THE CANAL ZONE GOVERNMENT
The Canal Zone is a strip of territory ten miles wide, its irregular
lines following the course of the canal, which is its axis. Over this
zone the United States, under its treaty with Panama, exercises
jurisdiction "as if it were sovereign." The American Government was
unwilling to undertake the great and expensive work of constructing
the canal without having this guaranty to protect it from possible
harassment at the hands of the Panaman authorities.
One of the first tasks that confronted the United States authorities
when they entered upon the work of building the canal was that of
providing a civil government for this territory named by law the Canal
Zone. Postal facilities had to be provided; a police system had to be
established; customs offices were required; fire protection was
necessary; a court system was needed; a school system was demanded;
and, in short, a sort of territorial government had to be put in
operation before the work of building the canal could go forward
satisfactorily.
This government was established in 1904 under the direction of Major
General George W. Davis, the first governor of the Canal Zone. From
time to time it was extended and improved. More than half of this was
appropriated out of the Treasury of the United States, and the
remainder collected in the operations of the government. In addition
to directing the government of the Zone, the head of the department of
civil administration was the titular representative of the Canal
Commission in all matters in which the commission and the Republic of
Panama had a mutual interest. However, in practice, the Panaman
Government looked directly to the chairman and chief engineer on all
important matters.
One of the earliest and most important subjects requiring their
cooperation was that of sanitation in the cities of Panama and Colon.
The United States agreed to advance money for building sewer and water
systems, and for street improvements, in the two principal cities of
the Republic, on condition that the Republic of Panama and the two
cities would reimburse the United States Treasury through the water
rents. The street improvements were to be paid for in 10 years, and
the sewer and water systems in 50 years; in the meantime the United
States was to be allowed 2 per cent interest on the money advanced.
This amortization of the Republic's debt for these improvements has
been going steadily forward.
In laying out the government of the Canal Zone it was thought wise to
adhere as closely to Spanish laws and customs as was expedient under
the new conditions. In view of this consideration the methods of
taxation on the Canal Zone were allowed to remain largely the same as
under the old Spanish laws of Colombia. Likewise the Spanish system
of judicial procedure was adhered to during the early years of the
construction period. It was not, indeed, until 1908 that the right of
trial by jury was established in the Canal Zone. At that time former
Senator J. C. S. Blackburn, of Kentucky, was at the head of the
department of civil administration, and he regarded it as repugnant to
American ideas of justice to deny to Americans on the Isthmus the
right to be tried for felonious offenses by juries of their peers.
Upon his representations President Roosevelt issued an executive order
extending the right of trial by jury to the Canal Zone, and that order
was effective after 1908.
With the early opening of the canal it became advisable for Congress
to determine the future policy of the United States toward the Canal
Zone, and to lay out a system of government there which would meet the
needs of the future. It was determined that the Canal Zone should be
used for the operation of the canal, rather than for a habitation for
such settlers as might choose to go there. Hence the provision was
made that the President of the United States should have the right to
determine how many settlements there should be on the Canal Zone and
how many people should be permitted to live there.
It will be the policy of the United States to discourage general
settlement and to maintain only such towns as are necessary for the
operation of the big waterway, granting only revocable leases to any
outsiders when it is deemed advisable to allow them to occupy land
within the Zone. There will be only five settlements in the Zone, if
present plans are carried out: One at Cristobal, one at Gatun, one at
Pedro Miguel, one at Corozal, and the settlement at Ancon and Balboa
at the Pacific terminus of the canal. The total number of people who
will reside in these settlements will probably not exceed 10,000, a
material reduction from the 62,000 living on the Zone in 1912. Those
who are still there, but who will not be needed in the permanent
organization, will be repatriated at the expense of the United States
Government. In 1912 there were approximately 31,000 British subjects
on the Zone, practically all of them negroes from the British West
Indian islands and British Guiana. The great majority of these will be
carried back to their homes, as will all of the 4,300 Spaniards who
desire to return. There were nearly 12,000 Americans on the Zone at
that time, and perhaps two-thirds of them will leave before 1915.
There were nearly 8,000 Panamans on the Zone and most of them will go
to the cities of Panama and Colon, or upon the Government lands owned
by the Panama Republic outside of the Zone.
