Hide Article Text (OCR)
PTEMBER 29, 1904,:es)0tesJOHN F. WALLACE IS BACKChief Engineer Talks of the Great Work on the Isthmus.John F. Wallace, chief engineer of the Isthmian canal commission, is at his home in Flossmoor, where he is for a rest of two weeks. Tired out as the fesult of a strenuous summer’s work in the canal zone, and seeking retirement at this time, Mr. Wallace consented to an interview, feeilng that as a public servant, and owing to the position he occupied, he could not refuse to give information as to the great work of which he is in direct charge and upon which he is to disburse mil lions of the taxpayers’ money. Discussing his work and impressions in Panama with the Chicago Record-Herald, Mr. Wallace said:“During my three mdhths’ stay in Panama I completely covered the entire strip, which is about ten miles wide and forty-seven miles long, at least twenty times, making through observations. At present there are about 1,500 men in the field. Of this number 500 are in the sanitary department.Main Officers Americans.“There are at work six divisions of the engineering corps, each in charge of a resident engineer, and these report to me as chief engineer. There are subordinates in each engineering corps, while the rest of the men at work in connection with the canal are laborers. The engineering and clerical departments are almost entirely Americanized, and nearly every arriving steamer brings fresh additions from the United States. The majority of the common, as well as a few of the skilled, laborers are English-speaking negroe from Jamaica.‘4 The reason that Panama has had a bad name in the popular mind is owing to the fact that until recently the heterogeneous population has paid but little atttention to the ordinary laws of health. Under such conditions it was natural that those who drank hard, were not careful as to food, did not boil or sterilize their drinking water, and otherwise digregarded the ordinary hygienic precautions, should find the counry unhealthful.Good Health in Panama.4 Most men who nowr hold responsible positions in connection with the canal work are sober, industrious and ambitious, many of them being college bred. They find the health conditions in Panama excellent, and sickness among them bears but a small per cent to the total now inhabiting the isthmus.44 The mean temperature this summer was about 84 degrees, and I do not remember having passed a summer in the United States when the weather was more pleasant than it has been on the isthmus.“The sanitary corps has given especial attention to stamping out malaria and yellow fever. Of all the men at work on the canal this summer, but two died of yellow fever, and but one of them, a man 50 years old, was in the employ of the government. The idea that yellow fever is prevalent in the isthmus is erroneous. It, as well as the malarial fevers prevalent in tropical countries, is being eradicated by the scientific measures brought to bear by the sanitary department of the isthmian government.“It has been learned that one kind of mosquito, which bites only in the daytime, 'carries yellow fever infection. It also has been learned that it is the female only which bites, the blood that the insect sucks in being not for the purpose of food, but to fecundate its egg and so aid propagation. These eggs are deposited in stagnant pools but by the thorough system of drainage now being made effective such places are being done away with.Begin Digging in 1806.The preliminary work of thoroughly surveying the canal route with a viewr of determining at what level the canal is to be cut and the exact line it will follow will consume all the time until the end of 1905. By spring of 19( 6 I expect to have the campaign entirely mapped out and the actual digging of the canal in actual progress. Then it wTill take eight years to complete the work.the $40,000,000 paid to the French company and the $10,000,000 paid to the Panama government for the grant of land will make the total cost of the great, waterway $200,000,000.Finds Natives Friendlv.“I found the natives friendly toward the United States, although some of the thrifty shopkeepers and dispensers of high living seemed to be a little put out when they found that the Amerians were not as free spenders as the French had been. The English language is fast becoming the predominant tongue in the canal zone, although in the hotels- and on the plazas German, French and Spanish are heard also.44 Many of the natives of Panama of the higher class are sending their children to the United Statse to be educated. and this i»j airliner in Uio 4mn«.
Newspaper Details
Monmouth Warren County Democrat
Monmouth, Illinois, US
Thu, Sep 29, 1904
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
The U.
IL, USA 02 Sep 2024
Other Publications Near Monmouth, Illinois
Monmouth College Society Catalogue 1856 to 1880
Monmouth College Yearbook Ravelings
Monmouth Courier
Monmouth College Newspaper Courier
Monmouth College Newspaper Clipper
