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THE PANAMA CANAL AND ITS MAKERS
* * * * *
THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE
SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS
By George W. Crichfield
Illustrated. Two Vols. Royal 8vo, cloth, 25_s._
THE SOUTH AMERICAN SERIES
Edited by Martin Hume
Each Volume Demy 8vo, cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._ net.
VOL. I.
CHILE
Its History and Development, Natural Features, Products, Commerce
and Present Conditions. By G. F. Scott Elliott, M.A., F.R.G.S.,
Author of "A Naturalist in Mid Africa." With an Introduction by
Martin Hume, a Map, and many Illustrations.
"An exhaustive and interesting account, not only of the
turbulent history of this country but of her present conditions
and seeming prospects."--_Westminster Gazette._
"Will be found attractive and useful reading by the student of
history, the geographer, the naturalist, and last, but assuredly
not least, the British merchant."--_Scotsman._
VOL. II.
PERU
Its Former and Present Civilisation, Topography and Natural
Resources, History and Political Conditions, Commerce and General
Development. By C. Reginald Enock, F.R.G.S., Author of "The Andes
and the Amazon." With an Introduction by Martin Hume, a Map, and
numerous Illustrations.
"An important work.... The writer possesses a quick eye and a
keen intelligence; is many-sided in his interests, and on
certain subjects speaks as an expert. The volume deals fully
with the development of the country, and is written in the same
facile and graphic style as before. Illustrated by a large
number of excellent photographs."--_The Times._
"A magnificent collection of information on this interesting
country. The author's vivid and eloquent description invests it
for us with some of the glamour it possessed for the
Conquistadores of the sixteenth century; and on closing the book
the reader feels tempted to set out at once for
Peru."--_Yorkshire Observer._
IN PREPARATION
VOL. III.
MEXICO
By C. Reginald Enock
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN
[Illustration: MAKERS OF THE CANAL.]
THE PANAMA CANAL AND ITS MAKERS.
_By_ VAUGHAN CORNISH
_Doctor of Science (Manchester Univ.), Fellow of the Royal
Geographical, Geological, and Chemical Societies of London,
Member of the Japan Society_
WITH MAP, PLANS, AND PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY THE AUTHOR
T. FISHER UNWIN
LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE
LEIPSIC: INSELSTRASSE 20
1909
(_All rights reserved._)
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
TO
THE REVEREND CHARLES JOHN CORNISH, M.A. (OXON),
OF FLEET, HANTS, AND SALCOMBE REGIS, DEVON,
BY
HIS AFFECTIONATE SON,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE
I AM indebted to many persons for advice and information in connection
with my study of the Panama Canal, and wish to thank particularly His
Excellency the Rt. Hon. James Bryce, the Rt. Hon. Lord Avebury, Mr.
Claude Mallet, C.M.G., Colonel George E. Church, Colonel George W.
Goethals, chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, and his colleagues,
Colonel W.C. Gorgas, M.D., Major D.D. Gaillard, Major William L. Sibert,
Mr. Jackson Smith, and Mr. Bucklin Bishop. Also Major Chester Harding,
Mr. Arango, Mr. G.R. Shanton, Chief of Police, Mr. William Gerig
(formerly in charge of the Gatun Dam), Mr. Mason W. Mitchell, and Mr.
Tracy Robinson.
VAUGHAN CORNISH.
