Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1912-08-03

]
E "a and note small dot about
two degrees south OF the In
tersection of the two lines. The, name
attached to the dot. II the map be
large enough. will be Guayaquil.
Ecuador.
| Only those who have visited Quay
aquil or who have noted recent Ecua-
| doran news dispatches have any idea
| of the sanitary conditions existing
there. Ecuador, according to mag
azine writer's and travellers who have
touched merely on the higher porI
| tions of the country, has a climate
| second to none in the world"
But It is not because of It's climate
! that the attention of the United
States has been called to Guayaquil.
nor is It because of the death of the
| tuberculeus patients that the hand OF
the state department Ia upraised to
falA on Ecuador.
It is because, according to health
authorities who have visited the city,
Guayaquil is the most unhealthful,
| the most unclean and the least sani-
tary port in the world
It Is because of the danger that
yellow fever, bubonic plague and lep-
rosy-all Of which live and thrive In
unwashed GuayaQuil-may spread to
Panama and through the canal to the
gulf ports and eastern cities OF the
United States
1t is because United States naval
officer Commander Levi G. Berto-
lette Of the gunboat~ Yorktown, was
stricken with yellow fever while in
the performance of his duty in Quay
aquil few months ago and died with
in two days, while IL Of his men fell
from the same cause.
And, finally, 1t g because Guaya-
gull is In the hands OF one of the
best organized. most rapacious and
utterly INSCRIPTIONS Tweed rings"
which ever dominated and all but
throttled an entire country while
menacing the commerce of the world
for their private gain.
Only Promises.
The parental eye Of the United
States government has long been on
Guayaquil Twenty years ago reports
from this port indicated disregard
for sanitation and health regulations
which threatened seriously to disrupt
commerce, and the United States
then intimated that something must
be done to clean up the port or
more rigid order would be issued. The
Ecuadoran authorities, after promis-
Ing to comply with the international
health code, allowed the matter to
lapse, and the American government,
foc some unexplained reason, took no
further action.
Anothe~ outcry against Guayaquil-
an fifth was made In 1909, when yel-
low fever claimed Thomas Mast, the
American cartoonist, then consul gen.
eral OF Ecuador. who, despite elabo-
rate precautions against the yellow
scourge. contracted the disease and
died within few days. Again the
municipal and federal authorities
promised to chean up the pesthole Of
the Paciflc"-and again they failed to
do 80.
An indication of the Ecuadoran
lack of appreciation for the dangers
of yellow fever may be obtained from
the message sent Secretary of State
Root upon the occasion OF his visit to
South America few years after
Nasts death Guayaquil was at first
included in the Root itinerary, but
the secretary. being informed of the
lack of sanitary recautions there,
Cancelled his engagement The Quay
aqui1an authorities, upon learning the
reason for the secretary's action,
wrote him "regretting that few
cases of yellow fever, sporadic, should
prevent Secretary Root from visiting
the premier port of Ecuador"
The death from yellow fever OF DR..
William NJ Wightman, U. s. p. II.
and M. H. s., stationed at Guayaauil.
again caused an outcry against insani- |
tary conditions there. particularly
since Doctor Wightman was supposed
to have been immune to the disease.
Ever since the Panama canal pro-
ject has become an established fact
health officers In the canal zone
have made repeated demands for the
sanitation OF Guayaquil. but the re-
cent death Of Commander Bertolette |
goaded the United States to decisive
action, and the state department has
determined that Guayaquil must be
cleaned before The opening OF the |
Panama canal. otherwise drastic ac