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Show CANAL ZONE IS HEALTHY PLACE NOW Mosquito Was Bigger Ob-stad Ob-stad Than Mountain to Digging the Ditch. INSECTS CONQUERED -FRENCH AT ISTHMUS 2f Uncle Sam Has Routed Them; Spends $2,000,000 Yearly Fighting Disease. BT FREDERIC J. HA SKIN" ANCON. ( anal Zone. As the Spanish-American war demonstrated to the United States the imperative necessity of building tha Panama canal, so also it taught the lesson that made possible the construction of that great waterway water-way across the isthmus. When, in a ouiet little eouneil chamber, those three herme army surgeons. sur-geons. Reed, Carroll and Lazear, under orders from the government tvattempt to discover the csuse of the1rrev,llI1e! epidemic of yellow fever in the army of occupation in Cuba, decided that somebody must offer himself as a martyr to science to prove the theory of the transmission of the diiease by mosquitoes, mos-quitoes, and all three offered their own bodies and lives, the success of the Panama canal wae made possible. One of the men who hsd administrative administra-tive rhsrge of giving effect to the knowledge learned from those fateful lessons in Havana waa CoU William C. Gorgas. Afterward be was selected as the head of the saoitstion work in connection con-nection with the digging of the Psnama canal. Here he has been wonderfully successful. The experiments made in Cuba have been demonstrated on a large scale in Panama, and a tropical death trsp has been converted into a tropical health rsort. Mosquitoes Defeated French. The mosquito that csrries the yellow fever germ is of the genus stcgomyia. Its cousins of tha genus anopheles, in a similar manner, carry the poison of ma. laria. The mosquitoes of these two kinds drove the French, defeated, from the isthmus of Pansma, but so insidious was their warfare that they were never - suspected of being the real culprits. The Americans first cpnquered these insect in-sect enemies and then attacked the leas formidable barrier of the mountain sjs chain that separated tha Atlantic from ' the Pacific. Tha canal zone region was one of the best breeding places for mosquitoes to be found on earth. There are fifty or more families of mosquitoes here, but only the yellow fever carrier anil the malaria transmitter have bad reputa-. reputa-. tions. However, the methods used to banish the most dangerous ones also drove into exile the forty-eight varieties varie-ties of less harmful ones for even orthodox or-thodox persons decline to believe that anv mosquito is entirely harmless. The entire mosquito army has been driven back into the jungle away from both sides of tha canal, and nowadays one seldom sees or hears a mosquito on the canal zone. Millions to Preserve Health. No peopla ever have had better pro-maite pro-maite foe their health than the people of the zone. The United States government spends g'J.000,000 a year for tha work of keeping out the moa-quito moa-quito and maintaining the health of the canal force. Including the eities of Panama and Colon, which are embraced in the sanitary work, there ara fewer than 150,000 people living in the region of the canal. If aa much monev were spent for publie health in the United States as in the canal rone, in proportion propor-tion to population, it would amount to 1, 200.000,000 a year, or about $200,-000.000 $200,-000.000 more than ia now spent by the federal government for all purposes whatsoever. The area of the canal zone, including the citica of Panama and Colon, ia leas ' than 500 squsre miles. If the expenditure expen-diture on account of public health were aa great in- the United States aa it is here in proportion of area, the. annual total would amount to the stupendous sum of flS.OOO.OOO.OOO, or 50 per cent more than the value of all tba crops of tha American farms. Vigilance Kills Disease. These things ara sufficient explanation explana-tion of why tha canal sone haa been made such a healthy place. Tha money lias been forthcoming to do it. In the L'nited States men may go on being born, living and dwing. with but little -. relativa effect on industry snd eom-- eom-- merre. But here on the isthmus the bealtbfulness of the country hsd to be assured before there could be any rca . sonabia notsibilitv of doinz tha work . desigaed to be done. Tba work of tha department of sanitation sani-tation of the canal (roveroment consists of keeping down the mosquito, keeping out .yellow fever, and caring for the health of tha individual members of tha canal force. Tt employs a large force of men who are constantly on the lookout for mosquito-breeding places, it bas eba.'ge of the quarantine, looks after sanitary matters in Panama and oloa, and conducts a large hospital at A neon, a smaller one at Colon, the island sanitarium of Toboga and a leper oluny at Palo Soco. Oil Deadly to Wif glen. Ctarnal vigilance is the price of health as well aa ef liberty. On the canal gone a large force of' men is at work all the time pouring oil and larva-cidee larva-cidee oa the standing waters of the canal region; draining small pools and