_November_, 1908.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 15
CHAPTER I
HISTORICAL REVIEW 23
CHAPTER II
ON THE CANAL AS IT IS TO BE 45
CHAPTER III
ON THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE CULEBRA CUT, AND ON THE METHODS
EMPLOYED FOR EXCAVATION AND DISPOSAL OF THE SPOIL 79
CHAPTER IV
THE MEN ON THE ISTHMUS 99
CHAPTER V
HEALTH ON THE ISTHMUS AND THE FUTURE OF THE WHITE RACE IN THE
TROPICS 119
CHAPTER VI
ON THE SHORTENING OF DISTANCES BY SEA, AND ON THE STEAMSHIPS
AVAILABLE FOR CANAL TRANSIT 151
CHAPTER VII
THE COST OF THE CANAL 171
INDEX 179
ILLUSTRATIONS
MAKERS OF THE CANAL _Frontispiece_
TO FACE PAGE
STATUE OF COLUMBUS, CHRISTOBAL, COLON 18
CHRISTCHURCH, COLON 18
LOCK AND DAM SITE, GATUN 26
(The house is on the crest-line of the dam, which will extend to the
hills on the right)
EXCAVATING FOR THE DOUBLE FLIGHT OF THREE LOCKS AT GATUN 26
(In fine-grained argillaceous sandstone rock)
RE-LOCATION OF RAILWAY ABOVE GATUN DAM 30
(The trestle embankment will run as a causeway across a bay of the
lake)
MOTOR TROLLEY FOR INSPECTION OF WORKS 30
(In the background are screened houses of employees)
TROPICAL FOREST, WITH HEAVY GROWTH OF PARASITIC PLANTS 36
JUNGLE WITH PIPE THROUGH WHICH OIL IS CONVEYED BY GRAVITATION
ACROSS THE ISTHMUS 36
CHAGRES RIVER NEAR BARBACOES 42
(In the dry season--looking down stream)
CHAGRES RIVER NEAR OBISPO 42
(In the dry season)
FRENCH DREDGER LAID UP 48
(Several of these have recently been put in use again)
FRENCH TRUCKS PARTLY COVERED WITH FOREST GROWTH 48
(Many of these were used at first by the Americans, but are now
replaced by larger ones)
EXCAVATION NEAR TAVERNILLA 52
RIVER CHAGRES AND RAILWAY NEAR GORGONA 52
LIDGERWOOD UNLOADER, WINDING APPARATUS 56
_ANOPHELES_ BRIGADE OILING A DITCH 56
100-TON WRECKING CRANE, GORGONA 62
INTERIOR OF MACHINE SHOP, GORGONA 62
MACHINE SHOPS, GORGONA 66
CLUB HOUSE FOR EMPLOYEES, GORGONA 66
(Managed by the Y.M.C.A.)
EXCAVATION IN THE CUT 72
PIPE FOR DIVERSION OF A RIVER, NEAR EMPIRE 72
IN THE CUT, WIDTH 500 FEET 76
IN THE CUT, LOOKING SOUTH TOWARDS CULEBRA 76
(The gorge between Golden and Silver Hills just visible)
ROCK DRILL 82
(These machines bore a hole 30 feet deep in eight hours)
ROCK DRILLS AT WORK IN THE CUT 82
THE CUT, LOOKING NORTH FROM CULEBRA 86
THE CUT, LOOKING SOUTH FROM CULEBRA 86
FROM CULEBRA, LOOKING EAST TO DISTANT HILLS 92
FROM CULEBRA, LOOKING EAST ACROSS THE CUT 92
(Terraces formed by landslip are just visible behind the smoke of a
distant steam shovel)
FROM CULEBRA, LOOKING EAST TO GOLDEN HILL 96
(Showing excavation in steps and ledges. Each ledge has carried a
railway track)
THE CUT AT CULEBRA, LOOKING NORTH 96
(The scarped face of Golden Hill on the right. Taken April, 1908, in
the then bottom of the cut, 120 feet above Canal bottom)
GANG OF WEST INDIAN LABOURERS 102
(Unloading spoil-train at Gatun)
GANG OF SPANISH LABOURERS AT CULEBRA 102
(Working in the sun in April, which is one of the hottest months,
less than 10 degrees from the equator. The men are wearing European
kit)
STEAM SHOVEL EXCAVATING SOIL AT CULEBRA 106
STEAM SHOVEL UNLOADING INTO A DIRT CAR 106
STEAM SHOVEL NEAR END OF STROKE 112
(The marks of the teeth made in a former stroke are visible on the
right. Golden Hill, with the highest berm, or ledge, in the
distance)
STEAM SHOVEL, STROKE FINISHED, LOADED WITH SOIL 112
STEAM SHOVEL AT CULEBRA 116
SHOVEL-MEN AT CULEBRA 116
SCREENED BUNGALOW, CHRISTOBAL, COLON 122
SCREENED QUARTERS OF EMPLOYEES, CULEBRA 122
READING ROOM, EMPLOYEES' CLUB, CULEBRA 126
HALL OF EMPLOYEES' CLUB, CULEBRA 126
CUT SOUTH OF CULEBRA, LANDSLIP ON LEFT 132
LOOKING NORTH, THE SCARPED FACE OF GOLDEN HILL ON THE RIGHT 132
LOOKING NORTH FROM RAILWAY BRIDGE AT PARAISO 136
ABANDONED FRENCH MACHINERY 136
GANG OF EUROPEAN LABOURERS (IN 1907) 142
A FORMER HOT-BED OF MALARIA, NOW DRAINED 142
NEAR THE SITE OF MILAFLORES LOCKS 146
LOOKING NORTH TO CULEBRA DIVIDE FROM ANCON HILL 146
RIO GRANDE, NEAR LA BOCA 154
RIO GRANDE, FROM ANCON HILL 154
(Country north of that shown in the last photograph)
LA BOCA, FROM ANCON HILL 158
ANCON CEMETERY 158
