This treaty, called the Hay-Varilla treaty, was ratified in December,
1903. Its terms provided that the sum of ten millions of dollars be
paid by the United States to the Government of Panama, and the further
sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year for all time,
commencing nine years after the ratification of the treaty by both
countries. The Republic of the United States was to have absolute
title and sovereignty to a strip of land ten miles wide, five miles on
either side of the center of the canal prism, extending from Colon to
Panama, and three miles out into the water on either side, but without
including either of the cities of Colon or Panama within its area.
This treaty further provided that the United States should guarantee
the independence of the Panamanian Republic, the terms being most
explicit that the United States should protect the Panamanian
Government from insurrection within and invasion from without. This
little joker in the treaty between the United States and Panama makes
that little republic the strongest of all the republics on the American
continent next to our own. In fact, the Republic of Panama is as strong
as the United States, and will be so as long as the American flag
floats in sovereignty over a foot of American soil.
The treaty also provided that the United States should have the
privilege of sanitizing the cities of Panama and Colon, and that the
cost of the same should be a charge against the Government of Panama.
When all obstacles to the acquirement of the zone were removed under
the Hay-Varilla treaty, the next step on the part of the American
Republic was to begin the most important work of sanitization.