Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1914-04-10

can war, the battleship Oregon, in
OF der to join SIMPSONS fleet at San
tiago, had to travel from San Fran
cisco around Cape Horn, thence to
Santiago, a total distance of thirteen
thousand miles. The question of cut
ting a canal through the Isthmus OF
Panama again occupied the public
mind; for the sake of protection in
time of war and the advancement Of
American commerce, the canal was
proposed.
There were two obstacles blocking
the way, the Clayton Bulwar treaty
and the attitude of the DeLesseps COM
pany Here the United States made a
blunder. In order to gain the good
will of England We made a treaty
known as the Hay-Pauncefote treaty
of 1901. BY its terms England agreed
to relinquish all claim in the manage
ment of the canal; the United States
agreed to grant England the same
toll rate as that of the most favored
nation"
The French company agreed to sell
it's franchise to the United States fo'
the sum of forty million CorIars. Col-
gress then gave the president Of the
United States authority to purchase
the franchise and build the canal At
ter this obstacle had been removed
another one was found. We had made
OF had drawn up treaty with Colo,.t-
hia, but she refused to ratify it. Coll
ombia is a federation, as we are; Pan
ANA was one of its states. AS the ca
raj would pass entirely through the
boundaries of Panama, knowing they
would have the recognition and sup
port of the United States, Panama
seeded from Colombia and became
an independent republic. They were
Immediately recognized by the United
States. Panama now made a treaty
with our country, granting us that
strip of land that now contains the
great Panama canal.
When the French were in Panama
their company nor their country would
take the necessary precautions as to
sanitation; as consequence many
hundreds and even thousands of men
died of malaria fever and typhoid fe-
YER. This served as a lesson to I'm
Gle Sam, who even before he had sent
his canal building material, sent his
sanitation experts who should devise
means of fighting the fevers. Two ways
were found to be feasible; all the
swamps on both sides of the canal
zone were leveled and drained and men
with large syringes with pump con-
trivance were sent over the entire
canal zone. They discharged a solu-
ton into every stagnant pool, large
or small, thus killing the germs and
rlaking the death rate of Panama the
smallest in the world,
After proper precautions in the mat
ter of sanitation had been taken our
country then began to look around for
raterial The French company had
left shovels, picks, steam shovels
steam plows and dredges in the old
channel, and these, after little re-
pair, were found to be in excellent
shape. But these were not enough to
supply the army of workmen that had
fiocked to the zone, so by means OF
competitive bids the United States
made large contracts with American
houses to supply the large demand AS
Il result, graft was reduced to a min
imum and only the best material was
used. The canal project was always
run on an economic basis and in order
to give the workmen proper food at
the lowest possible cost, the United
States established large commissaries
where food, shoes, clothing and other
essentials are sold at cost.
Railroads are built all over the
zone, and material is brought from the
oooofe t0 Tho station a which tbau a ra