intendent, and the director of physical culture and recreation, was appointed by Governor Harding last year to try and establish a suitable place for employees to spend their vacation without going to the States. In this connection the following extract from page 115 of the Panama Canal Record of October 6, 1920, is quoted:

"The climate of the Canal Zone is enervating after prolonged residence, due to the humidity and lack of variation in temperature, and an occasional change to cooler weather is advisable for the preservation of the health and energy of people whose normal habitat is in the Temperate Zone. The time and expense involved in voyages to the Temperate Zone has made it very difficult for many of the people connected with the canal to secure the needed change of climate, and the work of the committee will be an effort to conserve the health and efficiency of the employees."

The white man in the Tropics is at a distinct health disadvantage. By sanitation the disease hazard can be reduced, but the tropical hazard never can be eliminated. He will never be on an equal plane with his fellow man in the temperate climate. All medical authorities agree on these points and state that frequent changes of climate are absolutely necessary for the preservation of the health of the American people in the Canal Zone, but, as actual figures show that the cost of a vacation to the United States is approximately $600, it can be readily appreciated that such frequent changes are impossible to the majority of the employees.

The statements immediately preceding explains why the policy of granting American employees vacations was adopted. It is really based upon the experience of white men in the Tropics during the past two centuries. It is absolutely necessary for them to have a rest from tropical heat and light or they will not be economic workers. The vacation provided is not an inducement for the employees to remain here nor a concession, but is really a health provision to carry on the work.

THE EFFECT OF THE TROPICS ON THE WHITE MAN

Tropical diseases can be mitigated, but the unchangeable tropical climate devitalizes the white man.

After a casual survey of the hospital records of the Panama Canal Zone, the average American, noting that yellow fever is gone, that the malaria rate has been greatly reduced, that amebic dysentery occurs only sporadically, and that the death rate is low, comes to the conclusion that the Isthmus is a healthful place in which to live. Tourists leaving the States in midwinter arrive in the zone in the dry season, the pleasantest of the year. So great is their reaction from the cold of the North, so delightful is the temporary stimulation of the tropical sun, that they honestly believe the country is healthful and the climate enjoyable. This conclusion, though sincerely reached, is false.

The effect of the Tropics on the white man may be grouped under two heads:

DISEASES DISTINCTLY TROPICAL

First is the effect of the disease distinctly tropical against which he has not acquired immunity of the native. Among these diseases the most common and most deadly in the past were malaria, yellow fever, amebic dysentery, relapsing fever, filariasis, the plague. These are the diseases which at one time made the Isthmus of Panama and the west coast of South America the graveyard of the white man. The chief reason for the failure of the French to complete the canal lay in their inability to protect themselves against these microbic and parasitic enemies.

EFFECTS OF THE CLIMATE ITSELF

The second group of harmful effects consists of the combined actions of a uniform and high temperature, a high humidity, and an intensely white light. The health department on the Canal Zone has succeeded where the French failed. The group of tropical diseases mentioned above, which had destroyed the French and other whites in the past, has been either eradicated from the Isthmus, or is being kept in check by the constant vigilance of an ever alert and tireless sanitary force. Yellow fever is no longer with us, although the yellow-fever mosquito, the Stegomyia faciata still is found on the Isthmus, and only the effort of the quarantine service prevents these from being infected from outside sources. Amebic dysentery occurs occasionally; malaria, although still prevalent, is kept within bounds, and if a man follows the instructions of

the health department not to leave the zone in the evenings, not to go swimming or riding outside of restricted areas after dark, he is reasonably safe from infection. So that the American on the zone is like a man in a fort surrounded by enemies. He is fairly safe if he keeps within the walls.

But as fully as the health department has accomplished its task, that of preventing the extinction by tropical diseases of the whites occupied in building and maintaining the canal, it is powerless to change the effects of the climate itself. It can not alter the continuous and uniform high temperature. It can not remove the suffocating humidity. It has no power to soften the intense glare of the tropic sun, with its nerve-destroying rays. It is this combination of heat, moisture, and light which, though it has not destroyed the white man as quickly as yellow fever might, slowly but surely reduces the power of his vital functions, dulls his mental faculties, replaces his color with a pallor, makes him nervous and irritable, and ages him before his time.

Third. The Americans have only occupied the Isthmus for the past 15 years. The old-timers who came down here in 1904 and 1905 are still in their forties or early fifities. They are few in number. Of the rest, the average stay is less than five years. The men come and go. They do not stay long enough to contribute to the mortality statistics. Consequently, we can not conclude from the low death rate that this country is healthful.

Insurance companies are considered careful students of health conditions and mortality factors. Premium rates are based on mortality expectancy. The Mutual Life Insurance Co., of New York, states as follows:

"The custom of this company in accepting risks in Central America is to use a premium rate based upon a rate of mortality 50 per cent higher than that calculated in assuming domestic rates of premiums for residents of the Canal Zone and a rate of mortality 100 per cent higher than that used for domestic lives for residents outside of the Canal Zone. If the applicant has never lived in the country prior to the issuance of the policy, we charge, in addition to the above rate, an 'acclimation extra' of $25 per $1,000; if he has lived there for one year or less than two years, an 'acclimation extra' of $15 per $1,000 is charged; if he has lived there for more than two years but less than three years, the 'acclimation extra' is $10 per $1,000; and if he has lived there more than three years no ‘acclimation extra' is charged.'

