money? You say you had to have it. What did you mean by saying that you had to procure silver to pay your black people?

Mr. WALLACE. They had to have the actual silver. We had no means of getting the actual silver except by buying it.

Senator MORGAN. You had to have it, just as you do in Washington. You could not do your marketing, or anything of that kind, without it?

Mr. WALLACE. They would not take United States money-paper, or anything like that.

Senator MORGAN. They could not use it.

Mr. WALLACE. No, sir; they wanted so many pieces of silver of a certain size for their work. They did not want something that said it was worth so much; they wanted to see the actual silver.

The CHAIRMAN. We will have no meeting to-morrow, but we will have a meeting Friday at 11 o'clock, and I shall ask Governor Magoon to come before the committee at that time.

Mr. Wallace, we are greatly obliged to you, and we shall have to ask you to come back again later.

(Thereupon, at 3.45 o'clock p. m., the committee adjourned until Friday, February 9, 1906, at 11 o'clock a. m.)

ISTHMIAN CANAL.

COMMITTEE ON INTEROCEANIC CANALS,

UNITED STATES SENATE,

Washington, D. C., Friday, February 9, 1906.

The committee met at 11 o'clock a. m.

Present: Senators Millard (chairman), Kittredge, Hopkins, Knox, Ankeny, Morgan, Taliaferro, and Simmons.

STATEMENT OF CHARLES E. MAGOON, ESQ., GOVERNOR OF THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE.

The CHAIRMAN. Governor, will you please state your name?

Mr. MAGOON. Charles E. Magoon.

The CHAIRMAN. And where were you raised?

Mr. MAGOON. I was raised in Minnesota and Nebraska.

The CHAIRMAN. And where were you educated?

Mr. MAGOON. In Nebraska for a collegiate training, and in the

public schools of Minnesota.

The CHAIRMAN. At the State University of Nebraska?

Mr. MAGOON. At the State University of Nebraska.

The CHAIRMAN. And I believe you are a lawyer by profession?
Mr. MAGOON. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. When and where were you admitted to the bar? Mr. MAGOON. I was admitted to the bar in 1884, in Lincoln, Nebr.; in the Federal courts at Omaha, and later in the State supreme court; and I was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States some five years thereafter.

The CHAIRMAN. With whom were you associated at Lincoln in the practice of law?

Mr. MAGOON. I studied law with the firm of Mason & Whedon. I practiced law subsequently with Mr. Charles O. Whedon, the junior member of that firm, after the death of Judge Mason.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Whedon is a lawyer of reputation in the State of Nebraska, I think?

Mr. MAGOON. Mr. Whedon is one of the leaders of the Nebraska bar, and, in my estimate, is one of the best lawyers in the West-a man of high character and great attainment and broad experience. The CHAIRMAN. He is still in the practice of law there now? Mr. MAGOON. He is; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. When did you leave Nebraska to come to Washington?

Mr. MAGOON. I left there in January, 1899.

The CHAIRMAN. And in what way were you employed here?

Mr. MAGOON. I was the law officer for what was then the Division of Insular Affairs, subsequently made the Bureau of Insular Affairs. The CHAIRMAN. And you are now at Panama?

Mr. MAGOON. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. In charge of the

Mr. MAGOON. I might say, Senator, if you will permit me to continue in that line, that in 1904 I became the general counsel for the Isthmian Canal Commission, and in April, 1905, was appointed a member of the Commission and governor of the Canal Zone.

The CHAIRMAN. You are still a member of the Commission?
Mr. MAGOON. I am; yes, sir.

Senator MORGAN. When did you say, Governor, that you were appointed general counsel-in what year?

Mr MAGOON. In 1904.

The CHAIRMAN. And on what date, Governor, did you say you were appointed governor of the Canal Zone?

Mr. MAGOON. The 3d of April, 1905.

The CHAIRMAN. The 3d of April, last?

Mr. MAGOON. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Whom did you succeed as governor?

Mr. MAGOON. Maj. Gen. George W. Davis, U. S. A.

The CHAIRMAN. And have you any other duties there other than as governor and a member of the Commission?

Mr. MAGOON. I am a member of the Commission and governor, and I am also the American minister to the Republic of Panama.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, Governor, I think the committee would like a statement from you as to the conditions that existed at the time of your arrival in Panama, and to have you give us a history of affairs up to the present time as freely as you can. If you will do that in a general way to the committee, we will be obliged. It is a pretty large task to assign to you, but I think you can give us the information better in your own way than if we ask you questions, at least for a time.

Mr. MAGOON. Do you refer to the work of the department of which I am the head?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. MAGOON. The Executive order of April 1, 1905, divided the work of the Commission into three departments, the administrative department having charge of the office at Washington and of the work of administration in Washington, fiscal affairs, auditing, disbursements, purchases, and matters of that kind; the department of engineering and construction, which had to deal with the work of construction on the Isthmus, and the department of government and sanitation, which had to do with the exercise of the powers on the Isthmus derived from the treaty with Panama. That is, the powers in performing governmental functions.

I arrived on the Isthmus on the 24th of May, and in the department to which I was assigned I found an excellent organization. Senator MORGAN. The 24th of May of what year?

