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30 M A R I N E, time until the end of 1905. By the spring of 1906 I expect to have the campaign entirely mapped out and the actual dig- ging of the canal in actual progress. Then it will take eight years to complete the work. The line already marked out by the French company will be followed pretty closely except that wherever possible curves will be straightened. The line of. the canal will be for about 25 miles along the Chagres river, then along one of the branches of the Chagres, passing through the cut among the hills known as the Culebra cut, about ten miles from Panama, and thence on by the Rio Grande river to Panama bay. The completion of the work will cost $150,- 000,coo. This sum added to the $40,000,000 paid to the French company for the canal property and the $10,000,000 paid to the Panama government for the grant of land will make the total cost of the great waterway $200,c00,000. I found the natives friendly toward the United States, although some of the thrifty shopkeepers and dispensers of high living seemed to be a little put out when they found that the Americans were not as free spenders as the French had been. The English language is fast becoming the predominant tongue in the canal zone, although in the hotels and on the plazas German, French and Spanish are heard also. Many of the natives of Panama of the higher class are sending their children to the United States to be educated, and this is aiding in the Amer- icanizing of the Isthmus." BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN PANAMA Mr. John Barrett, minister to Panama, after a month's in- vestigation on the Isthmus and consultations with Chief En- gineer Wallace and the members of the Isthmian Canal Com- mission submitted the following memorandum to the depart- ment of state concerning business openings and conditions of employment on the Isthmus: "Birst. No man seeking a position as clerk, stenographer, typewriter, engineer, mechanic, foreman, or any similar class of labor which the average American will be willing to per- form, should come to the Isthmus in expectation of securing a position unless he has made previous arrangement for em- ployment, or has sufficient funds to pay his expenses in Panama and of return to the United States if he finds no opening. More men of this kind are now coming to Panama and Colon than there are positions to be filled. The cost of living is very high, prices have increased nearly 300 per cent in the last six months, and there is a great shortage of cheap and wholesome lodging and board accommodations. "Second. While Panama and Colon, as well as towns in the zone and in the interior of Panama proper, are sure to experience a considerable measure of material and industrial progress through the excavation of the canal, there are not, at present, many opportunities for the establishment of new mer- cantile, business and professional firms, and there should not be an inrush of merchants, business and professional men in the expectation of finding considerable and ready openings for establishing themselves. It would be best for men de- sirous of locating here in business enterprises, first, to come and look over the field before finally closing up their offices - an the United States. "Third. It is the consensus of opinion among members otf the commission and others who have studied the situation that both Americans in the United States and Pana- manians here have greatly exaggerated the increase ,of population which will result from the _ construction of the canal and of the umber of men who will be employed by the commission for the carrying on of the undertaking. It is not probable, in view of the modern systems to be employed in construction, that there will be at any time more than 12,- o0co or 15,000 men directly employed as ordinary laborers along the line of the canal. If we add to these some 5,000 to cover the small number that will bring their families, and the element that might be termed camp followers, and if we further add 5,000 more who will represent high class employes RB We at Ey | and all kinds of business and professional men who may come 'here on account of the work, and all others employed, we have, at the outside, an increase only of 25,000 people. This number, moreover, will not be coming here all at once, but gradually through a period of years, and as they may be re- quired. ne "Fourth. All estimates to the effect that some 40,000 to 60,000 people will be brought to this Isthmus through the construction of this waterway are exaggerated, and calcula- tions on such a basis will prove most deceptive. As the latest estimate of population of Panama proper, according to Whit- taker, is 340,000, this added 25,000 through a period of years is not sufficient to create any great 'boom,' as that term is commonly used. There is not yet any real 'boom' in Panama city, in Colon, or in the zone, but rents for houses, stores and offices have doubled and tripled during the last few months, and are now almost exorbitantly high. In fact, the Panama landlords are, some of them, so unreasonable in their charges that there is danger of their driving business from Panama city into the neighboring zone. The United States, in securing offices for its legation, is as much a sufferer in this respect as any merchant or professional man. "Fifth. The disagreeable and unhealthy features of the Panama climate have been ridiculously overstated by those who have viewed the situation superficially while passing across the Isthmus in transit, or who have desired to create a sensation. Members of the commission and the minister, who are familiar with other tropical countries, particularly those of Asia, find it much cooler and healthier here than in cor- responding latitudes of other lands. The former unsanitary conditions existing in the days of the old Panama Canal Co. might have characterized the construction of a similar work in any other portion of the world, and are responsible also for many of the terrible tales that are now told in the American press. As a matter of fact, there has not been during the months of July and August a single uncomfortable night for sleeping, while the average days have not been hotter than those of New York and Washington in the summer. There has been hardly a single instance of serious illness among the considerable number of, young men who are here in the em- ployment of the canal, while the percentage of sickness among the larger group of laborers employed at Culebra is not greater than that upon similar excavating work in the United States. Among the 4oo marines located half way across the Isthmus at Empire, there has not been a single death from local diseases, while the percentage of those in hospital is not larger than would be found, for the same number, at the average post in the United States. "Sixth. There has been only one case of yellow fever in several months, and there is less malaria than is often found in sections of the United States, where~ there is considerable turning of the soil. The worst portions of the cities of Panama and Colon are much cleaner and more wholesome than the slums of some of our North American cities, and are far ahead of the average Asiatic city located in the tropics. These corrections of overdrawn criticisms of the Panama climate must not, however, be interpreted as meaning that there are not unfavorable features here. 'They exist, as they do in all tropical lands, and, of course, the conditions of main- taining health and enjoying life are not, by any means, as favorable as those in the average temperate climates. When, however, the present able sanitary corps, who have charge of improving health conditions in the Isthmus have carried out their plans for the improvement of the canal strip and of the cities of Panama and Colon, there is no reason why this Isthmus should not be 6ne of the healthiest places in the world," The new Panama bonds to be issued to defray the cost of the construction of the canal will bear the likeness of the late Senator Hanna to whose efforts this route was selected.