The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1912-07-05

eightieth parallel OF longitude
~ west Pause at the equator
and note small dot about
two degrees south Of the in
l:ersecticn of the two lines. The name
attached to the dot, If the map be
large enough, will be Guayaqu1l'
Ecuador.
Only those who have visited Quay
aouil 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 por'
tons of the country, has a climate
second to none In the world"
But it is not because OF its climate
that the attention Of the United
States has been called to GuayaQuil,
nor Is 1t because of the death OF the
tuberculous patients that the hand OF
the state department is appraised 70
fall on Ecuador.
It Is because, according to health
authorities who have visited the city,
Guayaouil is the most unhealtnfui,
the most unclean and the least SAM
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.
It Is because a United States naval
officer, Commander Levi c. Berto-
llette of the gunboat Yorktown, was
stricken with yellow fever while IN
the performance of his duty In Quay
aouil few months ago and died with.
In two days, while II OF his men 1ell
from the same cause.
And. finally, it 8 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 or
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 mus,
be done to clean up the port or a
more rigid order would be issued. The
Ecuadoran authorities, after promis
ing to comply with the international
health code, allowed the matter te
lapse, and the American government
TO. some unexplained reason, took nc
further action.
Anothe- outcry against Guayaquil
an fifth was made IN 1902. when vel
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 a few days Again the
municipal and federal authorities
promised to clean up "the pesthole oil
the Pacifc"-and again they failed to
do so.
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
Nsst's death. Guayaquil was at frs,
included in the Root itinerary. but
the secretary. being informed OF the
lack of sanitary -recautions there
canceled his engagement. The Quay
aouilan authorities. upon learning the
reason for the secretary's action
wrote him 'regretting that a few
cases of yellow fever, sporadic, should
nreyent Secretary Root from visiting
the premier port Of Ecuador"
The death from yellow fever OF DR.
william M. Wightman. U. s. p. Fl
and NJ H. S., stationed at Guayaquil
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.
iect has become an established fact
health officers in the canal zone
have made repeated demands for the
sanitation Of Guayaduil. but the re
cent death Of Commander Bertolette
eoaded the United States to decisive
action, and the state department has
determined that Guayaquil must Be
cleaned before the opening Of tn
Panama canal otherwise Drastic g;