Mr. MAGOON. 1905, sir. The government of the Canal Zone had been organized by an act of the Isthmian Canal Commission at a time when, by virtue of an act of Congress, they exercised legislative power. The personnel of the government had not been filled com

pletely. Those in charge of the several bureaus and departments performing the work required of the government were very much overburdened. There had existed a feeling of unrest and insecurity resulting from the understood policy that changes would be made. Bills had been pending in Congress looking to a reorganization of and possibly doing away with the Commission, and the President and Secretary of War had asked for a reorganization. Therefore nothing much was done toward increasing the personnel or extending the work of the government. I mean to say, they sought to preserve the status quo and to perform the functions as they might be required. Such of the members of the government personnel as were there were found to be most excellent men, and had been discharging their duties in such a manner as to commend itself to the fair judgment of any man. No removals were made by the new governor at that time or any since, upon his own motion. The sanitary force was especially well organized, and was doing, to the limit of the facilities which it had in hand, a remarkable work.

The CHAIRMAN. The same officers are in charge now as were in charge then?

Mr. MAGOON. No; there have been some changes in that department. The Government and the enterprise were very fortunate in being able to command the services of Colonel Gorgas, Major Carter, Major Le Garde, Surgeon Spratlin, Captain Le Prince, Captain Perry, and the other officers of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, who had participated in the sanitation of the Island of Cuba. They were there, and with that ripe experience were accomplishing all that human endeavor could accomplish along the line in which they were engaged.

However, a yellow-fever epidemic was imminent. In the month of May we had, I think, 33 cases. In the month of June we had 62 cases, showing that the disease, in spite of the combat which had been made against it, was gaining.

Senator KNOX. What year are you speaking of, Governor?

Mr. MAGOON. I am speaking of 1905, sir; in response to the chairman's request I am detailing conditions as they were found.

Senator KNOX. Yes; I understand the general plan, and simply wanted to know the year of that fever.

The CHAIRMAN. Governor, those cases were all with white people, were they?

Mr. MAGOON. I think you might say all at that time, although there have been two or three cases of negroes and one case of a native developing the fever. The negroes from the interior of Jamaica and other of the islands of the West Indies are not absolutely immune from that disease.

There was, of course, a demoralization among the nonimmunes among our employees, resulting from the ravages of the disease. Shortly before our arrival two of the principal officers of the canal organization had died from the disease, and that had, of course, augmented the panic. Obviously the first imperative work was to arrest this disease if possible.

I called upon Colonel Gorgas for a conference, and we had many. I accepted, of course, the mosquito doctrine, and the question came up as to whether all was being done that could be done under that

theory. Colonel Gorgas said that there had not been; that the sanitarians had been hampered in various ways, and that by extending and expanding the operations better results could be effected.

Senator MORGAN. Governor, let me inquire whether, in accepting the mosquito doctrine, as you call it, down there, you also accepted the doctrine that the mosquitoes were the agents through which the malarial disease, chills and fever, and all that, were municated?

Mr. MAGOON. Yes, sir; the Anopheles mosquito; the Stegomyia is the yellow-fever mosquito.

Senator MORGAN. So that if there were no mosquitoes down there there would be no sickness?

Mr. MAGOON. Well, I would not be willing to advance that assertion, because I am not a medical man.

Senator MORGAN. But you accepted the doctrine, and acted upon it, that all the diseases down there were communicated from one person to another through the assistance of the mosquitoes?

Mr. MAGOON. Not exactly. I am speaking of the yellow-fever epidemic, with which we were called upon first to deal.

Senator MORGAN. I know; but I want to call your attention to the epidemic and to the fixed condition down there of malarial sickness.

Mr. MAGOON. We are fighting malaria down there in accordance with the doctrine that malaria is communicated by the Anopheles mosquito; but we do not stop at that. In order to increase the power of resistance to disease of our employees and of the people on the Zone we improve in every way we can the conditions under which and in which they live. That is, we increase the amount of cubic space of their sleeping apartments, of their households; see to it that the buildings are elevated, so that light and air can get under them to dry them out. We promote in every way we can personal cleanliness. We are not trying to establish any doctrine; we are trying not to omit to do anything which will promote the public health.

Senator MORGAN. You do not assume, then, that if you killed all the mosquitoes at Panama that would stop the malaria or the yellow fever, do you?

Mr. MAGOON. No, sir; but we are trying to kill all of them, nevertheless, as one of the essential things.

Senator MORGAN. And trying to keep those people clean, too?

Mr. MAGOON. Yes, sir; and trying to give them good drinking water, so that no water-borne diseases may be communicated; and we are cleaning them up so that if there are such things as filth-communicated diseases we will get rid of them, too.

Senator MORGAN. Between cleansing those people and making them keep clean, killing the mosquitoes, and preventing their reproduction, the Government has a pretty hard job, has it not?

Mr. MAGOON. Yes, sir; it is a very difficult thing to render any locality in the Tropics so sanitary that men from the temperate zone can live there.

Senator MORGAN. And quite as difficult to keep it in action and effective operation?

Mr. MAGOON. It is difficult, but not as difficult as to eradicate the diseases in the first instance.

The CHAIRMAN. Proceed, Governor.