



Produced by Donald Cummings, Adrian Mastronardi and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)







[Illustration: DUNCAN E. McKINLAY

Who as a Member of Congress Visited the Canal with the Interstate
Committee of the House.]




[Illustration: THE BIG FOUR OF THE PANAMA CANAL--President William
McKinley, President William H. Taft, President Theodore Roosevelt and
Colonel G. W. Goethals.]




                                 THE
                             PANAMA CANAL

                          DUNCAN E. McKINLAY


                                 1912
                       WHITAKER & RAY-WIGGIN CO.
                             SAN FRANCISCO




                             COPYRIGHT BY
                       WHITAKER & RAY-WIGGIN CO.
                                 1912




                              DEDICATED
                                  TO
                     PRESIDENT WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
                            BY THE AUTHOR.




THE PANAMA CANAL


Of all subjects now occupying the attention of the world at large,
and of importance not only to the State of California, but to all the
territory west of the Rocky mountains and the islands and coasts of the
Pacific Ocean, over which the American flag floats in sovereignty, none
is paramount to the construction of the Panama Canal. The completion
of the canal, while a world event, will, of course, be of peculiar
significance and importance to that portion of the globe which borders
on the Pacific Ocean. Countries, islands, coasts and States that for
centuries have been isolated and far distant by water routes from
the centers of population of Europe and Eastern United States, will
be brought thousands of miles nearer to, and consequently, into more
intimate social, industrial and business relations with the more highly
organized governments of Europe and America.

In effect, the opening of the canal in 1915 to the commerce and trade
of the world will be the realization of the dream of Columbus, who
sailed across the Atlantic in 1492 to discover a shorter water route
between Europe and Asia, and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Baron
von Humboldt, who, between the years of 1799 and 1805, explored and
surveyed a great portion of Central and South America. Humboldt, as a
result of his explorations, predicted that within a reasonable period
of time the two largest oceans of the world, the Atlantic and the
Pacific, would be united by an artificial water-way. This water-way,
in his opinion, as expressed in a letter to his friend, the German poet
Goethe, would be constructed by the little republic at the north, the
United States, even then beginning to take an important place among the
powers of the world.

In 1867, the energy and foresight of Seward acquired Alaska as an
addition to American territory; and though Seward was laughed at and
reviled as a foolish dreamer because of his purchase of a so-called
iceberg and a fog-bank, nevertheless, that able statesman and diplomat
pointed out to the people of the United States that some day the
Pacific Ocean must become the world’s greatest sea of commerce and
trade, and that in that day Alaska would become one of the most
valuable possessions of the American nation.

Those dreams and prophecies today are reaching their culmination
and fulfillment in the opening of the Panama Canal, which will be
celebrated in San Francisco,--yes, not only in San Francisco, but
throughout all California and the sister States of the western
coast--by the greatest international exposition ever conducted in the
history of civilization. It will be a jubilee celebration in which all
the States and principalities, nations and empires of the world will
join in proud and thankful participation.


The History of the Canal

The idea of constructing an artificial water-way between the Caribbean
Sea and the Gulf of Panama is as old as the discovery of America.
Christopher Columbus, in early life, became converted to the idea that
the world was round, and his studies led him to believe that by sailing
in a direct course and sailing far enough, he could circumnavigate
the globe and come back to the point from which he started, provided
he could keep on that straight course. This belief naturally led him
to the conclusion that by sailing westward from Spain, across the
Atlantic, he could reach the coasts and the islands of Asia, which
about that time were coming into great prominence as a desired market
for the exchange of the wares of the producers and the manufacturers of
Europe.

[Illustration: RUINS OF SANTA DOMINIE CHURCH, PANAMA.]

The only mistake made by Columbus was that he estimated the circumference
of the world at about 8,000 miles, instead of over 24,000. Following his
theory, Columbus embarked on his first and greatest voyage, and was
successful, as we know, in discovering one of the islands of the West
Indies. Columbus made four voyages in all to the newly discovered land,
but it is doubtful as to whether or not he ever reached the mainland of
America. One of his historians claims that on his last voyage he landed
upon the coast of Honduras in Central America, and on the land now known
as Venezuela, farther toward the south. This fact is of little importance
to us at this time. We do know, however, that Columbus died in ignorance
of the fact that he had discovered a great continent instead of some of
the islands of the East Indies.