The work of clearing the Zone of its population was begun early in
1913. A joint land commission was appointed to adjudicate the claims
of those Panamans who were living within the Zone on lands that were
needed for the operation of the canal. This commission consisted,
under the treaty existing between the two countries, of two Americans
and two Panamans. In their work they first took up the claims of the
poorer classes who had nothing but a thatched hut and a small patch of
ground. The commission visited the various parts of the Zone and
fixed the value of such holdings. The people were given free
transportation over the Panama Railroad, and usually were allowed from
$50 to $100 for their homes. They preferred to move in colonies, so
the Republic of Panama laid out small towns away from the Canal Zone
for them. These natives, usually almost full-blooded Indians, were
treated as kindly and as considerately as conditions would allow. They
were willing to "fold their tents" like the Arabs, and leave their
homes behind as they went out to conquer new ones in the jungles where
the needs of a gigantic waterway could not encroach upon them.
The claims for lands which have to be taken from individuals by the
United States will aggregate a half million dollars. As the Panaman
Government allows homesteading on Government lands at a cost of about
a dollar an acre, and as there are tens of thousands of acres of
better land outside of the Canal Zone than inside, the policy of the
United States in freeing this strip from native population will not
work any great injury to the people.
During the construction period the laws under which the people of the
Zone lived were made in three different ways. Of course, Congress as
the legislative assembly was always supreme. But under the laws passed
by it, the President of the United States was empowered to issue
executive orders covering points not touched by congressional
legislation, and under his instructions the Secretary of War could
promulgate certain orders. In addition to this, the Canal Commission
had a right to serve as a sort of local legislature. During the year
1912 sixteen executive orders pertaining to the Canal Zone were signed
by the President and the Secretary of War, while five ordinances were
promulgated by the Isthmian Canal Commission during the same period.
The court system under the construction-period government consisted of
district courts, circuit courts, and a supreme court. There were five
district judges and three circuit judges; and the circuit judges
sitting together constituted the supreme court, from whose decisions
there was no appeal. Under the permanent law there will be a
magistrate's court in each town, which will have exclusive, original
jurisdiction in all civil cases involving not more than $300, and of
all criminal cases where the punishment does not exceed a fine of a
hundred dollars or 30 days in jail, or both. Its jurisdiction will
include all violations of police regulations and ordinances, and all
actions involving possession or title to personal property or the
forcible entry and detainer of real estate. These magistrates and the
constables under them will serve for terms of four years. There will
be a district court which will sit at the two terminal towns with the
usual court officers. The circuit court of appeals of the fifth
circuit of the United States will be the court to which appeals from
the district court will be carried.
The postal service of the Canal Zone is practically identical with
that of the United States. The revenues collected from the sale of
stamps and postal cards amounted to $87,550 in 1912. Nearly a quarter
of a million money orders were issued during that year, representing
a total of approximately $5,000,000. A postal savings bank system is
also maintained, a counterpart of the one in the United States.
All mail matter sent from the Canal Zone bears Panaman stamps
countermarked by the Canal Zone government. When the United States
established the postal system at Panama, American postage was used.
The Panamans were very much dissatisfied with such a procedure,
however, since it deprived them of a large share of their postal
revenue. Their postal rates to the United States were those of the
universal postal union--5 cents per ounce or fraction thereof on all
first-class mail matter. The rate from the Canal Zone Was only 2
cents. The result was that the citizens of Panama and Colon would not
patronize their own post offices, but carried their mail across the
line to the post offices at Ancon and Cristobal where they could mail
their letters at the 2-cent rate. The Panaman Government protested
against this, and it was agreed by the Americans that in the future
all mail matter should carry Panaman postage stamps. These are
furnished to the Canal Zone government at 40 per cent of their face
value. In this way the share of the Republic of Panama in the postal
receipts of 1912 amounted to nearly $33,000.
President Roosevelt selected one of his "rough riders," George R.
Shanton, to establish the police force on the Zone. This police force
was selected generally from men who had seen service in the United
States Army and had made good records there. In 1912 the force
consisted of 117 first-class white policemen, 116 colored policemen,
20 corporals, 8 sergeants, 7 lieutenants, and 2 inspectors, besides a
chief of police and an assistant chief of police. During that year
7,055 arrests were made, 70 per cent of which resulted in convictions.
Police stations were maintained at all settlements along the line. A
penitentiary was located at Culebra where approximately 140 convicts
were confined. The penitentiary had to be removed owing to slides at
Culebra Cut, and the men were put to work on the roads of the Canal
Zone. They were kept in well-guarded stockades at night.
When Judge Henry A. Gudger was made a member of the judicial system of
the Canal Zone he believed that it would be the scene of unusual
lawlessness; he thought it would be a dumping ground for lawless
people from all parts of the world. He therefore believed in strong
repressive measures, and his earlier sentences were made heavy with
that end in view. He found later, however, that the opposite was true.
