New-York tribune., 1912-03-31
Scientist Thinks Caucasians
Will Till Vast Area Now
Given Up to Weird Saw
ages and Jungles.


human progress" says Professor
Il w. ]. McGee, the eminent gov
ernment scientist. will be the conquest of
the Amazon Valley.
"It will he a peaceful conquest resulting
in the occupancy by white people OF the
richest and most fruitful region on the
face of the eaFth-a region which up TO the
present time has been regarded as practi-
cally uninhabitable. unculuyated, and, TO
all intents and purposes. useless to civili-
zatiOn. save in so far AS it's Wi'd products
can be turned TO marketable account.
yet the time is destined 70 arrive when
this basin will be occupied by number
OF human inhabitants equal to the entire
population Of the globe to-day. 1t is the
future garden Of the world-the most WON
derfully fertile area in existence. A YER
liable tropic paradise. extending from the
Atlantic Ocean to the foothills of the Andes,
ii is TO a great extent uneNpIored, and is
now inhabited by tribes of the most primi-
tive savages in the world, some OF whom
are said to live in trees like apes, being the
most distinctly arboreal of human beings
.Jf the question be asked, what is the
greatest result gained by the digging OF
the Panama Canal almost anybody will
reply that it is the development OF new
possibilities of commerce through the join
ing Of the two great oceans. But that Is
not so. The cutting Of the isthmus Will
have proved most useful 10 mankind
through the object lesson it has afforded in
the practicability Of tropical conquest. 1t
has taught US that white men can make
the hot belt of the earth safe and com
Portable TO live in.
uni rod aC
bealthful a region as could be found any
where in the world. II was not the engi-
neering difficulties involved, but the cl-
mate that defeated the French in their
efforts 10 dig the ditch. They made the
mistake of trying TO dig II before cleaning
I'D the strip When we tackled the job
we took IL UP from the other end. begin
ming with sanitation. We started in with
complete hygienic reconstruction OF tie
zone, the most important feature of the
work being the elimination of deadly te-
vers by draining swamps and stopping the
breeding of mosquitoes.
THE problem confronting the white men
in the valley Of the Amazon is exactly the
same problem on a larger scale. II will be
undertaken not all at once, of course, but
plecemeal, and in this way cleaning up
will eventually be subjugated. To-day the
redundant vitality of the tropics keeps the
white man out, but change is about to
arrive.
1T is curious and paradoXical situa-
ton. The soil of a region like the Amazon
Valley is so excessively fruitful that the
farmer finds 1t difficult If not impossible,
10 get a living out Of II. He cannot keep
al tai
order 10 replace il with cultivated and use
full plants. Grasses OF Brobdingnagian
growth spring up faster than he can cut
them down or pull them up. while vines
rivalllng in rapidity Of development Jonah's
famous gourd overwhelm his crops, and
weeds Of all sorts array themselves in com
petition with whatever he tries 10 raise
But this difficulty will be solved by progress
sive improvement in agricultural methods
and appliances.
In the valley OF the Amazon there Is
redundance Of vitality such as exists no.
where else on the face Of the globe over an
area Of corresponding magnitude. The RAIN
fall is about sixty inches year whlch is
lust what is needed TO make the largest
possible amount Of plant growth from or
binary soils. With more water, plant
growth is reduced, because the SOIL is
drowned; with less water there is an IN
sufflcient supply. In the Eastern United
States the rainfall is about forty-hVe inches
per annum; in the Great Plains region II
averages from twenty-five TO thirty inches
with hothouse temperatures all the year
round and so abundant supply OF water,
Il is natural that the plant life or the
Amazon Valley should exhibit an astonish-
ing luxuriance. Vast forests and almost
impenetrable Jungles extend over hundreds
OF thousands Of square miles Of the interior.
Life Of all kinds is Tedundant-even that OF
fishes and especially Of insects. The whole
vast area literally throbs with vitality, and
the minute organisms which are causes of
disease attain a corresponding abundance.
1.-THE conquest Of this wonderful domain
is the burden which the white man is now
ready, for the first time, to take up. He
will turn 10 profitable account the enormous
vital energy which hitherto has assumed
the character of an unconquerable foe. In
the valley Of the Amazon such energy is
available for use as nowhere else. IL az
fords opportunity for human population
more dense and more numerous thah can
be found anywhere else, because IL Is capa-
Bile of producing more food, or growing
more plants and feeding more domestic
animals.
I'm our own country each acre OF cult
vable land is capable of sustaining one per
son. An acre IN the Amazon Valley VIII
support family Of five There are IN thst
region at least 100000 square miles or
/ soo. .0OO. 900 acres. available for human oc-
oupancy. At the present time the popuIa-
ZION Of the entire globe is certainly hot
more than 800, 100000. Thus 1t Is SAFE
q say that the region in question would