THE NEW PACIFIC.
Some readers may perhaps think that these forecasts of the results of
running a canal through the isthmus of Panama are somewhat exaggerated.
It is sufficient to point out to such a critic how different the course
of American and world history might have been if Nature had left a
practicable channel between the two Americas. The effect of erecting an
artificial passage there in these days may be even greater than at
present we can imagine. Some of these results will be apparent at once;
others may take decades or even centuries to materialize. Many of the
commercial and political results which have followed the construction of
the Suez Canal were quite unforeseen in 1869. We may be similarly
mistaken in our forecast with regard to the Panama Canal. Mr. Bryce
suggests that if a dozen experts were, in 1914, to write out and place
in the libraries of the British Museum and of Congress their respective
forecasts bearing on this subject, sealed up and not to be opened till
A.D. 2000, they might make curious reading in that year. We may
venture to predict that the results of Panama will be much more profound
and revolutionary than those of Suez. The Panama Canal, says Mr. Bryce,
is "the greatest liberty man has ever taken with Nature." It will
involve a far greater shifting of centres of gravity, political and
commercial, a more radical readjustment of ideas and points of view than
the Suez Canal.
As the past four hundred years have belonged to the Atlantic, the
present century and others to come may belong to the Pacific. That area
of 70,000,000 square miles may become the main theatre of the
rivalries--commercial, political, and racial--of the most powerful
nations of East and West. Some believe that the world is advancing to
that loud and fateful day when East and West will fight out their long
difference in some naval and aerial Armageddon on and above this
miscalled Pacific. Without straining our imaginations to this extent, we
may well observe that the canal brings Eastern and Western
civilizations into much closer contact and competition than before. Mr.
Kipling has informed us that East is East and West is West, and never
the twain shall meet; and a still earlier author, desiring to give the
penitent sinner the uttermost consolation, declared that the Lord
removes his transgressions from him "as far as the east is from the
west."
The new canal rather diminishes the force of such similitudes. It is not
simply that the east of Canada and the United States, as representing
Western civilization, is brought much closer to China and Japan; that
the passage from West to East which the early navigators vainly sought
is now thrown open. The important thing is that the Pacific is going to
be the scene of commercial and political rivalries in which the slowly
awakening people of China and the already wide-awake people of Japan
will take part. All the Pacific Ocean westward to 160 degrees of
longitude east of Greenwich is brought nearer to England and the western
coasts of Europe. The entire ocean right back to the western extremity
of Australia is brought closer to the governmental and industrial
centres of the United States and Canada.
English people have been thinking "Atlantically" up to now. The Pacific,
held at an unimaginable distance by a broad continent or an abyss of
ocean, has been known to them chiefly through stories of adventure among
its coral islands familiar to their childhood. Yet England is the
greatest Pacific Power in the world. British Columbia alone has a
Pacific sea-front longer than the United States, and holds 383,000
square miles, an area as large as France and Spain put together. And yet
the population of that vast and fertile province is only 134,000. And
what of the lonely continent that bounds this oceanic abyss in the far
south-west? Australia, without New Zealand, is about 3,000,000 square
miles in extent, and has to-day a white population of about 4,600,000,
or about 4,700,000 people all told. The northern part of this mighty
island-continent, known as the "Territory," 560 miles wide, 900 miles
long, and 523,620 square miles in extent, a region of great potential
wealth, has a total European population of 1,274! And to the north and
north-west there are a billion (1,000,000,000) brown and yellow people,
packed together in crowded islands and territories, whose mere
overspill would quickly fill that delectable island-continent to the
south where England has done so little to make good her nominal title to
sovereignty by actual and effective settlement.
Such a possession, an empire in itself, held so precariously and
offering such a ceaseless temptation to swarming land-hungry hordes, is
rather a weakness than a strength to England on the threshold of the new
era. And from all this Pacific region and its adjuncts where she has
secured all the empty and desirable plots and pegged out so many claims
for posterity, she has had to withdraw her fleets, as Rome had to draw
in her legions from the outer provinces to defend the central heart of
her empire. We may hope that this North Sea danger, so embarrassing and
disastrous in its strategic needs to a power like England, whose empire
is scattered over every ocean and continent, may disappear through the
growth of better relations between the German and Anglo-Saxon branches
of the Teutonic race. To that stock more than any other is committed the
defence of Western and Christian ideas, and the great issues of the
future may compel a Pan-Teutonic alliance, embracing the British and
German Empires and the United States.
