The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-03
Dr. Gorgas, Surgeon General of Uncle Sam's
 Army, 60 Today

Dr. William Crawford Gorgas, Sur geon-General of Uncle SanueFs army
 and wor1d-famous as chief sanitary of fcer of the Panama Canal Comrnis- sion, was born in old Mobile just sixty
 years ago today, Oct. 3, 1854. His
 father was Gen. Johiah Gorgas. a gall
 lant warrior of the Confederacy He
 took his A. B. at the University or or the South and his M. D. at Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York. In 1880 he began his long service in the government employ as an army surgeon, and has worked his way up to the top by sheer merit. His work in
 cleaning up the canal zone and thus
 making the 'sbig ditch'' possible has
 been recognized by great physicians of
 America. and Europe as one Of the most remarkable achievements In medical history After Completing that job Gen. Gorgas spent several months in South Africa, Investigating problems connected with mine sanita- ton and the health of the Rand gold miners, who are mostly kafHrs. On his return several months ago he
 stopped at London, where dinner
 was given in his honor by the heads of the medical profession.
 As 8 sanitary engineer and medical officer, Dr. qorgas sh lowed the United
 States how to succeed where the
 French failed in digging the canal. 11- to the many investigators who have
 contributed. to the advance of the
 science of sanitation in the last three decades, but the general public, as well
 as physicians, attribute his success to his ability as @ sanitary officer and his durability as a man.
 Dr. Gorgas has shown the world how to live and work in the tropics
 without detriment to health, and he
 has made Panama. formerly pest Tra he
 accomplishment of that gigantic job
 something more than wide profession
 al knowledge was needed. pr. Gorgas
 had won his spurs by stamping out
 yellow fever at Havana, and he tack
 led the Abig job at Panama with a de-
 termination to succeed which brooked
 no obstacles.
 A bigoted, unsympathetic man, no
 matter how great his Knowledge, would have failed at Panama The
 resents any afectation of superiority
 on the part of the 'gringo." If pr.
 Gorgas had soughts to attain his end
 by force, disregarding the prejudices of the natives, he would have found himself up against 8 stone wall. But he didn't. He knew that the Pana- mantans were sensitive and high
 strung, and that dictatorial methods
 would only aIienate them and prevent
 that cooperation so necessary to the realization or his plans. HIS nrsr task, therefore, was to win the con-
 hdence and respect of the people. and
 this did not take long His geniaHty and friendliness and complete lack of side" made Senor Gorgas a favorfte with men, women and children, and
 when he turned the PanaInanlanB out 1 of their homes and put the general
 Immigration order into effect, he had not only the consent but the eager as- ststance of the natives. l pr. sGorgas fuTpi gated homes, clear ed the jungIes, drained the swamps l where the mosquito, common carrier l of the germs of the deadly yellow
 fever and tropical malaria, had long
 reigned supremes spread larvicide
 everywhere, destroyed disease-carry- ing rats, screened the houses of na-
 eral cleaned out Panama and trans formed the zone into health re- sort. Yellow fever, smallpox. bu- bonic plague and malaria, which for
 merly made it impossible for the white man to live long in Panama, are now
 practically unknown, and the same
 methods are now being followed in l scores of other plague spots of the world, with great success. It was a man-size job that pr. Gorgas tack led in Panama, and his success made
 his appointment as Surgeon General of the army the very least ackno owI- edgeHent that a grateful government could offer.