Immediately following the death of Columbus, his enterprising
lieutenants, men like Vespucci, Ojeda, Balboa, and others of equal
prominence, pushed their explorations farther westward, and Balboa,
the boldest of the Spanish conquistadores, fitted out an expedition in
Hispaniola, which island was then the base of operations of Spanish
exploration and conquest, and sailed across the narrow sea to the coast
of that portion of Central America we now call Panama.

Balboa established a rendezvous and base of supplies and operations
on the coast, and thence continued his journey inland, and on the 23rd
of September, 1513, surmounted the heights of Darien, and from that
eminence beheld the expansive stretches of watery waste known today
as the Pacific Ocean. Balboa, continuing his explorations along the
coasts of Panama, soon discovered that the land was not an island, but
a continent, and becoming acquainted with the Indians who inhabited the
country, he learned that there were two large bodies connected by a
smaller body.

Balboa understood this statement to mean two large bodies of water
connected by a smaller body of water, and therefore, naturally came to
the conclusion that the Indians meant that the Pacific and the Atlantic
Oceans were connected at some point or other along the isthmus by a
natural water-way. What the Indians really meant was that there were
two large bodies of land, to the north and south, and that these large
bodies were connected by a long, narrow strip of land, part of which he
was then exploring.

The Spaniards, naturally eager to extend their explorations into the
great western ocean, began to search for the connecting water-way, and
this quest was continued by them for nearly half a century; but they
finally realized that the two great oceans of the world were separated
by the impassable barrier of a continuous chain of mountainous land.
The conquerer of Mexico, Cortez, after finishing the subjugation of the
Indians of that part of the Spanish possessions, in 1526, was commanded
by the King of Spain to proceed to the Isthmus and to assist in the
search for the secret water-way.

Cortez answered the command of the King by saying that if he could not
find the natural water-way he would proceed to make one. The brave
old soldier, all his life trained in the habit of surmounting great
difficulties, declared that if there were obstacles and mountains,
there were also men with brains and hands, and that if he could not
find the water-way as commanded by the King, he would carry out the
order by constructing a canal to connect the two oceans. And so, the
idea of Columbus being to find a short water-route between Europe and
the East Indies and coasts of Asia, by the completion of the Panama
Canal, the United States is carrying out the original purpose of
efforts of the discoverer of America and the orders of the King of
Spain to Cortez, to make an artificial water-way which will shorten the
lines of trade and commerce around the globe.

Between those early days and the present time every great maritime nation
of the world has been interested in isthmian canal construction--Spain,
Portugal, Holland, Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy have all, at
one time or another in the intervening years, considered the advisability
and feasibility of constructing a canal somewhere across the narrow
territory between the Atlantic and Pacific.


Nine Different Routes Proposed

In all, nine routes have been surveyed or considered by some nation or
some company. The first route to the north is known as the Tehuantepec
route, which extends across Mexico from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Pacific Ocean, a distance of nearly 200 miles, and over which route an
English syndicate, headed by the Pearsons, is now operating a splendid
railroad system. Captain Eads, one of the most prominent of American
engineers of his time, advocated the building of a ship railway over
this route, a railway so constructed that cars could be let down into
the water under the bottoms of ships, drawing them out of the water and
across the land to the ocean on the other side.

Of course, this project might have been feasible with the smaller
sized merchant ships of forty years ago, but it would hardly be so for
transporting the gigantic freighters and passenger vessels that now
traverse the seas.

The second route, towards the south, was called the Honduras Bay route,
a route across the Republic of Honduras from Honduras Bay on the east
to the Pacific.

The third route came to be known as the Nicaraguan route. For a long
time this was the most popular of all the routes with the American
Congress and the American people. The Nicaraguan route contemplated the
utilization of the San Juan River on the east, between the Atlantic
Coast and the Nicaraguan lakes, the Nicaraguan lakes as far as they
extended westward, and thence through a canal across the dividing land
from the upper lake to Nicaragua to the Pacific Ocean at Brita. The
Nicaraguan route would be 377 miles shorter between San Francisco and
New York than is the Panama route, along which the United States is now
constructing a canal.

A fourth route was surveyed between the Chirique Lagoon on the eastern
side to the Pacific Ocean.


