Evening star., 1936-08-10

Gatllard ana GorgaS. Both were OF
prominent Southern families. Gail
lard was a South Carolinian. Gorgas
was an ALBANIAN. They achieved
miracles in their respective fields oi
engineering and sanitation which the
world reveres.
To Gen. Goethals belongs the credit
Of assigning Col. Gaillard to the gen.
eral supervision of dredging and ex-
cavating operations from Gamboa tc
Gatun. Col Gaillard,s Huguenot an
cestor in 1916 suffered being broken
upon the wheel rather than recant
his faith. This descendant must
have inherited some Of his forbear's
grim endurance, since he astounded
the engineering world not only with
what he assayed and completed, but
the manner in which he did It.
Amazingly, he put discarded, ap-
parently worthless, machinery res
cued from the jungle into operation
thereby saving months of precious
time and expense. since the commits
sion would otherwise have had to
wait for the arrival of machinery
ordered from the United States.
Next, Col. Gaillard was given juris-
diction over the central division of
the 80 miles Of the canal between
the Atlantic and Pacific, including
the excavation through the Continen-
tai Divide by the so-called Cllebra
Cut, whose repeated slides dishearten-
ingly threatened disaster to the whole
project time and again.
Gen. Gaillard's Task.
BY what at times amounted to al
most superhuman resourcefulness
Col. Gaillard conquered the resources
OF nature herself. Seemingly, to meet
an obstacle was to overcome 1t, but
he was a martyr to the cause in
which he served.
Among the young lieutenants whom
he trained in this engineering line of
duty and who afterward attained emf
nence in their own right was Edgar
Jadwin, afterward Gen. Jadwin. famous
as an authority on Mississippi food
control.
Three memorials testify to Col.
Gaillards attainments in the building
Of the Panama Canal.
One has been reared by the Ameri-
can Huguenot Society In the Huguenot
Church In Charleston, S. c., the State
Of his birth.
In the Cullum Military Hall at West
Point his classmates have laid their
laurel wreath Of honor.
Upon the rock face of the cut that
was originally called Culebra, now fit
tingly changed to Gaillard, his family
and the members Of his own volunteer
regiment upon the canal operations
have placed a bronze tablet. For the
passing of ships of all the countries OF
the world 1t serves as q reminder OF
his valor and achievement.
Seemingly insurmountahle, too, were
the problems Of sanitation, which were
the responsibility of Col. Gorgas. De-
MED admission to West Point he stud
led medicine in order to associate him
self with the Army as a member OF
its medical force.
Many of the difficulties were those
arising from administration and con-
gressional appropriation, despite the
fact Col. Gorgas had already won in
ternational fame while chief sanitary
officer in Havana, Cuba, from 1888
to 1892.
Utilized Reeds Discovery.
Utilizing the discovery of Reed that
the tropical mosquito was the chief
carrier of yellow fever, he knew from
the Cuban experience that the clear
ing of brush. draining Of swamps, the
removal of all filth and dirt that could
possibly serve as the breeding place
Of mosquitoes. was the first step in the
plan to put through the Panama
Canal.
1t was difficult to persuade heads OF
commissions that supplies for DRAIN
ing sWamps were as necessary as those
for dredging and excavation and even
more expensive at times
Visiting Congressman were wont to
gibe: I'VE hear it costs a dollar
apiece to kill off these mosquitoes. 4"
To this "the mosquito man." as he
came to be called, would patiently re-
ply: But suppose you were the men
that these mosquitoes were proposing
to sting, the price would be absurdly
cheap"
Finally, subsequent to the personal
support Of President Roosevelt after q
visit to the Canal Zone, Col. Gorgas
not only made it model of sanitation,
comparable to any city in the United
States, but demonstrated to the world
that under proper conditions white
men can live as well In the tropics as
In temperate zones.
In Sanitation in Panama" Col.
Gorgas tells of reducing the sick rate
from that Of 333 per 1000 among the
French to % per 1000 among Amer
ican employees. The death rate reached
but II out of 1000, with adequate hos
pital care being maintained at cost
OF 81 per person.
His was relentless war not against
humans, but for humans; a grim war
against the causes of disease among
dlsease-carrying filths whose danger
to the world is immeasurable.
Twenty-Five years afterward, this
August, as the maritime traffic of the
world passes through the Paname
Canal from the Atlantic to the Pa
cific, 1t is serving mankind more
broadly perhaps than those who en-
visioned it in our national life could
possibly have dreamed.
Its interest to Washington is al
most personal one, because there are
living In our midst and known to many
Of us the families of the men who were
its motivating forces.