the different problems
to be contended with, the general
plan of construction, and the prog
ress of the work
Besides the canal project, there is
much to see on the isthmus of
Panama, particularly the city of
Panama itself. 1t is one of the most
interesting cities on the globe, for
here it seems that people have come
from almost every corner of the
earth. The native Panamanians,
rather small of stature, a cross be-
tween the Aztec Indian and West
Indian negro, ordinarily quiet,
peaceful race, living like children,
with little conception of morals,
eating what they find growing wild,
fruits, cocoanuts, bananas, papayas,
yams, and various natural products
of the tropical jungle, with scarcely
any clothing, they have little neces-
sity or ambition to work. All they
seem to require, especially those
who live outside of the cities of
Panama and Colon, is crude hut
covered with palm leaves, grass,
ETC., with sides of bamboo, to keep
the rain off, for here it rains eight
months of the year. One sees in
Panama also hundreds of Chinese,
who seemed to have corralled the
mercantile trade of the isthmus, for
everywhere there are four or five
Chinese stores to one of other kinds: /:
-Spaniardss who were the first white
people to occupy the isthmus. and
who also conduct many of the
stores; Italians, French, Turks, Hin
docs, Arabs from the desert. Gu
bans, Russians, Jews, negroes from
Jamaica and the Barbados, Japan
ese, Coreans, and people from al
most every other country on the
globe. We doubt if city can be
found with so many different ma
tionalities so strongly represented.
The present city of Panama is the
successor to the old city of Panama,
located a few miles further east on
the Pacific coast, which was sacked
and destroyed by Henry Morgan. the
English buccaneer. in 1870, after
which the city was moved to the
present location, an immense wall
constructed about it along the sea
coast. and fortified as best they
could in those days. Panama now
has about $4,000 people, it is es-
timated, although census has
never been taken. 1t has nearly
doubled in population since the
American occupation of the canal
zone. Panama was under Spanish
rule until 1921, when Spain's South
and Central American republics Sc
ceded. and gained their indepen-
dence. From that date to 1908. it
was part of the Republic of COlum-
bia. In 1908, when Columbia re-
fused to accept the treaty with the
United States and agreement con-
corning the canal, Panama seeded.
little revolution was formed. and
the Republic of Panama was indie
pendent. There were many peculiar
coincidents connected with the gain
ing of the independence of Panama.
one of which was the fact that a
big United States warship steamed
into the harbor of Colon just as the
revolution sta,ted at Panama so that
it is quite generally known that
certain actions of United States offi-
GERS had much to do with Columbia
acceding to Panama's demand for
freedom.
Panama is one of the Quaintest
cities in the world. The narrow,
crooked streets, the closely built
buildings with balconies Overhang-
ing the streets until they almost
touch other. the narrow passage
ways leading to interior court-yards.
about which the thousands of peo-
pie live. huddled together like rats,
the dirt, the poverty, the squalOr,
the utter absence of hope or of ad-
vancement. the resignation to their
mode of life and living which pre-
vailed previous to the American en-
trance to that country is everywhere
evident. Muddy, miry streets. open
sewers of dirty. Shiny. filthy water
and sewerage running everywhere
through the streets and court-yards,