England has two responsibilities in the Pacific--the one to herself and
her empire, and the other to Christendom and Western civilization. If
she is true to the former, she cannot well be false to the latter. She
must bring her fleets back to this great ocean and assert an influence
in its politics proportionate to her territorial domains and the extent
of her commerce in those regions. But there are objects more important
than the interests of any single Power. The entire coast of the Pacific
from Behring Straits to the Horn, and round south by New Zealand and
Australia, must be kept "white"--reserved, that is, for the Occidental
and Christian races. Perhaps the United States may one day so far modify
the Monroe doctrine as to welcome Germany to a sovereign foothold among
the unstable politics of South America, in order to strengthen still
more the outposts of Christian civilization in the Western hemisphere.
It is possible to talk great nonsense about what is called the "yellow
peril." No sensible person imagines that the nimble Japanese, the
inscrutable Chinaman, and the subtle Hindoo are suddenly going to rise
as one man and throw down the gage of challenge to Christianity and the
West. East, like West, has its own political and religious divisions;
nevertheless it is impossible to foresee what the results of the
Oriental resurgence may mean, and England and the United States, and
perhaps Germany, may some day have a joint responsibility in the Pacific
compared with which their rivalries among themselves may seem trifling
and irrational.
But I do not wish to end this little book with presages of future
discord. We must all hope that the Panama Canal will prove a new and
powerful influence for peace, that it will bring even East and West
together, not in strife and suspicion, but in friendship and a better
mutual understanding. There is surely a human interest and sympathy
transcending even those racial divisions which may seem most
insuperable. The great nation which has given this splendid gift to the
world should ask no better or more selfish reward than that it may
contribute to the welfare and progress of humanity at large.
APPENDIX I.
THE ISTHMIAN CANAL CONVENTION (COMMONLY CALLED THE HAY-PAUNCEFOTE
TREATY), 1901.
1. The high contracting parties agree that the present treaty shall
supersede the aforementioned (Clayton-Bulwer) convention of April 19,
1850.
2. It is agreed that the canal may be constructed under the auspices of
the government of the United States either directly at its own cost, or
by gift or loan of money to individuals or corporations, or through
subscription to or purchase of stock or shares, and that, subject to the
provisions of the present treaty, the said government shall have and
enjoy all the rights incident to such construction, as well as the
exclusive right of providing for the regulation and management of the
canal.
3. The United States adopts as the basis of the neutralization of such
ship canal the following rules substantially as embodied in the
Convention of Constantinople, signed the 28th October, 1888, for the
free navigation of the Suez Canal; that is to say:
First.--The canal shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and
of war of all nations observing these rules, 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. Such conditions and charges of traffic
shall be just and equitable.
Second.--The canal shall never be blockaded, nor shall any right of war
be exercised nor any act of hostility be committed within it. The United
States, however, shall be at liberty to maintain such military police
along the canal as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness
and disorder.
Third.--Vessels of war of a belligerent shall not revictual nor take any
stores in the canal except so far as may be strictly necessary; and the
transit of such vessels through the canal shall be effected with the
least possible delay in accordance with the regulations in force, and
with only such intermission as may result from the necessities of the
service. Prizes shall be in all respects subject to the same rules as
vessels of war of the belligerents.
Fourth.--No belligerent shall embark or disembark troops, munitions of
war or warlike materials in the canal except in case of accidental
hindrance of the transit, and in such case the transit shall be resumed
with all possible despatch.
Fifth.--The provisions of this article shall apply to waters adjacent to
the canal, within three marine miles of either end. Vessels of war of a
belligerent shall not remain in such waters longer than twenty-four
hours at any one time except in case of distress, and in such case shall
depart as soon as possible, but a vessel of war of one belligerent shall
not depart within twenty-four hours from the departure of a vessel of
war of the other belligerent.
Sixth.--The plant, establishment, buildings and all works necessary to
the construction, maintenance and operation of the canal shall be deemed
to be parts thereof for the purpose of this treaty, and in time of war,
as in time of peace, shall enjoy complete immunity from attack or injury
by belligerents, and from acts calculated to impair their usefulness as
part of the canal.
