Before going directly into the question of sanitation at Panama I think it would be well to tell something of the geography of the locality, and to dwell somewhat on a few other points.
I am frequently asked how the work is getting on at Panama, and if it is really as far advanced as the papers report. As far as I can judge, what the papers say about represents the condition of affairs. The chief engineer states that he will be ready to pass ships through the canal by the fall of 1913, and that it will be formally opened by Jan. 1, 1915.
It is not generally appreciated that if a line were to be drawn straight south from the United States through Panama, this line would barely touch Ecuador and would in general fall well west of South America. In other words, South America is altogether east