The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-06-25

made it sanitary. Instead Of allow
the malaria mosquito to make 1t
healthy for the men they made 1t IN
healthy for the mosquito.
In fact they made the conditions to
fit the work instead Of working under
old conditions.
And that brings me to another phase
of the situation. After completing all
this very necessary preliminary work
it seems to me it would have been
wiser to build a sea level, rather than
a lock canal. Men can live on the is
land now. Once cleaned it is easy to
keep it cleaned. Those in a position
to know tell me that in Panama and
Colon, where the American invasion
has enforced sanitary regulations. that
the natives themselves take to the new
order of things and would not go back
If they could. In other words, they
have imbibed certain standards of liv.
ing, which, from an innovation have
become necessities. Therefore the
effect is lasting.
1t has been but ten years since the
canal project vas first put in motion.
And yet in that time many things have
arisen which could not nave been for
seen. One of them is the m
growth in the shipbuilding industry
and the demand for larger and larger
ships. At the time when the canal was
planned, the largest ships afloat could
pass the proposed canal, but since that
time both battleships and commercial
vessels have increased enormously.
Originally it was planned to build the
locks 900 feet long by 95 wide but
later by executive order the dimen-
sions were enlarged to 1000 by 10. At
present our largest battleships with q
beam of 81 feet will have barely six
feet of room on either side in passing
the locks.
Another change is in conditions
which govern modern warfare. When
the canal was planned and the Ques-
ton of a lock canal was preached we
knew comparatively little, II anything.
of aeroplanes. Now we know that one
%aeroplane with a business like torpedo
could do all the damage necessary to
the locks. With all our coast defense
and all our battleships, what defense
have we against the aeroplane? This
may never be tested. We may remain
at peace with all the world, and the
locks may stand for ages but, never
theless, the fact remains that the lock
type of canal is a weaker link between
the waters of two oceans than would
be a sea level canal.
Another point. What about earth
quake? The locks may stand the shock
and again they may not. Concrete has
proven to be a comparatively safe ma
terial in resisting earth shocks, but
concrete in such vast quantities has
yet to be tested. What will happen?
We can only surmise that If a real old
fashioned earthquake hits the canal
zone that things will happen and what
it will do to the locks and dams will be
plenty.
The original estimates called for two
years more time and expenditure of
seventy-fve millions additional to
build a sea level canal. Whether in
the light of later events more time and
money would have been found neces-
sary, or not, is not of Importance. We
could have found the money and as I
have pointed out, the cleaning-up of
the isthmus made it possible to live
there and accordingly the digging of
a sea level canal would be only a mat.
ter of extra time.
Concerning health conditions Mar
shall says: THE canal zone is at the
present day more healthful to the
white man than many parts Of the
, United States. There has been an alb
sence of yellow fever during the past
nine years and it is safe to say that no
epidemic of that disease will ever oc.
cur again. Malaria is being rapidly
reduced. The general health Of the
employees both white and colored is
better than of the several communities
from which they were drawn.
A total of about $40, 1000, 900 has been
spent upon the canal zone for santa
ton. 1t is a reasonably healthy place
to live but it must be remembered that
this condition can only be maintained
SO long as the stringent methods of
health precautions are enforced"
This is the kernel of the matter.
Keep the zone clean and it is healthy
but let it go back to squalor and filth
and the old conditions will prevail.
During the ten years with an army of
} sometimes 5000 working on the canal
there have been in the n~eighborhood
OF 5000 deaths, less than 800 of them
being Americans. OF the total num-.
Der somewhat over 1000 died of acct
dents. The French lost in nine years
somewhat over 10000.
These figures to me are more inter.
esting and tell a bigger story than the
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