The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1913-01-30
copyright, 1913, by Herbert
Quick.)

SrOW0cu-ln SUOlS. J. uiS fOya6
on the Good Ship Earth differs
from other voyages, in this, that
nobody gets off the ship-Death
is only a name for being reab-
sorbed into her decks; and Birth
is only an expression of the idea
that portions of the decks have
taken on the form of a baby,
which will take into itself more
and more of the ship, until II
grows up. And. with birth en-
bodied in the earth of the body,
and with death disembodied from
1t, is the mystery of the soul.
And inasmuch as nobody gets
off, the number that are born
among us becomes an important
matter-we'll come to a fuller
contact with that problem later.
Just now what concerns us Is the
fact that in spots the Passengers
are getting too thick. New quar-
tiers must be found for the in
crease.
Millions may be slowed in the
places now recognized as desira-
BILE and still unoccupied or only
half occupied. Then we are going
to spread northward in the North
ern Hemisphere into Siberia,
Canada, and other lands now
sparsely occupied by reason OF
the cold-because the climate of
the whole world will grow warm
er and warmer as the air is filled
with carbonic acid gas from the
consumption of coal-and we
shall even be able to re-people
Greenland and spread toward the
South Pole into the Antarctic
Continent. All this within a thou
sand years, as there is reason to
believe.
But are we to leave the tropics
as uninhabited or sparsely peo-
pied jungles and llanos and PAM
pas and silvas? We have never
been able to develop successful
collective life in the torrid zone.
Why? Is the land there lacking
in the elements of plant food on
which alone human life is based?
Far from it. The richest lands in
the world, judged by their prod
ucts, are in the tropics of South.
ern Asia, Central Africa, Central
South America, and such huge is
lands as Borneo, Paqua and the
Philippines. They are well wat
cred. They bring forth amazing
ly. Where scientifically cultivat-
ed as in Hawaii they prove them
selves capable of producing food
> and shelter for dense populations.
Why, then, do not all the
crowded Passengers in the Ship
go to the tropics, where these
rich lands are by the millions OF
acres, occupied only by the wild
beats, birds and the riotous
vegetation?
There are many reasons-rea-
sons of state, reasons of race
prejudice. reasons of difficulty on
the part of the migration of peer
people. And there are natural
reasons.
The very richness of the tropics
makes them hard to reclaim. In
the Canal Zone, a road built to a
farm is grown up and impossible
In a few weeks. The trees and
vines and huge weeds are foes to
man. They overwhelm them.
They daunt him. They make it
almost impossible for him to clear
the land, and almost as impossi-
BILE to keep it cleared.
Then there is the question of
health. Until recently white men
have found it impossible to live
full strong life in the tropics,
or to perpetuate their race there.
The British in India last but two
or three generations. Our peo-
pie in the Philippines may be ex-
pected to perish in the same way.
unless-unless we Gorgasize and
Goethalsize the Philippines.
mean, unless We do to them as we
have done in the Canal Zone.
In making the Panama Canal,
We seem to have solved the prob
lem of white life in the tropics.
DIR. Gorgas and his health depart
ment, under the rule of Col. Goe-
thals, have made the most pesti-
lential spot on earth, perhaps. a
region where white men can
work, and work hard, and where
white family life seems perfectly
possible as permanent thing.
This is bigger thing than the
canal itself!
Disease comes in the tropics, as
elsewhere, mostly in the form OF
evil bacteria in the blood, and ami
NAL parasites in the body. These
produce diseases. The proverbial
Incidence of nations of the trop-
les is largely the result of dis
ease-aike hookworm. These
germs and parasites affect both
the men and their livestock. The
tsetse fly fights back farming by
killing the domestic animals in
South Africa. The sleeping sick.
ness kills off the people. Cholera
ravages the tropics, and bubonit
plague and yellow fever and hook
worm and many other plaques
But these diseases are one by one
being conquered. Yellow fevc,
and malaria are mere question:
of Mosquitoes, and the Panama
and Cuban experiences prove tina
they can be COPIED with. A sim
pie remedy and very effective
preventives are known for hook
worm. New .antitoxins and Sc
runs are found every year. We