File:Panama and the canal (1910) (14757852966).jpg

Identifier: panamacanal01hall (find matches)
Title: Panama and the canal
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Hall, Alfred B. (Alfred Bates), 1875-1936 Chester, Clarence Lyon, 1877- joint author
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, Newson and Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
clear days could not dry out such places.Foul odors and disease must have been common. Presi-dent Taft said of the streets of Panama City: They weremuddy in rainy weather, dusty in dry weather, and full ofdisease in all weathers. But what were those curious looking barrels and tanksbehind the houses? Take a careful look into one of them.Do you see those odd ^wigglers on the surface? Theyare little wormlike bodies and out of each a mosquito willsoon hatch and fly away. Among these mosquitoes are,no doubt, some of that much dreaded sort that carry theyellow fever. And this dirty barrel certainly cannot con-tain drinking water,—and yet it does, for there is no otherto be had in Panama City! Perhaps these barrels andtanks that catch the rain water on which the city depends,may explain why so many of the poor of Panama seemnever to have taken a bath. A picture of a Colon street shows even worse conditions.Colon was built upon ground so low that there simply could UNDER THE NEW REGIME 143
Text Appearing After Image:
144 WORK FOR COLONEL GORGAS be no drainage. The houses of the well-to-do were keptfairly clean, but of the houses of the poor, the less said thebetter. And all about Colon were the swamps and jungles,poisonous air, and more mosquitoes. If the two best cities of Panama were as unhealthful asthis, what must have been the condition of the twenty ormore miserable little towns along the line of the canal? It was clear to the Canal Commission at the very begin-ning that no canal could be built as long as filth and dis-ease continued. So they advised that a man be appointedto clean up the Canal Zone and the cities of Colon andPanama. He must be a man who knew about tropicaldiseases and had had experience in fighting them. He musthave unlimited courage and patience. And he must begiven all the money, men, and time necessary.Gorgat ^^^^ ^^^ chosen for this important task was Colonel William C. Gorgas of the Medical Corpsof the United States Army. Experience has shown that thechoice was a good

Note About Images