A GREAT AMERICAN.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume X, Issue 177, 12 July 1920, Page 7

A GREAT AMERICAN.

FEVER FIGHTING LN TROPICS

“The man who made the building of Panama passible,” was the general destrieption attached by the inhabitants ol the torrid Cam:! Zone to Sur-geon-Genera) W. C. Corgas, the cabled announcement of whose death was received last week.

Tl>e description was indeed a wellchosen one. for had it not been for Gorgas’ tenacity and indomitable pluck m facing the fever-ridden swamps of Central America and ridden them, by an almost superhuman effort, of the plague- ot disease-carrying mosquitoes the work on the world’s most wonderful canal could never have been successfully completed. Ln April of 1919. the writer happened to be passing through Colon—that peculiar little Spanish-American town, squatting beneath the shadows ol the palm-boles, and daily lulled to sleep by the tropical whisper of the Caribbean —when he learned that General Gorgas or “The Colonel” as he was still affectionately railed in Colon, was being feted by his old Zone friends at the Hotel Washington that evening. By the courtesy of the British padre r.t Colon, he received an invitation to the function.

Whatever else the Americans can or cannot do, they can run good hotels, and the Washington, which is run under the auspices of the Government, is a splendid building, fitted out with the most luxurious appointments, and with a service almost clock-like m its precision. All Colon and Cristobal, its Spanish satellite, had on that evening apparently one desire only, and that to grip “the Colonel” by the hand and exclaim : “Happy tew know yew, sir!” After a couple of very eloquent speeches, from Governor Arcia and Dr. Drecher, of the American Consulate, General Gorgas rose in reply. As he spoke of the dangers passed, the sickness faced, the yellow fever panics, ano the consequent changes, one realised instinctively that this tough, lean man with the iron grey hair and twinkling eyes was the very embodiment of the forceful determination which enablca the gigantic work of the building ci Panama Canal to be completed against such heavy odds. Here, indeed, was a man whom any nation might be proud to acclaim as her, son. . And yet, withal, it would be hard to find a man less assuming in his manner, or more reprecating of anything he himself had personally done. A little story which lie personally told comes back. It was illustrative of the health conditions at the time the general first landed at the Zone. He and six others formed a commission of seven who were to take over affairs at the Canal from the French. Only six. all told, came down on the Steamer, explained the general, the seventh member of the commissioner being detained by unavoidable ! duties. On board the steamer were 66 coffins of plain wood, and six beautiful ; caskets. "Why have you only six of these.” inquired the general of a sailor. “Well,” was the disconcerting reply, “the other commissioner has yet to come south, hasn't he” General Gorgas was essentially > man of action. He revelled in undertakings with responsibilities winch would appal the average man. During the war, as Surgeon-General ot the A.E.F., he had 3,(100,000 men in field and camp, under his care. At the conclusion of the hostilities, he was not content to rest upon his laurels as well he might have done. At the time the writer had the honour of meeting him, he was on his way to combat malarial fever in a swanip-iiitected and inaccessible portion of -Ecuador. Io Americans, and to thousands of others, the name of Gorgas will ever stand, for tenacity and aciiievement.