The Isthmian Routes

Three routes across the Isthmus of Panama have been surveyed and
considered--two besides the one which the United States is now
utilizing; and farther south two possible canal routes have been
surveyed across the territory of Colombia. The two southern routes
would use the Atrato River as a part of their course, and from that
river across to the separating lands an excavation would be required.

[Illustration: WATER FRONT, PANAMA.]

Of these nine routes only three have been seriously contemplated by the
engineers of the various governments and companies who have examined
them. The three are the Tehuantepec, the Nicaraguan, and the Panama
Canal route.

In the year 1800 all South American territory, with the exception of
Brazil and a few colonies, was under the sovereignty of Spain, but
about the year 1811 a series of revolutions broke out in various parts
of Central and South America, having for their object the establishment
of independent republics, and by 1823 all Central and South American
countries had achieved independence. The province of Panama secured her
independence in the year 1823, maintained that independence for a short
time and then merged with the Republic of New Granada.

Panama remained a part of New Granada for several years, and then
became a part of the New Granadan and Colombian confederacy, and
continued to be a part of that confederacy through various vicissitudes
of fortune and misfortune arising out of revolutions and war until
November 3, 1903, when she seceded from the Colombian confederacy,
hoisted her old flag, and resumed her ancient nationality.

In 1825, the South and Central American Republics, desiring to bring
themselves into closer relations and sympathy so that trade and
commerce and industry might be better developed, conceived the idea
of holding a convention in the City of Panama, in the year 1826.
The United States Government was invited to participate and take a
prominent part in that convention, and in order to induce the President
of the United States to send his representatives, the subject of canal
construction across the Isthmus was to be one of the most prominent
subjects considered.

Henry Clay, the Secretary of State of the United States at that time,
was at first very eager to participate in the Pan-American convention,
but was prevented by objections of the President from sending
representatives to Panama. However, he sent a note of felicitation and
encouragement and promised the support of the United States in any
mutual project that would be to the advantage of all the countries,
and particularly pledged that support to any feasible project of canal
construction. This was the first official interest taken by the United
States in the construction of an Isthmian Canal.

Like nearly all conventions, the one that was held in Panama in 1826
met and resoluted a great deal and indulged in much oratory, but
adjourned without accomplishing very much of practical value. However,
a congress composed of representatives of several of the South and
Central American States authorized the construction of an Isthmian
Canal, and actually went so far as to enter into negotiations with a
prominent engineer for the purpose of having one constructed, at some
point to be decided upon later; but owing to revolutions and disorders
soon after developing, plans for the project were for the time
abandoned.

In 1837 the Congress of the United States authorized canal surveys to
be made and a commission was appointed for the purpose of surveying
and exploring the Central American country so that data might be
secured that would give the American Congress information as to the
practicability of the different routes that might be utilized. From
that time on, until today, the subject of Panama Canal construction
has been almost constantly before the American Congress.

Of course, action in that body was more or less sporadic. The subject
would be taken up from time to time when some pressing need for quicker
and cheaper transportation to the Pacific Coast made itself apparent.

In 1846 the United States entered into war with Mexico, which engaged
the energies of the nation for the time being and canal legislation
was forgotten. After the war with Mexico came the discovery of gold in
California, and the rush of the argonauts to the Golden State made it
necessary that quicker and cheaper routes be established than those
around Cape Horn by water, or the long trail over the plains and
mountains to the Pacific <DW72>. A company was organized in New York
which established a line of transportation by means of steamers from
New York to Greytown, thence through the San Juan River to the lakes of
Nicaragua, and thence by the stage lines to the Pacific Coast, where
again vessels were taken for San Francisco Bay and for the coasts of
Oregon and Puget Sound.


The Panama Railroad

About the same time a railway company was formed in the United States
which secured a concession from the Republic of Colombia for the
purpose of constructing the railway system across the Isthmus, which is
now known as the Panama Railroad. This railroad was completed in 1856,
and this addition to the means of transportation to the Pacific Coast
again indefinitely postponed the necessity for canal construction.

In 1861 the United States drifted into the Civil War, and once more
the subject of canal construction was forgotten. After the close of
the Civil War the transcontinental railroads, headed by the Union and
Central Pacific Companies, pushed their lines westward until they
reached the Pacific Coast, and as soon as the first railroad had
crossed the continent active opposition to canal construction began to
show itself in the American Congress.