Under the system of quartering the canal help there was comparatively
little mixing of the races. The negroes lived to themselves, the
Spaniards to themselves, and the Americans to themselves; therefore,
racial friction was largely overcome. The lawless found the Canal Zone
a desirable place to shun. Judge Gudger soon discovered that severe
measures were unnecessary, and in recommending pardons frequently
stated that he had imposed sentences heavier than necessary to carry
out the repressive policies he had in mind.
A well-organized, paid fire department was maintained from the
beginning and it was supplemented by volunteer companies in many
places. In a number of towns fire engines of the latest automobile
type were installed. Out of 300 fire alarms in 1912, nearly 200 were
for fires in Government property valued at one and three-quarters
million dollars, while the total loss was only $5,000.
The school system of the Canal Zone was laid out along the same lines
that characterized all other activities for the welfare of the people
who were engaged in building the canal. It was founded by Charles E.
Magoon when he was governor of the Zone, and in 1912 had 75 teachers
and officials, with an enrollment of 2,105, of whom nearly 1,200 were
white. The standard required of the teachers was maintained at a high
point. Of the 48 white teachers employed in 1912, 13 held degrees from
colleges and universities, 19 held diplomas from standard normal
schools, and 12 others had enjoyed at least two years of normal
teaching. The white children on the Zone were given free
transportation to and from the schools. Those who had to go on the
railroad to reach their schools were given free passes. Those who
attended the schools in their own neighborhood were gathered up in
wagons and transported to school.
The system of roads for the parts of the Canal Zone adjacent to the
canal itself was built mainly by convict labor at comparatively little
cost. They have been useful to the natives in getting their few
products to market, and during the years to come will be available as
military roads for use in the defense of the Zone. These roads are
built according to the best American standards and are almost the only
real roads in the entire Republic. The Panaman Government has extended
one road from the Zone line to old Panama, and for a few miles into
the interior, but aside from this national road activities have been
few indeed.
The American road from Panama to the Zone boundary, leading toward old
Panama, over the savannahs, is the pleasure highway of the Republic.
It is practically the only road in the Republic where one drives for
pleasure, and here every automobile in Panama City is pressed into
service during the late afternoon and the evening. The elite of the
capital city own summer homes along this road. These homes are by no
means as elaborate as the summer homes along the Hudson, but the fact
that they were seated amidst veritable gardens of flowers gives them
an air of beauty and restfulness attractive even to the most blase
traveler.
The water-supply system of the Canal Zone consists of a number of
reservoirs on the watersheds of the Isthmus where no human habitations
are allowed, and where trespassing is forbidden. The waters are
examined for bacteria and other properties once each month, and a
report thereon is made to the proper officials. Twice each month a
physical examination of each reservoir, and the land from which it
receives its water, is made by inspectors who report all conditions to
the sanitary and other authorities. If there is any sign of
contamination, steps to overcome the trouble are taken immediately.
Where the reservoirs fill up to the spillway the waste water is not
allowed to go over the top, but is drawn out from the bottom in order
that the under layers of water may be the ones wasted. Water drawn out
for domestic purposes is taken from the top wherever possible. The
water has a somewhat unpleasant taste to people newly arrived upon the
Isthmus, and in some cases serves to disturb the digestive tract, but
to the people who become accustomed to it the unpleasant flavor, due
to the presence of decayed vegetation, is forgotten, and the workers
on the Canal Zone frequently declare they miss the Panama water when
they go back to the States.
The permanent Government of the Canal Zone will be, in the main,
merely a miniature of the government during the construction period.
The law providing for the operation of the canal makes this Government
entirely subsidiary to the main purpose for which the canal was built.
It provides that when war is in prospect the President may appoint a
military officer to take charge of the Canal Zone, and to conduct its
affairs as they might be conducted were the Zone nothing more than a
military reservation. The Government will have its headquarters at the
Pacific end of the canal where Balboa, the principal permanent town on
the Isthmus, will be located. This little American city will be
Government-built and Government-owned, and it will be the smallest of
all the world's capitals.
[Illustration: SMOKE FROM HEATED ROCKS IN CULEBRA CUT]
[Illustration: TOM M. COOKE
THE POST OFFICE, ANCON]
Under the new Government all old laws, not specifically repealed,
or contrary to the new ones, will be continued in force. All executive
orders issued by the President, and all orders and ordinances
promulgated by the Canal Commission, during the construction period,
not inconsistent with the act creating a permanent form of government,
are made laws of the Canal Zone to continue as such until specifically
repealed by act of Congress.