COMMISSION'S HOTEL AT ANCON 162
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, ANCON 162
VIEW FROM SPANISH FORT, PANAMA 166
CATHEDRAL SQUARE, PANAMA 166
PALACE OF PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 174
OLD FLAT ARCH AT PANAMA 174
(Adduced as evidence of comparative freedom of Panama from
destructive earthquakes)
MAP OF CANAL ZONE _At end of volume_
(Showing also profile of Canal, cross section of Culebra Cut, the
borings below Gatun dam, and the cross section of Gatun dam as
designed in April, 1908. The design of this dam, however, is still
undergoing modifications)
INTRODUCTION
AT the present moment the Canal Zone of the Isthmus of Panama is the
most interesting place in the world. Here is gathered an army of 40,000
men engaged in the epoch-making work of uniting the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans, and here is the greatest collection of machinery ever massed for
the accomplishment of one undertaking.
If the present rate of progress continue unchecked, the Canal, it is
calculated, will be opened in 1915. Then will that Isthmus, which has
hitherto been a barrier between two oceans but has failed to act as a
bridge between two continents, be pierced by a waterway capable of
floating the largest ships now built or building. Then will the Pacific
coasts of the Americas be accessible from ports on both sides of the
Atlantic without the necessity of a voyage by the Straits of Magellan.
Then will the distance from New York to San Francisco be shortened by
8,400 and that from Liverpool by 6,000 miles; the distance from New York
to South American ports will be shortened by an average of 5,000 and
that from Liverpool to these ports by an average of 2,600 miles: then
for the first time Yokohama on the north and Sydney on the south will be
brought nearer to New York than to Liverpool or Antwerp, and then will
New Orleans and the ports on the Mexican Gulf be brought nearer than New
York, by sea, to San Francisco, South America beyond Pernambuco,
Australia, and Japan.
[Illustration: STATUE OF COLUMBUS, CHRISTOBAL, COLON.]
[Illustration: CHRISTCHURCH, COLON.]
No one who cares to know the greater things which are shaping the world
can now afford to be ignorant of what is happening on the Isthmus of
Panama. In the former days of unstable companies the student of affairs
might decline to occupy himself in the study of an undertaking of which
the fruition was doubtful. Now, however, that the Government of a great
nation have put their hands to the plough the furrow will be driven
through. The United States have acquired complete ownership and control
of the Canal and of a strip of land five miles wide on either side,
called the Canal Zone. The small State of Panama, in which this zone is
situate, has placed itself under the protection of the United States.
The Government of Great Britain has by a treaty ratified in 1901 waived
the treaty right which it formerly enjoyed to share with the United
States the control of any trans-Isthmian canal. The Isthmus has been
freed from those pestilences which were the greatest obstacles to human
effort, and the engineering difficulties are no longer beyond the scope
of modern science.
* * * * *
Having first visited the Canal works at the beginning of 1907, I decided
to make upon the spot a careful examination of the whole undertaking.
For this purpose I visited Washington and made application through the
proper channel to the Department of State, which kindly consented to
further the inquiry. A set of the published documents was supplied to
me, and I proceeded from New York to the Isthmus by the R.M.S.P.
_Magdalena_, arriving at Colon April 12, 1908. Here Colonel Goethals,
chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, provided me with a letter to
those concerned to furnish all information, and proposed that I should
make my way about unattended and pursue my inquiries independently. I
was thus enabled to converse with perfect freedom with the rank and
file, while drawing freely on the special information possessed only by
the heads of departments.
