﻿DC, B, 2 Sanitary Survey in Mindoro 149 



terests are ready and anxious to meet the Government in any 

 proposition looking to the alleviation of the very unsatisfactory 

 conditions existing at the present time, and I recommend 

 and urge that the Government take up this matter on a broad 

 basis, reach a line of agreement for methods of work, and pro- 

 ceed to clean up the area in question and remove the stigma 

 of the "white man's grave" from one of the richest and most 

 attractive territories of the Philippine Islands, Definite recom- 

 mendations regarding this point will be found in another place 

 of this report. 



4. THE INTERNAL SANITARY PROBLEM 



By Thomas W. Jackson 



As a member of the Mindoro Malaria Commission, represent- 

 ing the Bureau of Health, I made certain observations, under 

 the direction of the chairman of the commission, relating to 

 various phases of the health problem at the San Jose Estate 

 and adjacent properties. These observations may be grouped 

 under the general title, The internal sanitary problem. Con- 

 sideration was given in this investigation to the following sub- 

 jects: (1) Topography and climate ; (2) population, individually 

 and collectively, from a medical standpoint; (3) housing con- 

 ditions and nutrition; (4) the sanitary and medical organi- 

 zation; and (5) a study of the causes for the high morbidity 

 and mortality rates at San Jose. 



I. TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE 



The San Jose estate is situated on the low plain that extends 

 from the coast to the foothills of the mountains in southwestern 

 Mindoro. (Fig. 1.) 



This plain is intersected with numerous arroyos which contain 

 flowing water at all times and which in the rainy season become 

 deep and torrent-like streams. The two great rivers are 

 the Busuanga and the Lumintan, flowing in somewhat parallel 

 directions from the mountains to the sea and distant about 12 

 kilometers from each other. The Lumintan is the most north- 

 western, and crosses a portion of the sugar estates, while the 

 Busuanga passes directly through and across the estates within 

 1.5 kilometers of the sugar mill. Magbando River, a smaller 

 parallel stream, flows close to the sugar mill, and with its 

 branches provides a running-water system through the "Min- 

 doro" and "Lubang" camps, and furnishes as well a natural 

 irrigation system. The banks and bed of this stream have been 