CONCLUSION OF CANAL ZONE PHYSICIANS

How can the health conditions of the Isthmus be judged? The men best qualified by training and experience to note and interpret the effects of the climate are the physicians of the zone. These men examine the candidates for positions. They treat the employees at their homes, in the dispensaries, and at the hospitals. All the school children are examined annually by them; and their weight, height, and condition are recorded. They are intimately in contact with the isthmian population. The conclusions of the physicians of the Canal Zone, then, in regard to the effects of the climate here, should be and are authoritive. Their conclusions are as follows:

The high mean temperature, the high humidity, and the constant intense rays of the tropic sun, are detrimental to white men, women, and children who remain here more than two years.

The deteriorative and injurious effects of the climate are not felt immediately. As a matter of fact, the first few months are stimulating to a newcomer from the States. So that newcomers and tourists sincerely believe the climate is not harmful. This period of stimulation is shortly followed by a continuous depression and exhaustion which characterizes both the natives and Americans, and is typically tropical. At first no siesta is required, but later the noonday nap becomes absolutely necessary and essential, but unfortunately is practically impossible to obtain by the average working man.

The first change noticed is in the general appearance. The newcomer gradually loses his ruddy color. The subcutaneous fat begins to disappear, and the skin becomes parched and lined with fine wrinkles. After two or three years the skin around the angle of the jaw begins to sag, and the eyes become somewhat hollowed. So that the average American on the Isthmus who has been here more than five years looks prematurely aged. Many of them are gray haired before their time, and baldness is very common.

Women especially are prematurely aged. It does not take very long for the bloom and freshness of youth to disappear from the features of the Canal Zone women.

In conclusion, the experience of the physicians in the Canal Zone leads them to agree with the late Lieutenant Colonel Woodruff, of the United States Army, in his book Tropical Light, in which he states that after two years in the Tropics the white man begins to deteriorate. It is possible, as the Panama Canal Health Department has shown the world, that a proper sanitary and health measure can free a restricted zone from the menace of tropical diseases. But the scientific world is as yet unable to overcome the enervating and destructive influences of tropical heat, light, and humidity.

The committee believes that Congress should take cognizance of the injurious effect of employment in the tropical climate of the Isthmus of Panama on our white American citizens, upon whom we must depend for the maintenance and operation of the Panama Canal and the Panama Railroad, and that our employees who work there 15 years or more are entitled to somewhat different treatment in retirement legislation from that given to the Government employees in the United States. And this is another consideration which the committee believes justifies the special provisions that are carried in the pending bill.

THE POLICY NOW APPROVED, OF REQUIRING GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA TO MOVE OUT AND RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES UPON RETIREMENT, JUSTIFIES SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT RETIREMENT LEGISLATION FROM THAT APPLICABLE TO EMPLOYEES IN THE UNITED STATES

The Government owns all property on the Canal Zone. This is necessary in order that the Government may absolutely control who shall live there. And no one is permitted to live there except those who are employed on the Panama Canal or the Panama Railroad. The only exception to this policy is the men in the military and naval forces of the Government who are stationed there to defend the canal. The Government has never had sufficient housing on the Canal Zone to provide for the absolute necessities of our employees and our military and naval forces. A large number of our employees are now living in unsuitable quarters in the Republic of Panama. When an employee is disconnected from the service of the Panama Canal or Panama Railroad he is required to move out of the zone. His quarters are needed for other employees. And the Government has no quarters on the zone for anyone to occupy except the officials and employees working for the Government and the men in our military and naval forces.

A very serious problem is now confronting the administrative officials as to what we shall do with our superannuated and retiring civilian employees. They have been living on the Isthmus of Panama for from 15 to 25 or 30 years. By having lived there so long they have become more or less acclimated, and it is difficult, if not impossible, for men and women at their advanced ages and in their broken condition of health to again acquire that resistance that is necessary for them to again live in the rigorous climate of the Temperate Zone. Moreover, very often their children have acquired homes there and are working for the Government. Their friends and relatives at their former homes in the States are gone or scattered, and under these conditions it would seem to be a hardship to compel the employees upon retirement from the Government service to leave the Canal Zone and return to the United States

Yet for obvious reasons it is impracticable, if not impossible, for the Government to maintain on the Canal Zone an overhead colony of retired superannuated employees. Many of these employees are now reaching the age of retirement, and this serious problem of what to do with them is confronting our administrative officials. Their conclusion is that the soundest policy is to require these employees, upon retirement, to move back to the United States and reestablish themselves wherever they can. After all, our Government is on the Isthmus of Panama for but one purpose-that is, to maintain the canal for purposes of commerce and of national defense-and as an economic problem it seems to be necessary that the Government go no farther than providing homes and conveniences for those who are absolutely necessary to maintain and operate the canal and to defend it.

