Panama fever (88 page)

263     “indescribably filthy”
Maltby, “In at the Start at Panama,”
Civil Engineering
, August 1945, p. 324.

263    ”As the use of cheap steel had not become the practice”
Sibert and Stevens,
The Construction of the Panama Canal
, pp. 86–87.

264    Soon after his arrival, Maltby tried to organize
Maltby, “In at the Start at Panama,”
Civil Engineering
, June 1945, p. 262.

264    ”I intend that those fellows on the hill”
Quoted in Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, p. 161.

265    240,000 perfectly made hinges
Bates,
Retrieval at Panama
, p. 30.

265    ”Suitable quarters and accommodations could not be provided”
Wallace, “Preliminary Work on the Panama Canal,”
Engineering Magazine
, October 1905.

266    ”before there was any way to care for them properly”
Maltby, “In at the Start at Panama,”
Civil Engineering
, June 1945, p. 262.

266    ”A heavy suitcase in each hand, no light anywhere”
Hardeveld,
Make the Dirt Fly
, pp. 8–9.

267    ”apprehension,” “homesickness”
Jessie Murdoch account,
Chagres Yearbook
, 1913, p. 43ff.

267     “the wreck of the French companies”
James Williams unpublished account, MCCZ, Box 35.

267    ”We were supposed to have furniture issued to us”
“The Early Days” by John J. Meehan,
Chagres Yearbook
, 1913, p. 137ff.

268    ”I am thoroughly sick of this country and everything to do with the canal”
Quoted in Pepperman,
Who Built the Panama Canal?
, p. 61.

268     “There have been many errors and much wastage and pilfering of money”
Boni,
Panamá, Italia y los Italianos
, p. 129.

268    ”supplies taking for ever to arrive”
Wallace, “Preliminary Work on the Panama Canal,”
Engineering Magazine
, October 1905.

269    A request was posted for twenty-five track foremen
Lewis,
The West Indian in Panama
, p. 97.

269     “were not examined at all”
Karner,
More Recollections
, p. 25.

269     “I have two sons who wish to go to Panama to work on the Canal”
Letter of February 17, 1905, Charles M. Swinehart file, RG 185.

269     “railroad men who were blacklisted on the American railroads”
McCullough,
The Path between the Seas
, p. 444.

269    ”Americans will put their coats on for meals”
Sands,
Our Jungle Diplomacy
, p. 14.

270    ”the people of Panama look upon Americans as noisy, grabbing bullies”
Fraser,
Panama and What It Means
, p. 185.

270     “The average American has the utmost contempt for a Panaman”
Bishop,
The Panama Gateway
, p. 121.

270    ”Panama must conduct itself as a civilized nation”
Mallet private letter, January 10, 1904.

271    ”revolutionary firebrand” and “notorious hater of foreigners”
U.S. consul Barrett to Hay, August 9, 1904, Hay Papers, Library of Congress.

271    ”any Latin American nation who fused her destiny with that of the United States”
Mellander,
The United States in Panamanian Politics
, p. 71.

272    ”I look upon the Republic of Panama as doomed”
Mallet private letter, June 29, 1904.

272     “Opinion here amongst the natives is spreading”
Mallet private letter, July 25, 1904.

272     “very loud spoken,” “vulgar” and “full of self-assurance”
Mallet private letters, July 25,1904 and March 9, 1905.

272    Soon after, an anonymous flyer was distributed
Mallet private letter, August 28, 1904.

273    ”festering with intrigue”
Sands,
Our Jungle Diplomacy
, p. 14.

274    ”whither Theodore Roosevelt and his ‘Yankee imperialism’ might be tending”
Ibid., p. 44.

274     “Don Santiago was aware”
Ibid., p. 62.

274    started appearing in New York newspapers
For example,
New York Herald
, October 4, 1904.

275    ”a kind of Opera Bouffe republic and nation”
LaFeber,
The Panama Canal: The Crisis in Historical Perspective
, p. 40.

275    ”Though the heaviest man, in weight, in the room”
Karner,
More Recollections
, p. 78.

276    One shipment of laborers was met by agents of the Municipal Engineering Division
Lindsay-Poland,
Emperors in the Jungle
, p. 135.

276     “there was no surplus throughout Central or South America”
Wood in Goethals, ed.
The Panama Canal: A.n Engineering Treatise
, vol. 1, p. 191.

276    estimated that some eight to ten thousand workers
Hains, “The Labor Problem on the Panama Canal,”
North American Review
, July 1906.

277    ”useless to discuss the question of utilizing the white race”
1906
Hearings
quoted in Major,
Prize Possession
, p. 81.

277     “The native population is wholly unavailable”
Hains, “The Labor Problem on the Panama Canal.”

277    ”fairly industrious; not addicted to drink”
Ibid., p. 50.

278    ”He does loaf about a good deal”
Major,
Prize Possession
, p. 82.

278    ”natural markets for unskilled labor”
Wood in Goethals, ed.,
The Panama Canal: An Engineering Treatise
, vol. 1, p. 194.