For the benefit of readers in England I may explain that these
circumstances were to me of especial importance on account of the doubts
thrown by American writers, and also by Americans of repute in
conversation, upon the reliability of official and other information
supplied to the American public on the burning topic of the Isthmus. As
an Englishman, and therefore standing outside American party politics,
and as a scientific student not engaged in commerce or political life,
I came to the study of the subject without prepossessions. This at least
was my happy state when I arrived in Washington in March last. When I
left for the Canal Zone a month later I was filled with gloomy
forebodings that I might after all find a rotten state of affairs on the
Isthmus. It was with intense relief that I found that I had what is
called in America "an honest proposition" to deal with. As my doubts
hitherto had been due to the patriotic anxiety of their compatriots, I
am sure Colonel Goethals and his colleagues will forgive me for this
frank statement of my difficulties and their solution.
Any Englishman, accustomed to see the work of our own soldiers and civil
servants in the Crown Colonies or in Egypt, would recognise in the
officers of the corps of Engineers and of the Army Medical Corps who are
in charge of the Canal Zone men of a like high standard of duty. As this
account is written not only for my own countrymen but also for readers
on the other side of the Atlantic, I should be glad, if it be possible,
to convince of my own _bona-fides_ those anxious patriots who find it
difficult to believe any good report from Panama. It may tend in this
direction to state that I travelled and sojourned at my own charges, and
that I went out on an independent inquiry. That I had promised to give
an account of the Canal works to my brother geographers in London was my
only undertaking, and the acceptance of a free pass on the Panama
Railway my only financial obligation either in Washington or on the
Isthmus.
In order properly to understand the present and future of the Canal
undertaking, it is necessary to give a short account of the history of
Isthmian communication, for the conditions which now face the American
Government and the Commission are not solely due to present physical
causes, but also to previous events.
CHAPTER I
HISTORICAL REVIEW
THE conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 completed
their capture of the trade routes between Western Europe and the East
Indies. The East Indian trade had long been a source of great enrichment
to European merchants. It was especially suited to the restricted
carrying power of those times, the products (such as pepper) being small
in bulk and high in price. The maritime nations therefore sought sea
routes to the Indies in pursuit of this trade, and it was Columbus
himself, in his efforts to open up a western route to the Indies and
China, who discovered the Bay of Limon in 1497. He and his successors
sought for a strait or channel which should open the way to the East
Indies. Cortes sought for the strait in Mexico. Others sought as far
north as the St. Lawrence, which was supposed to afford a route to
China. No opening could, however, be found nearer to the Equator than
the Straits of Magellan (1520), and the hopes of a short route westward
to the Indies were disappointed. An Isthmian canal was talked of even in
the days of Charles V. of Spain to open the route to the East Indies. In
those days of small vessels, the river channels would have served for a
great part of the traverse, so that the scheme was not so wild as it may
seem.
[Illustration: LOCK AND DAM SITE, GATUN.]
[Illustration: EXCAVATION FOR LOCKS, GATUN.]
The purpose, therefore, of the first proposal for piercing the Isthmus
was for shortening the distance to the Indies and China. The discovery
of the nearer riches of Peru, however, illustrated the fact that the
Isthmian barrier has its uses as well as its inconveniences. Porto Bello
and Panama were fortified, ships were launched from the latter port for
the Peruvian traffic, the treasure was carried across the Isthmus under
escort and shipped to Spain. The treasure-ships, indeed, were liable to
attack on the Caribbean, but the Isthmian barrier proved an important
safeguard to the Peruvian possessions of Spain.
In the next century, the seventeenth, the importance of the Isthmian
land route declined, owing to the fact that Spain was no longer able to
secure even moderate safety for her ships on the Caribbean. In the
present days, when the importance of naval power is so well understood,
it is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the significance of this fact,
and its bearing upon the problems presented by the Panama route to-day.
The project of an Isthmian canal for the purpose of trade between Europe
and Asia continued to be agitated, but the inducements were inadequate
to overcome the obstacles.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, for the second time, it was the
need of improved communication between the east and west of the American
Continent which provided a sufficient inducement to improve the Isthmian
route.
At this time the Government of the United States were much occupied with
projects of trans-Isthmian communication, particularly by canal, not
with a view to Transpacific commerce, but with the object of improved
communication between the east and west of their own territory.
In 1846 a treaty was made with the State of New Grenada (afterwards
Colombia) with a view to providing facilities for transport in the war
between the United States and Mexico. In its most important provision it
is similar to the present treaty between the United States and the new
Republic of Panama, viz., the United States guarantee the sovereignty of
the State in question over the Isthmian territory. Hence the Isthmus was
thus early constituted a Protectorate of the United States.