ponds, keeping ope a millions of feet of drainage ditcbe, cutting ' down the in ogle brush, trimming the grass, and burning trash. Fortunately the mosquito mos-quito peat is a comparatively easy one to fight. The mosquito deposits its eggs ia water, aad when t he baby mosquitoes, mos-quitoes, in the form of "wiggle tails." hatch out they must remain under water wa-ter a considerable time before obtaining obtain-ing wing readveto venture forth into - the aerial world- But as tbey must -(Continued oa page -) CANAL ZONE ' (Continued from pa ge 1.) have frequent breathe of freah air each wiggler muet make about SfOO eepaxat tnpa to th aurfare.' If, 6a aov one of there jonrneya the babv motxjuito bap pn to come in, con tact with a tiny drop of oil. it raraer ia rut abort. Therefore oil on the aurfare of the water wa-ter make moaquito breeding impoaaible. Death Bate Diminishing. When the French were in Panama thev knew nothing of the moaquito theorr of the tranemiaaion of Yellow fever and malaria indeed, nobody knew anvthing about it at that time eicept one r'uhan phvaieian whom v-ervbody v-ervbody aaid waarraiv and the French phyaiciana actually . encouraged the breeding of the ategomvia. The vellow fever moaquito prefer clean, clear water around a human hah ttation. Tha lega of tha beda in the French hospital at Ancon were set in cup of clear water. Ia it any wonder that in aix year there wer more than twelve hundred death from yellow fever in that one hoapital t The death rate in the canal Minn haa been diminiahing every vear aince thf Americana took control, and now ia low er than that of any important citr in the United States, tropical elimate to the contrary notwirhatanding. It i now under eleven per thonaand for the en tire population, and under tan for the whitea. Among the Americana the rate haa been reduced by almoat a half in fonr years, and even among the Went Indian negroes it haa been eat down from nineteen per thonaand in 1907 to lea than twelve in 1910. Fro Medical Attention. Canal emplitvee are given meflTcaTaf"-' tention free of charge and member of their families are treated at a nominal coat. An average of twentv-three per thouaand men are on the sick liat on aa average day. Thi alao ahow an Improvement over former veara. It appear almost miracuton that the aick and death rate among the negro laborer and their f ami lie are not higher than ther are. When the negro ne-gro were allowed to leave the aani-tary aani-tary quarter and go oat into the "bnh" they escaped th paternal care of the eanitarv inspectors. But they ar nevertheleee protected in general wav by the relentle war on the moaquitoea, bv the etrirt quarantine against yellow fever and by tbe compulsory com-pulsory vaccination of every imrai- grant. One of the great eat menaces to the health of tha eanal workers at the beginning be-ginning was .the wretched condition of the ritiaa of Panama and Colon, on Panamanian anil, but at tha terminii ot tha canal and abutting oa the canal rone. Soldiers Offered Their Li res. Water was supplied to the people of theae eitie by caravans of dirty people peo-ple who brought water from dirty creeks and springs ia all sorts of dirty containers to patrons who were indifferent indif-ferent to conditions. A sewer system wss undreamed of. Both towns were sixteenth century tropical pest holes surviving, bv virtue of a political anachronism, an-achronism, in tha twentieth century. The United Rtatea offered to build waterworks wa-terworks and sewerSge systems oa long term credits. The offer was accepted. Later the streets were pared, the houses were cleaned up, and bow both eitiee are decent looking, and ia all but the lower quarters are kept ia reasos-ably reasos-ably good sanitary condition. In view of the fact that the conquest of the mosquito baa made possible the success of the canal, it ia interesting to know that one of the soldiers who volunteered to allow himself to be bit-tea bit-tea by an infected yellow fever mosquito mos-quito in Cuba is now working on the canal. He is Joan J. Moraa of Ohio. Should Erect Monument. After Drs. Carroll and 'Lazes r ttsd permitted themselves to be bitten, and Carroll had recoveredand Lazes r had died. Gen. Leonard Wood offered a purse of 200 for earn private who would volunteer to submit himself to the teat. Tbe firat volunteer wer Moras and another Ohio man, John R. Kissinger. After Dr. Reed had fully iplained the risk of terrible suffering, suffer-ing, and of death involved in th experiment, ex-periment, both men expressed their willing-new to b. bitten, but both re fused to accept any .peeuniarr reward. Whn they did so. Dr. Reed touched hia rp and said to the two private: 'Gentlemen, t aalut yon!" When th Panama canal la completed every ship that passes through it ought to dip ita color in salute to a monument monu-ment that ought to bt there a monument monu-ment to the heroic physician who risked their live and gv their live to convict th. moo,uito of it crime, for without that conviction th Panama canal never would hav. beta built. Tomorrow: THE PANAMA CAN Ala, IX. Ltrtng Condition. |