XXXI

THE BIG TASK


Say, fellows, some years ago France gave a man a large task. The man's
name was De Lesseps, and the task was to cut a ditch seventy-two feet
wide across Panama, to unite the two great oceans. Part of the cutting
was to be through hills two hundred and fifty feet high. It was a big
order, and although De Lesseps had the resources of a great republic
back of him, he failed to deliver. Aside from the gigantic feat of
digging and removing stone and earth, there were malaria and yellow
fever in the swamps, which killed thousands of labourers, and there
were theft and bribery in the financial management, which swallowed up
the money. These things were like giants invincible, blocking the way
against success.

Twenty-two years later the United States tackled that same job.
General Goethals was sent to Panama, and he put it through. Himself a
skillful engineer, confident of the success of the enterprise, and
with all the resources of Uncle Sam back of him, he set to work.
Surgeon-General Gorgas stamped out yellow fever and malaria by
draining the swamps and eliminating the mosquito, making the canal
zone practically a health resort.

Thus, with unlimited financial power, the latest discoveries of