279    ”The island has always been and still is run for the whites”
Edwards,
Panama, the Canal, the Country, the People
, p. 21.

280    ”I shipped only sixteen laborers”
Karner,
More Recollections
, pp. 106–7.

282     “which nearly buried the shovel from sight”
Ibid., p. 40.

282     “there is little probability of finding a satisfactory location”
Report of the Chief Engineer Isthmian Canal Commission, June. 1, 1904–February 1, 1905, Washington, DC, 1905.

283     “remove the principal elements of uncertainty now existing in regard to the project as a whole”
Ibid.

283    ”I want you to build up an organization so complete and efficient”
Maltby, “In at the Start at Panama,”
Civil Engineering
, June 1945, p. 260.

Chapter Seventeen: Yellow Jack

284    ”for in a year or so there will be no mosquitoes there!”
Le Prince and Orenstein,
Mosquito Control in Panama
, p. iv.

287     “yellow fever's first encounter with one who became its implacable foe”
Gor-gas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, p. 4.

287     “we were rather inclined to make light of his ideas”
Gorgas,
Sanitation in Panama
, pp. 14–16.

287     “chlorinated lime”
Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, p. 86.

289     “Of all the silly and nonsensical rigmarole about yellow fever”
Washington Post
, November 2, 1900.

291     “When I think of the absence of yellow fever from Havana”
Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas, “p.
133.

291    ”I fear an epidemic is inevitable”
Ibid., p. 170.

292    ”our work in Cuba and Panama will be looked upon as the earliest demonstration”
292Journal of the American Medical Association
, June 19, 1909.

292     “the veriest balderdash”
Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, p. 162.

292     “I'm your friend, Gorgas, and I'm trying to set you right”
Ibid., p. 164.

292    ”The world requires at least ten years to understand a new idea”
McCul-lough,
The Path between the Seas
, p. 405.

293    ”clean, healthy, moral Americans”
Ibid., p. 451.

293     “Consequently,” Joseph Le Prince complains
Le Prince,
Mosquito Control in Panama
, p. 299.

293     “without having to wipe the mosquitoes off every second”
Mallet private letter, August 3, 1904.

293     “a convert to the mosquito theory”
Mallet private letter, January 19, 1905.

293    ”existed at practically every house in town”
Le Prince,
Mosquito Control in Panama
, p. 272.

294    ”To attempt it is a dream, an illusion”
Quoted in Rink,
The Land Divided, the World United
, p. 102.

294    ”Le Prince,” Johnson said, “you're off on the upper story!”
Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, p. 172.

295    ”Some yellow fever cases exist in the San Tomas hospital”
Mallet private letter, January 14, 1905.

295     “If you should be unwell here or if anything should happen to you”
Barrett Papers, Library of Congress.

295     “revealed a dishpan of water standing outside the cook's headquarters”
Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, pp. 178–79.

295    ”the saddest incident in the history of the American colony”
Davis to Wallace, January 17, 1905, General Correspondence, RG 185.

296    ”one of the saddest graveyards in the world”
Sullivan,
Our Times
, vol. 1, p. 455.

296     “darkened the whole Isthmus”
Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, p.174.

296     “The rush to get away”
Ibid., p. 173.

296     “the place where the ‘ghost walks’ “
Galveston Daily Gleaner
, quoted in
Star and
Herald, January
13, 1905.

296     “Unless something is done and done quickly”
Star and Herald
, February 20, 1905.

298     It was … like “the ending of many a bright young man I have seen on the
battlefield”
Davis to Wallace, May 2, 1905, quoted in Duval,
And the Mountains Will
Move
, p. 176.

298     “Everybody here seems to be sitting on a tack”
Pepperman,
Who Built the
Panama Canal?
, p. 59.

298     a young stenographer “rose from his chair and shrieked”
Carr, “The Panama Canal,”
The Outlook
, May 5, 1906.

298     “yellow fever … completely filled the atmosphere”
Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, p. 168.

298     One returning nurse
New York Tribune
, July 6, 1905.

298    about three-quarters of the white workforce
Pepperman,
Who Built the Panama Canal?
p. 58.

299    ”The military regime in Panama”
Waldo, “The Panama Canal Work, and the Workers,”
Engineering Magazine
, January 5, 1907, p. 323.

300    ”gruff, domineering”
Gorgas and Hendrick,
William Crawford Gorgas
, p. 194.

301    ”Smells and filth, Mr. President”
Ibid., pp. 198–202.

301     “huge in all three dimensions”
Sands,
Our Jungle Diplomacy
, p. 62.

301     “It would perhaps be difficult to find any spot on earth”
Star and Herald
, May 8, 1905.

301     “ill-paid, over-worked, ill-housed, ill-fed”
Magoon to Shonts, June 3, 1905, quoted in Duval,
Mountains
, p. 178.

303     “For mere lucre you change your position overnight”
Pepperman,
Who Built the Panama Canal?
, p. 121.