That being the adopted policy of the Government, therefore it becomes necessary, in harmony with that policy and in furtherance of it, to provide additional benefits for our retiring and superannuated employees there that are neither necessary nor desirable for civilian employees retiring from the Government service in the United States.

Since we require the employees to move out of the Canal Zone and reestablish their homes in the United States as soon as they retire, it is believed to be necessary that they should be allowed to retire at a somewhat earlier age and with a somewhat larger annuity than is provided for Government employees in the United States. The pending bill has been drafted and carefully considered by the committee in view of this adopted policy of the Government, and the special provisions carried in it are intended to help carry out that policy.

Employees of the Government on the Isthmus of Panama upon reaching the age of retirement are in an entirely different situation from employees retiring from the service in the United States. And this difference has impressed the committee as justifying a different treatment in retirement legislation. Here in the United States Government employees can invest their savings in homes; in the Canal Zone this can not be done. In the United States our employees live in communities where there are industries with which they can keep in contact and perhaps have an opportunity for making connections for themselves or their children upon retirement from Government service; on the Isthmus of Panama there are no industries with which the employees and their children can contact and find employment. In the United States Government employees generally live in communities where they have relatives and friends and acquaintances among whom they can continue to live after retirement; employees on the Canal Zone upon retirement have to move back to the United States and start new homes where they generally have no relatives, friends, or acquaintances; and, being 55 years of age or older, it is practically impossible for them to obtain any kind of employment in a strange community that would augment their retirement pay sufficiently to enable them to live. In this country our employees have a fair opportunity to send their children to higher educational institutions or to business or vocational schools after they have finished high school; on the Canal Zone it is either impossible or a

very heavy financial burden for employees to send their children to the United States for such purpose.

These and other similar conditions were presented to the committee at the hearings and seemed to the committee to justify the special provisions for our employees on the Isthmus of Panama that are carried in this bill. In this connecton we quote the following statement from the testimony of Mr. H. A. McConaughey, a representative of the canal employees, who testified at the hearing:

Mr. MCCONAUGHEY. We may accumulate our leave up to 120 days, the reason for that being, except in a few cases, the employee can not afford to take his vacation every year. With the average employee it is out of the question for him to take a vacation every year, and this idea of letting it accumulate for 120 days makes it so that he can take a longer vacation on each alternate year instead of a short one every year. Of course, that is much less expensive to him, although probably not as good for his health as if he could take it every year. Under the existing legislation in the States for retirement of civilian employees of the Government the annuity is not sufficient to support the annuitant. He must augment his retirement pay by performing some work which will add to that income. An employee of the Government in the Continental United States who has worked in one locality for many years has formed friendships and has had the opportunity of making business connections and associations in the locality in which he expects to spend his declining years and is certainly in a far better position to augment his retirement pay he receives from the Government by some outside work than the retired annuitant from the Canal Zone. We who have worked on the canal or railroad for a long period have ceased to have any friends or business connections in the United States. When we return to the United States after being retired at an advanced age, on a comparatively small annuity, with the best years of our life behind us, with our health impaired, we will be strangers in a strange land. We will know nobody. We will have no friends, no business connections or associations of any kind. We will be under the necessity of transplanting our families from the Canal Zone to the United States and reestablishing homes here in the United States. Our opportunities for augmenting our retirement pay by any outside work which we might be able to obtain will be practically nil. Certainly the employee in the States has a considerable advantage over us in that respect.

Another item which has a bearing on this matter is the assistance that the aged employee in the States may receive from his children. I presume you are familiar with the fact that the great majority of men who have reached 60 or 65 years of age are to a considerable extent dependent on their children for assistance in their declining years. That is unfortunately true. We have a peculiar problem in raising our children on the Canal Zone. One part of the problem, which, possibly, has no bearing on this bill, is that we are raising them in a place where they are subject to come in contact with an alien civilization, with a people whose interests and mode of life are very different from what we find in the United States. We like to raise our children to be real Americans, but is is pretty difficult to do so when we just cross the street and get out of the Canal Zone into Panama. We have in the white schools on the Canal Zone approximately 2,500 American children. We graduate from our high schools about 75 children every year. The canal can not absorb these children in the canal organization; not more than 25 out of these 75 can be employed in the Canal Zone organization. There are not jobs for them. That means there are about 50 children every year thrown upon their parents or upon their own resources with no jobs for them. The result is that the less enterprising ones frequently hang around the Canal Zone, and, instead of being a help to their parents, are a detriment to them in a financial way and a source of added expense to them. Many of them come to the States and seek employment.

The average parent does not care to have his 17 or 18 year old son or daughter leave home and go 2,000 miles away to look for a job, but that is frequently the only solution, and those who do come to the States and seek employment and get jobs here become out of touch completely with their parents frequently. They go to a locality to which their parents have never been and do not care to go to when they are retired. The help, therefore, that the retired annuitant from the Canal Zone service might receive from their children will not be anywhere nearly as substantial as that which the retired annuitant from the Govern