4. It is agreed that no change of territorial sovereignty or of
international relations of the country or countries traversed by the
before-mentioned canal shall affect the general principle of
neutralization or the obligation of the high contracting parties under
the present treaty.
5. The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United
States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by
His Britannic Majesty; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at
Washington or at London at the earliest possible time within six months
from the date thereof.
APPENDIX II.
THE PANAMA DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1903.
The transcendental act that by a spontaneous movement the inhabitants of
the isthmus of Panama have just executed is the inevitable consequence
of a situation which has become graver daily.
Long is the recital of the grievances that the inhabitants of the
isthmus have suffered from their Colombian brothers; but those
grievances would have been withstood with resignation for the sake of
harmony and national union had its separation been possible and if we
could have entertained well-founded hopes of improvement and of
effective progress under the system to which we were submitted by that
republic. We have to solemnly declare that we have the sincere and
profound conviction that all the hopes were futile and useless, all the
sacrifices on our part.
The isthmus of Panama has been governed by the Republic of Colombia with
the narrow-mindedness that in past times was applied to their colonies
by the European nations--the Isthmian people and territory were a source
of fiscal resources and nothing more. The contracts and negotiations
regarding the railroad and the Panama Canal and the national taxes
collected in the isthmus have netted to Colombia tremendous sums which
we will not detail, not wishing to appear in this exposition which will
go down to posterity as being moved by a mercenary spirit, which has
never been nor is our purpose; and of these large sums the isthmus has
not received the benefit of a bridge for any of its numerous rivers, nor
the construction of a single road between its towns, nor of any public
building nor of a single college, and has neither seen any interest
displayed in advancing her industries, nor has a most infinite part of
those sums been applied toward her prosperity.
A very recent example of what we have related above is what has occurred
with the negotiations of the Panama Canal, which, when taken under
consideration by Congress, was rejected in a summary manner. There were
a few public men who expressed their adverse opinion, on the ground that
the isthmus of Panama alone was to be favoured by the opening of the
canal by virtue of a treaty with the United States, and that the rest of
Colombia would not receive any direct benefits of any sort by that work,
as if that way of reasoning, even though it be correct, would justify
the irreparable and perpetual damage that would be caused to the isthmus
by the rejection of the treaty in the manner in which it was done, which
was equivalent to the closing of the doors to future negotiations.
The people of the isthmus, in view of such notorious causes, have
decided to recover their sovereignty and begin to form a part of the
society of the free and independent nations, in order to work out its
own destiny, to insure its future in a stable manner, and discharge the
duties which it is called on to do by the situation of its territory and
its immense richness.
To that we, the initiators of the movement effected, aspire and have
obtained a unanimous approval.
We aspire to the formation of a true republic, where tolerance will
prevail, where the law shall be the invariable guide of those governing
and those governed, where effective peace be established, which consists
in the frequent and harmonious play of all interests and all activities,
and where, finally, civilization and progress will find perpetual
stability.
At the commencement of the life of an independent nation we fully
appreciate the responsibilities that state means, but we have profound
faith in the good sense and patriotism of the Isthmian people, and we
possess sufficient energy to open our way by means of labour to a happy
future without any worry or any danger.
At separating from our brothers of Colombia we do it without hatred and
without any joy. Just as a son withdraws from his paternal roof, the
Isthmian people in adopting the lot it has chosen have done it with
grief, but in compliance with the supreme and inevitable duty it owes to
itself--that of its own preservation and of working for its own
welfare.
We therefore begin to form a part among the free nations of the world,
considering Colombia as a sister nation, with which we shall be whenever
circumstances may require it, and for whose prosperity we have the most
fervent and sincere wishes.
Jose Agustin Arango,
Federico Boyd,
Tomas Arias.
APPENDIX III.
THE PANAMA CANAL CONVENTION (COMMONLY CALLED THE HAY-BUNAU-VARILLA
TREATY), 1904.
The United States of America and the Republic of Panama being desirous
to insure the construction of a ship-canal across the isthmus of Panama
to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Congress of the
United States of America having passed an Act approved June 28, 1902, in
furtherance of that object, by which the President of the United States
is authorized to acquire within a reasonable time the control of the
necessary territory of the Republic of Colombia, and the sovereignty of
such territory being actually vested in the Republic of Panama, the high
contracting parties have resolved for that purpose to conclude a
convention and have accordingly appointed as their plenipotentiaries--
The President of the United States of America, John Hay, Secretary of
State, and the government of the Republic of Panama, Philippe
Bunau-Varilla, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the
Republic of Panama, thereunto specially empowered by said government,
who after communicating with each other their respective full powers
found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the
following articles:
Article 1.
