704 Mr. A. Henry Savage Landor [June 18, 



Another curioiLS fact is that the black yearly death-rate has for the 

 first time since American occupation been smaller than the white death- 

 rate. In 19(»6, for instance, the death-rate among blacks was nearly 

 three times highei" than the death-rate among the whites. This satis- 

 factory result was entirely due to the improved methods of sanitation, 

 which have nearly reached a perfect stage, and, above all, to the better 

 food which the blacks can obtain at low^ prices in the Commission 

 Messes, instead of procuring food of inferior quality for themselves. 



Taking into consideration the collective total population of the 

 Panama Kepublic and the Canal Zone, the Americans have again 

 highly satisfactory figures to show. 



In 1904, with a total population of o5,000, the death-rate per 



thousand was 52*45. 

 In 1908, with a total population of 120,097, the death-rate per 



thousand was 24 '83. 



The attention given by local doctors to the diseases typical of the 

 country has certainly given good results. Take special complaints 

 more general on the Isthmus, such as dysentery and malaria : — 



In 1906, with 26,705 employees, 69 died of dysentery and 233 



from malaria. 

 In 1908, with 43,890 employees, there were 16 deaths from 



dysentery and 73 from malaria. '^ 



A similar improvement is noticeable in the percentage of typhoid 

 fever, pneumonia, beri-beri, and other complaints common in the 

 tropics. 



No smallpox occurred during the year 1908, no cases of plague, 

 and no cases of yellow fever. The latter seems entirely stamped out. 

 Indeed, since December 1905, I believe not a single case of yellow 

 fever has developed on the Isthmus. During that epidemic (1905) 

 there W'cre 246 cases, with 84 deaths. 



Before the American occupation both Colon and Panama cities were 

 universally renowned for the filthy condition of their streets and of 

 the poorer homes in the old Columbian days. We will not refer to 

 the primitive arrangements in the w^ay of sanitation. Curiously 

 enough, the natives themselves seemed to suffer but little from this 

 state of affairs. Tht^ population of Panama was immune to yellow 

 fever, and even the employees of the French Comi)any appear to have 

 got acclimatised to a certain extent. No death from yellow fever 

 seems to have occurred among them since the year 1897. It was 

 principally among the new arrivals that the disease showed itself and 

 proved fatal. 



Americans have done wonders in the way of reducing Panamanian 

 towns from a state of inconceivable dirt and confusion to a model 

 condition of cleanliness and order. 