The transcontinental railroads, fearing opposition in transportation,
from that day until the Spooner bill was passed, June 28, 1902,
maintained an active lobby at Washington, and whenever canal
legislation was suggested, having for its object the construction of an
Isthmian Canal at any point, this railroad opposition manifested itself
in every form, and no doubt canal construction by the United States was
postponed for many years by that agency.

However, in 1889, Congress authorized the incorporation of a company
known as the Maritime Canal Company of the United States, and under
that authority Hiram Hitchcock, of New York, as president, together
with Warner Miller and several other capitalists, proceeded to raise
about six million dollars, which was actually used in obtaining
franchises and concessions from Costa Rica and Nicaragua for a canal
route through these countries. Some money was also spent in doing
necessary preliminary work.

The Maritime Canal Company was a favorite in the United States for a
great many years, principally because it was championed by Senator J.
T. Morgan, of Alabama. Senator Morgan made this the dearest project
of his later life, and no doubt his last years of public service were
embittered by his failure to secure Government co-operation for the
building of the canal through Nicaraguan territory.

[Illustration: PRESIDENT AMADOR’S RESIDENCE, PANAMA.]


The French Company

In the meantime Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, the brilliant and
successful French engineer, having completed the Suez Canal, turned his
attention to the Isthmian country. After a thorough investigation of
all the possible routes, through a series of negotiations, he succeeded
in securing a franchise from the Republic of Colombia, giving him
authority to organize a French company and the right to construct a
canal between the little city of Aspinwall (now known as Colon) on the
eastern side, and the City of Panama on the Western side.

So great was the popularity of de Lesseps that he had no difficulty in
forming a strong company in France. The stocks offered to the French
public were subscribed for rapidly. The French are a frugal people, and
even the poorest of the French peasants and working men have always a
little hoard of savings. The French people had such confidence in de
Lesseps’ ability to complete successfully his great American enterprise
that the first issue of his stocks were taken almost at par.


De Lesseps’ Plan

De Lesseps’ plan contemplated the building of a sea-level canal, 42
miles in length, from shore to shore, 100 feet wide and 28 feet deep.
His authority from the Colombian Government amounted to merely a right
to excavate the canal, the Colombian Government retaining jurisdiction
over the soil and the people. The estimate of the cost of the type
of canal proposed was fixed by the French company at $120,000,000.
The work of construction was inaugurated on February 1, 1881, with
ceremony by the officers of the French company, and was participated
in by officials of France, Panama and Colombia. But within a very short
time, owing to the magnitude of the scale of operations, coupled with
wasteful business methods, the first fund of $120,000,000 was expended.

The company put out a second issue of stock which they offered to the
people of France as the first issue had been offered. This second issue
was taken up as the first had been, but with some suspicion on the
part of the buyers. The second issue sold at a considerable discount;
still they found purchasers, and again the coffers of the company were
supplied with cash.

But the wastefulness and extravagance of the company continuing, the
proceeds from the second issue of stock were soon exhausted and a
third issue was offered. The sale of the third issue was made with a
great deal of difficulty, and premiums were given to prominent men
of influence or authority, or any line of business, providing they
would use that influence in the marketing of the company’s shares.
So flagrant did these irregularities become that they culminated in
criminal prosecutions.

The sum total of the capital stock subscribed to by the buyers of
the French Panama Company’s shares was $393,505,100. This great
volume of stock sold to the purchasers produced for the company only
$201,546,740, the difference of $191,958,360 being lost in discounts
and premiums paid in marketing the stock.


Wastefulness of the French Company

This appalling exhibition of criminal wastefulness and unlawful
business methods caused the utter collapse of confidence in the success
of the enterprise, not only of the investing public of France, but of
the world as well, and hastened the time when such methods must reach
their logical conclusion in bankruptcy. The old timers on the Isthmus
will tell the inquirer that of the enormous sum of money raised by
the French Canal Company, one-third was wasted, one-third grafted and
one-third probably used in actual work.