The United States guarantees and will maintain the independence of the
Republic of Panama.
Article 2.
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity the
use, occupation and control of a zone of land and land under water for
the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of
said canal of the width of ten miles extending to the distance of five
miles on each side of the centre line of the route of the canal to be
constructed; the said zone beginning in the Caribbean Sea three marine
miles from mean low water mark, and extending to and across the isthmus
of Panama into the Pacific Ocean to a distance of three marine miles
from mean low water mark, with the proviso that the cities of Panama and
Colon and the harbours adjacent to said cities, which are included
within the boundaries of the zone above described, shall not be included
within this grant. The Republic of Panama further grants to the United
States in perpetuity the use, occupation and control of any other lands
and waters outside of the zone above described which may be necessary
and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation
and protection of the said canal or of any auxiliary canal or other
works necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance,
operation, sanitation and protection of the said enterprise.
The Republic of Panama further grants in like manner to the United
States in perpetuity all islands within the limits of the zone above
described and in addition thereto the group of small islands in the Bay
of Panama, named Perico, Naos, Culebra, and Flamenco.
Article 3.
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all the rights, power
and authority within the zone mentioned and described in Article 2 of
this agreement and within the limits of all auxiliary lands and waters
mentioned and described in said Article 2 which the United States would
possess and exercise if it were the sovereign of the territory within
which said lands and waters are located to the entire exclusion of the
exercise by the Republic of Panama of any such sovereign rights, power
or authority.
Article 4.
As rights subsidiary to the above grants the Republic of Panama grants
in perpetuity to the United States the right to use the rivers, streams,
lakes and other bodies of water within its limits for navigation, the
supply of water or water-power or other purposes, so far as the use of
said rivers, streams, lakes and bodies of water and the waters thereof
may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance,
operation, sanitation and protection of the said canal.
Article 5.
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity a
monopoly for the construction, maintenance and operation of any system
of communication by means of canal or railroad across its territory
between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Article 6.
The grants herein contained shall in no manner invalidate the titles or
rights of private landholders or owners of private property in the said
zone or in or to any of the lands or waters granted to the United States
by the provisions of any Article of this treaty, nor shall they
interfere with the rights of way over the public roads passing through
the said zone or over any of the said lands or waters unless said rights
of way or private rights shall conflict with rights herein granted to
the United States, in which case the rights of the United States shall
be superior. All damages caused to the owners of private lands or
private property of any kind by reason of the grants contained in this
treaty or by reason of the operations of the United States, its agents
or employees, or by reason of the construction, maintenance, operation,
sanitation and protection of the said canal or of the works of
sanitation and protection herein provided for, shall be appraised and
settled by a joint commission appointed by the governments of the United
States and the Republic of Panama, whose decisions as to such damages
shall be final and whose awards as to such damages shall be paid solely
by the United States. No part of the work on said canal or the Panama
railroad or on any auxiliary works relating thereto and authorized by
the terms of this treaty shall be prevented, delayed or impeded by or
pending such proceedings to ascertain such damages. The appraisal of the
said private lands and private property and the assessment of damages to
them shall be based upon their value before the date of this convention.
Article 7.
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States within the limits of
the cities of Panama and Colon and their adjacent harbours and within
the territory adjacent thereto the right to acquire by purchase or by
the exercise of the right of eminent domain, any lands, buildings, water
rights or other properties necessary and convenient for the
construction, maintenance, operation and protection of the canal and of
any works of sanitation, such as the collection and disposition of
sewage and the distribution of water in the said cities of Panama and
Colon, which, in the discretion of the United States, may be necessary
and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation
and protection of the said canal and railroad. All such works of
sanitation, collection and disposition of sewage and distribution of
water in the cities of Panama and Colon shall be made at the expense of
the United States, and the government of the United States, its agents
or nominees shall be authorized to impose and collect water rates and
sewage rates which shall be sufficient to provide for the payment of
interest and the amortization of the principal of the cost of said works
within a period of fifty years, and upon the expiration of said term of
fifty years the system of sewers and water works shall revert to and
become the properties of the cities of Panama and Colon respectively;
and the use of the water shall be free to the inhabitants of Panama and
Colon, except to the extent that water rates may be necessary for the
operation and maintenance of said system of sewers and water.