But at this time it was generally thought that Lake Nicaragua provided
the best route for a trans-Isthmian canal.
The Pacific seaboard having recently acquired importance to the United
States, the Government desired to further the canal project on that
account. The only practicable Atlantic terminal of a Nicaraguan canal
lay within territory over which Great Britain had long exercised
control. Further, the Pacific Coast of Canada had recently acquired
importance to the eastern provinces and to the home country, and access
thereto was extremely difficult. The outcome of these circumstances was
the conclusion in 1850 of the celebrated Clayton-Bulwer treaty between
the United States and Great Britain, which was duly ratified by
Congress. By this instrument it was agreed that neither Government
should ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control of any
canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, nor erect
fortifications commanding the same.
This treaty remained in force until 1901, and I shall have to refer to
it again. Meanwhile the great rush of gold-seekers to California had
supplied the needful stimulus to a scheme, already mooted, of an
Isthmian railway terminating at Panama. In spite of the enormous
difficulties entailed by the pestilential climate, the undertaking was
completed in 1855. This achievement, originating in New York, was the
work of W.H. Aspinwall, Henry Chauncey, and John L. Stephens.
[Illustration: RE-LOCATION OF RAILWAY ABOVE GATUN.]
[Illustration: MOTOR TROLLEY FOR INSPECTION OF WORKS.]
It was undertaken independently of any canal scheme, but it exercised a
profound effect upon the fate of subsequent schemes. The facilities
which the railway afforded determined de Lesseps's choice of route, and
de Lesseps ploughed so deeply that those who came after him have found
themselves constrained to follow his furrow. The "New World" is in fact
no longer new, and its statesmen now have to solve problems presenting
historical as well as physical factors.
The American Civil War interrupted the prosecution of canal schemes, but
the examination of routes was recommenced by the United States
Government in 1866, a Commission finally reporting in 1876[1] in favour
of the Nicaraguan route.
[1] The report, however, was not published until 1879.
In 1869 the Suez Canal was opened for traffic. Immediately, the route by
Panama ceased to be the shortest from Europe to any part of the East
Indies. The importance of that route to Asia was thus greatly reduced as
far as Europe was concerned, but, relatively, its importance to the
United States was increased, for the Suez Canal does not shorten the
Asiatic voyage from New York, Boston, or New Orleans to the same extent
as it does for European ports.
The Old World had been severed into halves by the enterprise of one man,
and that man no potentate, but merely one possessing the gift of
persuasion. By his achievement, which was immediately crowned by
financial success, Ferdinand de Lesseps suddenly became possessed of
powers such as are not always at the disposal of the Governments even of
great countries. He decided himself to sever the barrier between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, convened a "Congress" at Paris in 1879, and
inaugurated in 1881 the _Compagnie Universelle du Canal Inter-oceanique
de Panama_. He had decided to adopt the Panama route on account of the
facilities afforded by the railway. The money was mainly subscribed in
France. The American railway company was bought out at the enormous
price of $25,500,000, and in the course of the next eight years a large
part of the work required for a tide-level canal was well executed on
sound lines by the genius of the French, who are excelled by none in the
arts of the civil engineer. The exact proportion which the French work
bears to that since accomplished by the American Government will be
shown later. The engineers now on the Isthmus are full of praise for the
work of the French engineers, and their wonder daily grows both at its
quantity and its ingenuity. It is only those at a distance, or
ill-informed, who have belittled these achievements. Unfortunately, the
French engineers were not properly supported. De Lesseps, if he were
ever a practical man, had certainly ceased to be so since his first
great success. A practical man is one who counts the cost of everything
he is about to do. De Lesseps no longer counted cost. He had become as
one believing in his star. His actions remind us of those of some of
the great conquerors whose early successes have led them to undertake
impossible campaigns. The question has been discussed if any human
character can stand more than a certain share of success and yet retain
a sound judgment. Certainly the character of de Lesseps was not equal to
the strain. The expenditure was awful--$300,000,000 in eight years,
_i.e._, more than three times the sum for which the Suez Canal was
constructed. The Company went into liquidation in 1889. Much had been
embezzled. Much, it is said, had been spent in purchasing the silence of
voices which would otherwise have been raised against a Europeanised
canal.
