On August 18, 1914, the steamship Ancon made the first regular,
continuous trip, with a complete cargo, through the canal, the steamer
Cristobel making an experimental journey a few days previously.
The Ancon, with Colonel Goethals on the bridge, left Colon on scheduled
time, passed through the locks and within ten hours entered the waters
of the Pacific at Panama. And twenty-four hours after a small fleet of
ships of commerce made the passage of the canal, the opening of which
the world is now celebrating on the Pacific Coast.
The commendable spirit displayed by America in the opening of the canal
is an indication of what may be expected in the future as far as the
United States is concerned in perfecting equitable plans for
international co-operation.
The New York World puts it clearly in these words: "Today the canal lies
open to all the nations of the world upon equal terms. The United States
has acted with entire good faith, and in the observance of its treaties
discriminated against none and reserved no exclusive rights to itself.
Beyond the collection of tolls, which are uniform to ships of all flags,
it has assumed none of the privileges of national ownership at the
expense of friends and rivals in trade. It has achieved a moral triumph
no less impressive than the material victory won by its engineers over
nature in the piercing of the isthmus."