The Republic of Panama agrees that the cities of Panama and Colon shall
comply in perpetuity with the sanitary ordinances whether of a
preventive or curative character prescribed by the United States, and in
case the government of Panama is unable or fails in its duty to enforce
this compliance by the cities of Panama and Colon with the sanitary
ordinances of the United States the Republic of Panama grants to the
United States the right and authority to enforce the same.
The same right and authority are granted to the United States for the
maintenance of public order in the cities of Panama and Colon and the
territories and harbours adjacent thereto in case the Republic of Panama
should not be, in the judgment of the United States, able to maintain
such order.
Article 8.
The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all rights which it
now has or hereafter may acquire to the property of the New Panama Canal
Company and the Panama Railroad Company as a result of the transfer of
sovereignty from the Republic of Colombia to the Republic of Panama over
the isthmus of Panama, and authorizes the New Panama Canal Company to
sell and transfer to the United States its rights, privileges,
properties and concessions, as well as the Panama Railroad and all the
shares or part of the shares of that company; but the public lands
situated outside of the zone described in Article 2 of this treaty now
included in the concessions to both said enterprises and not required in
the construction or operation of the canal shall revert to the Republic
of Panama except any property now owned by or in the possession of said
companies within Panama or Colon or the ports or terminals thereof.
Article 9.
The United States agrees that the ports at either entrance of the canal
and the waters thereof, and the Republic of Panama agrees that the
towns of Panama and Colon shall be free for all time, so that there
shall not be imposed or collected custom-house tolls, tonnage,
anchorage, lighthouse, wharf, pilot, or quarantine dues or any other
charges or taxes of any kind upon any vessel using or passing through
the canal or belonging to or employed by the United States, directly or
indirectly, in connection with the construction, maintenance, operation,
sanitation and protection of the main canal, or auxiliary works, or upon
the cargo, officers, crew, or passengers of any such vessels, except
such tolls and charges as may be imposed by the United States for the
use of the canal and other works, and except tolls and charges imposed
by the Republic of Panama upon merchandise destined to be introduced for
the consumption of the rest of the Republic of Panama, and upon vessels
touching at the ports of Colon and Panama and which do not cross the
canal.
The government of the Republic of Panama shall have the right to
establish in such ports and in the towns of Panama and Colon such houses
and guards as it may deem necessary to collect duties on importations
destined to other portions of Panama and to prevent contraband trade.
The United States shall have the right to make use of the towns and
harbours of Panama and Colon as places of anchorage, and for making
repairs, for loading, unloading, depositing, or transshipping cargoes
either in transit or destined for the service of the canal and for other
works pertaining to the canal.
* * * * *
Article 23.
If it should become necessary at any time to employ armed forces for the
safety or protection of the canal, or of the ships that make use of the
same, or the railways and auxiliary works, the United States shall have
the right, at all times and in its discretion, to use its police and its
land and naval forces or to establish fortifications for these purposes.
* * * * *
APPENDIX IV.
PANAMA CANAL TOLL RATES.
By the President of the United States of America, Washington, November
14, 1912.
A PROCLAMATION.
I, William Howard Taft, President of the United States of America, by
virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Act of Congress,
approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, to provide
for the opening, maintenance, protection and operation of the Panama
Canal and the sanitation and government of the canal zone, do hereby
prescribe and proclaim the following rates of toll be paid, by vessels
using the Panama Canal.
1. On merchant vessels carrying passengers or cargo one dollar and
twenty cents ($1.20) per net vessel ton--each one hundred (100) cubic
feet--of actual earning capacity.
2. On vessels in ballast without passengers or cargo forty (40) per
cent. less than the rate of tolls for vessels with passengers or cargo.
3. Upon naval vessels, other than transports, colliers, hospital ships,
and supply ships, fifty (50) cents per displacement ton.
4. Upon army and navy transports, colliers, hospital ships and supply
ships one dollar and twenty cents ($1.20) per net ton, the vessels to be
measured by the same rules as are employed in determining the net
tonnage of merchant vessels.
The Secretary of War will prepare and prescribe such rules for the
measurement of vessels and such regulations as may be necessary and
proper to carry this proclamation into full force and effect.
THE END.