The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1912-03-25
PANAMA'S Low
MORTALITY RATE
Youth and Health of Workers,
Absolute Cleanliness AID
Freedom From Worry
Responsible

digging the Panama Canal must be
attributed largely to the human fac
tor Our Government has found eff
cient men to do the work, and has
succeeded in maintaining their eff
cheney. Herein lies the superiority
of our method over that of the French
administration. No well-informed
person will deny these broad facts,
and it remains only to give credit
to whom credit is due.
Before the American public has had
time Or opportunity to acquaint it
self with details. however, the verdict
has been presumptuously forestalled
by the medical profession, and WIDE
ly and vociferously proclaimed. It
may come somewhat as a shock to
you who have retained the traditional
ideal of the physician as the persona
fication of modesty and se1f-abnega-
ton to learn that these gentlemen
have awarded to themselves the en-.
tire credit of the work. But this only
goes to show that you are behind the
auaintance Of that product of the
! Twentieth Century, the political doc
tor.
| That the Isthmian Canal, the latter
+, affirm and reiterate, is soon to be-
| come material reality is due wholly
to the sanitarian. While in sense
! an engineering feat. the completed
task is primarily a tribute to bac-
! teriology. It, attests the fact that
| medicine has at last become an exact
! science The rightful parent of the
| Canal is not De Lesseps, but Pas.
| teur.
Let us investigate this astonishing
| claim.
There are about 10000 picked men
| and women at work in. the Canal
Zone $4,000 Of these are negro Ia
horers from the adjoining tropical
countries. particularly from the Bril-
fish West Indies. These laborers
the first day. and wages and food
better than most Of them had ever
before received. Good treatment with
negro begets docility and content.
! ment which means obedience to law
and common sense regula tons.
Hence it is not surprising that these
colored employees-all selected men
and proverbially healthy in their
home country where poverty and
Alth is the rule rather than the ex-
ception-should have prospered might
lily under chleaner and happier sur
roundings Indeed, would it not have
been surprising had results been 9th.
erwise? So while it may be hard to
say just what part the doctors have
cor trihuted to the well-being of the
colored class the fact can hardly be
denied that they have played minor
role
The same applies. perhaps with
slight notifications. to the 5000 Span
ish and Italian laborers. To the
southern European the Tropics have
never presented any terrors and the
Latin people have always been pion-
GERS in tropical development. That
these laborers most of whom are
spaniards. have bettered themselves
industrially by coming. to Panama is
self-evident, so that their case is
pra ctically identical with that of
their colored co-laborers-a tribute to
good pay. considerable treatment and
decent surroundings. Here again the
doctor has no logical claim to the
lime-light.
. But the case of the Americans and
their families. who are estimated at
over 10 900. requires perhaps. more
careful analysis, though the facts
. when elucidated are no less damagine
paeandists.
Here. say the doctors, Is a good
sized army of white Americans trans
ported into an unsuita BILE climate sur
, rounded by deadly perils and subject
ed to more plaques than harassed
the land of Pharaoh and yet they re-
! main healthy; Medicine did the trick
and we can prove 1t.
: Let us see
) The Tropics heretofore have prov.
! ed a great magnet to gold seekers
explorers and various Adventures
ton. Is it any wonder that the death
rate was high among men who en-
deavored to traverse impenetrable
jungles, who frequently set out un-
provided with the necessary food and
supplies. and who had to learn from
l or{ co4 1,ox
now placed at the disposal of every
Canal employee?
1t is not at Panama alone that the
Tropics are losing their fictitious ter.
rors. The northern tourist is now
} ending his way through the whole
companies are loudly proclaiming the
> delights of residence throughout the
West Indies and the Spanish Main
Statistics, moreover, show that vel.
low fever had been on the decline
long before the discoveries of the
Panama. with it's ideal conditions, Is
/ not the only tropical city that car
> boast of diminishing death rate.
, That the economic and social con-
dition of the worker in Panama is
ideal no one can dispute. and if this
al well-being why should the fact.
. be denied? Is not this experiment
: too valuable during the present era
of industrial distress and social up,
| heaval to be subjected to the slight
7 est Misrepresentation?
al The American colony at Panama il
composed largely of men in the prime
ii of life who have been subjected tt
q the most rigid physical examination
before acceptance. Having passed
this examination and received posi-
i, lions which in most cases assure g
!, salary much grea ter than the recipi-
ents could earn in the United States
they begin to learn how philanthropy
ic an employer Uncle Sam really is
The new employees are transported
free of charge to the scene of theil
@ labor On their arrival they fine
themselves in a modern town OF
!. structed of the best materials and
> contains every modern improvement
= The newcomer in most cases receives
free quarters, and though he must
pay for his meals. these are of the
hest quality and are provided abso.
9 lutely at cost. The householder who
must pay rent finds that Uncle Sam
> has again anticipated his needs anG
provided the maximum of comfort al
the minimum of expense. Food
clothing and all the necessaries OF
. life. that is, those not already pro.
vided free of cost, are sold at such
reduced rates that the high cost OF
> living in the Canal Zone is but &
northern echo. If anyone doubts this
a let him consult the New York even
: inc POST for January 22nd last, in