556 THE PANAMA KOUTP: FOR A SHIP CANAL. 



conclusions of the Commission us to this feature of the matter are 

 concisely stated in the following paragraphs of its report: 



"It is possible and even probable that the more accurately fitting 

 portions of the canal, such as the lock gates, may at times be distorted 

 by earthquakes, and some inconvenience may result therefrom. That 

 contingency may be classed with the accidental collision of ships with 

 the gates, and is to be provided for in the same way, by duplicate gates. 



" It is possible also that a fissure might open which would drain the 

 canal, and, if it remained open, might destroy it. This possibility 

 should not be erected b}^ the fancy into a threatening danger. If a 

 timorous imagination is to be the guide, no great work can be under- 

 taken anywhere. This risk may be classed with that of a great con- 

 flagration in a city, like that of Chicago in 1S71, or Boston in 1872. 



" It is tiie opinion of the Commission that such danger as exists from 

 earthquakes is essentially the same for l)oth the Nicaragua and Panama 

 routes, and that in neither case is it sufficient to prevent the construc- 

 tion of the canal.-' 



The Nicaragua route crosses the line of live volcanoes running from 

 northwest to southeast through Central America, and the crater of 

 Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua is about 11 miles onh^ from the line. The 

 eruptions of Pelee and Souf riere show that such proximity of possible 

 volcanic action may be a source of great danger, although even the 

 destruction by them does not certainly indicate damage either to 

 navigation or to canal structures at the distance of 11 miles. What- 

 ever volcanic danger may exist lies on the Nicaragua route, for there 

 is no volcano nearer than 175 miles to the Panama route. 



* * * There is a wide-spread, popular impression that the Cen- 

 tral American countries are necessarily intensely unhealthful. This 

 is an error, in spite of the facts that the construction of the Panama 

 Railroad was attended with an appalling amount of sickness and loss 

 of life, and that records of man}^ epidemics at other times and in other 

 places exist in nearly all of these countries. There are the best of 

 good reasons to believe that with the enforcement of sanitar}" regula- 

 tions, which are now well understood and completely available," the 

 Central American countries would be as healthful as our Southern 

 States. A proper recognition of hygienic conditions of life suitable 

 to a tropical climate would work wonders in Central America in reduc- 

 ing the death rate. At the present tim(> the domestic administration 

 of most of the cities and towns of Nicaragua and Panama, as w(41 as 

 the generality of Central American cities, is characterized by the 

 absence of practically everything which makes for public health, and 

 by the presence of nearly every agency working for the diseases which 

 fl^oui'ish in tropical climates. When the United States Government 

 reaches the point of actual construction of an isthmian canal the sani- 

 tary features of that work should l)e administered and enforced in 

 cyery detail with the rigor oi" the most exacting military discipline. 