The affairs of the Company were taken over by the New Panama Canal
Company, who continued to administer the railway, and, with small means,
did excellent work for the next twelve years in keeping the machinery
and the works from deterioration, in excavations at the summit, and
above all in extending the scientific examination of the country so as
to obtain much-needed data for the construction of the high-level canal
which was now proposed in place of de Lesseps's project of a tide-level
waterway.
In 1869 President Grant, in a message to Congress, had recommended the
construction of an Isthmian canal under the sole control of the United
States, and popular opinion since that time, if not before, has always
strongly held that if a canal be made it should be exclusively under
that control. It was not the least of de Lesseps's imprudences that he
proceeded with his project in spite of warnings on this matter. In 1898
an event occurred which made the American nation feel that an Isthmian
canal was necessary, and that it must be under their exclusive control.
At the outset of the war with Spain, the _Oregon_, one of the best of
America's small fleet of battleships (we write of ten years since), was
lying in the Pacific. She had to steam more than 13,000 miles to reach
Key West, and the whole nation was in a state of nervous tension for
many weeks pending her junction with the main fleet.
It seemed at the time that the Panama route could hardly be obtained for
a canal under purely American control, and a further investigation of
the Nicaraguan route was ordered--that route which had been preferred by
the American experts before de Lesseps intervened. The New Panama Canal
Company had by this time brought their labours to the point where it
seemed practicable to appeal to the investing public of the world for
funds to construct a high-level Panama canal. To do this in the face of
a Nicaraguan canal, undertaken as a national affair by the United
States, would have been hopeless: they therefore laid their detailed
plans before President McKinley. A Commission was accordingly appointed
by Congress to inquire into the best route for an Isthmian canal "under
the control, management, and ownership of the United States."[2] The
report was presented to Congress on December 4, 1901, rather more than
two years later, and is a document of great historical and scientific
interest. The quarto volume of 688 pages is accompanied by a portfolio
of 86 maps, plans, and panoramic views. The last of these, showing the
mountainous skyline of the Isthmus east of Colon, with altitudes marked,
illustrates in a striking manner the conclusion of the Commission that
the San Blas route, or any route east of Colon, would involve a ship
tunnel. These routes are dismissed as impracticable on account of the
altitude of the divide. The Nicaraguan and Panamanian are found to be
the only practicable routes, and the details of both are fully
discussed. The high-level canal was preferred by the Commission to the
sea-level at Panama, and on the Nicaraguan route only a high-level canal
is possible, so that in this respect the two routes were considered to
be on a par.
[2] Act of Congress approved by President, March 3, 1899, Commission
appointed June 10.
[Illustration: TROPICAL FOREST WITH PARASITIC GROWTHS.]
[Illustration: PIPE CONVEYING OIL ACROSS THE ISTHMUS.]
The relative advantages of the two routes are carefully set out in the
report, the general tenor of which is favourable to that by Panama.
Nevertheless, the Commission recommend that the Nicaraguan route be
adopted, on account of the excessive valuation which, they state, was
placed by the New Panama Canal Company on their works and property. The
value of these, including the Panama Railway, was estimated by the
Commission at $40,000,000. The New Panama Canal Company, learning that
the Commission had thus reported, cabled an offer to sell at this price,
and the Commission accordingly sent in a supplementary report in favour
of the Panama route. By June 28, 1902, the "Spooner" Act had been passed
and ratified, authorising the President to purchase the canal works at
this price, and to acquire from the Republic of Colombia the necessary
rights for the control of a Panama canal, then to be constructed; but in
the event of his not being able to acquire such control, then to proceed
with the Nicaraguan project.
Meanwhile, by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, ratified by the Senate December
16, 1901, Great Britain had waived the right of joint control of any
Isthmian canal which she had held since the ratification of the
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in 1850. It remained therefore only to negotiate a
treaty with Colombia. The treaty of 1846 with New Grenada afforded a
precedent as far as the question of control was concerned, and the
negotiations appear to have been related mainly to the question of
price. A treaty was negotiated by officials of the two Republics, by
which the United States was to pay a sum of $10,000,000 to Colombia, and
after nine years an annual sum of $100,000. This was confirmed by
Congress but rejected by the Colombian Senate, and negotiations came to
an end with the adjournment of that body, October 31, 1903.
Three days later the Province of Panama renounced its allegiance to
Colombia.
