Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-12-03

natives pick their crops wild. or at
the most, can only be induced TO
give h~aIf-hearted attention to a
small section OF land.
The sun beats down m~ercflessly.
Until a few years & the native
children, uneRfbarrassed, Haunted
their chubby dark forms, sans gar
ments. Even at the present time
one may occasionally see swarthy
youngsters at the bath in front of a
shack, in natures garb. Strangest
to all American ears is the Spanish,
French, or English accent of the ne
groes. They are alike in feature
with the American negroes but their
environment In Trinidad, or Martin
ique, Guadeloupe, or Barbados, Ja-
maica or st. Kits, has left the ac-
cent of the language spoken there.
1t Is Infinitely amusing to the Amer
leans to encounter a coal black ne
gro who talks with a cockney &C.
cent.
The Isthmus is a cosmopolitan
place. The Republic of Panama,
through which the United States
owns a ribbon of land ten miles In
width from ocean to oeean-the
canal zone-is, of course, South
American, its people speak Spanish
mostly. They are descendants of
Spanish pioneers. Some Of them
with perhaps a mixture Of Indian
blood. When the United States be-
gan work On the canal. Americans
brought the English tongue, and lab
orers from, Greece, Italy, and the
various West Indian islands. To-day,
in Panama City, capital of the re-
public, n can manage to get along
on English.
DIR. Fable Arosemna, president of
the republic, speaks English fuently.
as, indeed do the majority of the
upper classes of Panamanians. The
daughters Of nearly all prominent
citizens are educated either In the
United States or abroad, and many
of their sons likewise.
While Panama Is an Independent
republic. gaining freedom with the
tacft knowledge, II not actual CO.
operation of the United States. she
Ia bound very close to America.
Merchants and business men In the
republic have grown rich by the
$50, zoe, 600 which Uncle Sam spends
there yearly. Moreover, America
exercises what Ia very like q protec-
torate over the country. The treaty
by which the United States acquired
the canal zone guarantees its indie
pendence. More than that Uncle
Sam undertook the task of making
the principal cities of Colon and
Panama sanitary-laid p~avefnents
and forced the destruction of pestf-
lentical danger spots. There have
been no cases of yellow fever on the
Isthmus, near or in the canal zone
since 1905. The herculean task of
with tropic fevers and alive with
pestilence-a job comparable to the
engineering work on the canaIEhas
been accomplished by a corps of
military physicians under Col.
Gorgas with wonderful efficiency.
Today the deadly yellow fever
mosquito Is practically eradieated.
There is no diminution in preventive
work, however, and swamps and
stagnant water pools all over the
zone are regularly oiled. Panama
and Colon have been made clean and
healthy citfes-the latter being
transformed from a veritable swamp
alive with deadly fever.
The Department of Sanitation
even sees to 1t that the citizens of
the free and independent republic of
Panama keep their streets clean,
and 1t requires a sanitary and mod
ern collection Of garbage as well as
tho aYfaruoinatton of rafq and mos
quitoes. An American need not fear
to live and work on the Isthmus now
adays. Despite the heat, there has
| never been q sunstroks in the his
tory of the medical corps there. In
1904 three-quarters OF those on the
zone were infected with malaria and
hospitals were kept busy treating
about so per cent. OF the canal
force. NOWADAYS scarcely c1e~thtr6
OF this number are affected. The