Another three days, and the independence of the New Republic was
recognised and guaranteed by the United States.
In less than a fortnight afterwards a treaty was signed at Washington by
which the United States acquired complete ownership and control of the
proposed canal for the sum of $10,000,000 and an annual payment of
$250,000, to commence nine years afterwards. This treaty was ratified at
Panama December 2, 1903, and by the United States Senate February 23,
1904.
One significant point must be mentioned with reference to the Panamanian
revolution. The inability of Colombia to make an effective effort to
assert its power on the Isthmus was due to naval weakness in the absence
of communication by land. No army could march through the tropical
forests which still isolate the Canal Zone from South America, and
control at Colon and Panama still depends upon sea power.
Thus, at last, the United States owns and controls its Canal Zone. We
will now state precisely the position in which that nation stands in
reference to this matter, and then we may leave the work of the
diplomats to consider the task of the engineers.
_The National Status of the Canal._
The position which will be held by the United States in relation to
other Powers is foreshown in the Hay-Pauncefote treaty with Great
Britain and in Article XXIII. of the treaty with Panama. The
Hay-Pauncefote treaty is in supersession of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty.
The latter stipulated that no fortifications should be erected
controlling the Canal. In the Hay-Pauncefote treaty this clause is
omitted. On the other hand, it is stated in Article III., Sec. 2, that "the
Canal shall never be blockaded, nor shall any right of war be exercised
nor any act of hostility be committed within it." Hence, the reader may
have remained in doubt whether the United States Government had intended
to reserve to themselves the right to fortify. However, the terms of the
subsequent treaty with the Republic of Panama answer this question, for
after stating in Article XVIII. that the Canal shall be opened in
accordance with all the stipulations of the treaty of 1901 with Great
Britain, Article XXIII. states that "the United States shall have the
right to establish fortifications."
As a matter of fact, such fortifications are to be constructed, and the
plan of the Canal has been adjusted to the requirements of military
defence.
There have been, among public men in the United States, two schools of
thought on the vital question of the defence of the Canal. One school
has held that the best safeguard was to be obtained by leaving the Canal
unfortified (as is the case with the Suez Canal), and by the
establishment of a general Convention, by which all the Powers,
including the United States, should bind themselves to respect the
neutrality of the Canal and leave it inviolate. Other public men
preferred forts, guardships, and a garrison. The general public in the
United States, on the other hand, appears to have unanimously held that
an international guarantee would be ineffectual and, moreover,
derogatory. As we have seen, the popular view has prevailed, but traces
of the antagonistic and incompatible notion of internationalisation
remain in the language of the treaties. This is not surprising when we
recollect that the first draft of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty was drawn
up with a view to neutralisation, according to the precedents afforded
by the Suez Canal. Thus we find that Article III. commences with the
words: "The United States adopts as the basis of the neutralisation of
the Canal ..."; and in Article XVIII. of the treaty with Panama we find:
"The Canal when constructed, and the entrances thereto, shall be neutral
in perpetuity...."
[Illustration: CHAGRES RIVER NEAR BABACOES.]
[Illustration: CHAGRES RIVER NEAR OBISPO.]
What then are we to understand by the term "neutral" as applied to the
Panama Canal in war time? I suppose the meaning to be that if there be a
war to which the United States is not a party, the Canal will be used by
belligerents in exactly the same way as was the Suez Canal, _e.g._, in
the Russo-Japanese War, and that the Government of the United States has
pledged itself to see that such neutrality is preserved. But if there be
a war in which the United States is a party, the circumstances of
fortification and operation by the United States in fact render it
impossible for the other belligerent to use the Canal, and are
intended[3] to have that effect. This being so, the United States is
preparing to defend the Canal from attack. Thus it is important to the
proper understanding of the undertaking on which the United States
Government has embarked that we should clearly realise that the Canal is
only neutral in a restricted sense.
The commercial status of the Canal, however, is similar to that of Suez,
in that by Article III., Sec. 1, of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, "The Canal
shall be free and open[4] to the vessels ... of all nations ... on terms
of entire equality, so that there shall be no discrimination against any
such nation, or its citizens or subjects, in respect of the conditions
or charges of traffic, or otherwise."
[3] See Report of Canal Commission, 1897, p. 168.
[4] In Article XVIII. of the treaty with Panama this clause is cited,
with the addition "and the entrances to the Canal."