It seemed as if anyone who had any sort of influence might sell that
influence to the Panama company for some kind of a consideration. On
the Isthmus today they will show you a storehouse containing about half
a ship’s cargo of snow shovels which a manufacturing company in France
succeeded in selling to the French Panama Company, no doubt in return
for the influence they might be able to give in assisting in the sale
of the French Panama Company’s stocks. Of course, one can easily see
the ridiculous side of the purchase of half a cargo of snow shovels to
be used in the tropics.

Practical bankruptcy came in the year 1889, and from that time on
the French Canal Company simply held its franchise and concessions
from the Republic of Colombia for speculative purposes only. Then the
officers of the French company, seeing that the United States Congress
was beginning to take a lively interest in canal construction, and was
showing signs of a disposition to pass legislation that would commit
the United States as a Nation to the building of a canal, began to
look toward the United States as a prospective customer for their
uncompleted canal project at Panama. In the meantime the Nicaraguan
company had gone upon the rocks of bankruptcy, and they, too, were
offering their concessions and franchises to the American Government.
And so with these two propositions before Congress, time drifted on to
the opening of the war between our country and Spain.

When the Spanish war was declared, it was reported in the United States
that a Spanish fleet was cruising in Asiatic waters. Of course, it was
not known how strong that fleet might be. There was no way of knowing
whether or not it would be able to cross the Pacific and take San
Francisco or some of the other cities or ports of the western coast
of the United States. So the Secretary of the Navy ordered the crack
battleship of the navy, the “Oregon,” to maintain her station in San
Francisco Bay with steam up, prepared to go into action at any moment.


Significance of the “Oregon’s” Course

Everyone who lived around the Bay of San Francisco in those days
remembers what relief the news in the papers brought on a bright May
morning that Admiral Dewey, in response to an order from Secretary
J. D. Long had proceeded to Manila and destroyed the Spanish fleet.
This meant there was no longer any danger of the bombardment of San
Francisco.

There was no longer any necessity for holding the “Oregon” in Pacific
waters, and so quickly followed the order from the Secretary of the
Navy that she should at once take her departure to the coasts of Cuba
and join the American squadron operating there. The citizens of San
Francisco swarmed the hilltops to see the departure of their favorite
battleship. She sailed majestically out through the Golden Gate and
turned her prow southward. The patriotic hearts of the men and women
of California followed her course as they read each morning in the
newspapers the description of her successful voyage down the western
coasts of Mexico and Central America, on past Panama and along the
coasts of South America, through the Straits of Magellan, then to the
northward to her station on the coast of Cuba. But they noted that this
voyage consumed sixty-five days of time.

[Illustration: THE CULEBRA CUT, LOOKING NORTH.]

Then the President, the American Congress, and the American people
awoke to the fact that if the safety of the cities of the seaboards
of the Atlantic and the Pacific depended upon naval protection, and
that if such a long voyage would have to be taken by ships stationed
upon the opposite coast, it might mean the destruction of incalculable
wealth.

The entire Nation began to realize that if the “Oregon” could have
sailed from San Francisco to Panama and passed through the isthmus by
means of a canal such as we are now constructing, she could have made
the voyage from San Francisco to the coasts of Cuba, consuming three
days at Colon or Panama to take on stores and ammunition, and still
could have been at her station on the coasts of Cuba in sixteen days’
time. The people of the country began to realize that the difference
between sixteen and sixty-five days might mean the safety of the
Nation, and especially so if we were at war with a maritime power such
as Great Britain, Germany and Japan.

This startling demonstration of the absolute necessity for a Panama
Canal from the standpoint of American national safety, at once swept
aside all opposition at Washington to canal construction. Immediately
a universal wave of sentiment in favor of a national American Isthmian
Canal swept over the land and found its expression in instructions
by every constituency in the Union to Congressmen and to Senators to
do all in their power to assist in bringing canal legislation to a
successful termination.


The Canal Commission

Immediately thereafter President William McKinley was authorized by
Congress to send a commission to Panama and Nicaragua to examine those
two routes and to receive offers from the different companies as to the
amounts the different projects could be purchased for.

The result of the investigations of the commission was that the
Panamanian Company offered their uncompleted canal, their franchises,
their plans and specifications, the Panama Railroad, which was worth
about $12,000,000, and a line of steamships from Colon to New York,
consisting of five medium-sized steel vessels of modern construction,
for the sum of $110,000,000. The Nicaraguan Company offered their
concessions from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in addition to all their
other property, for $6,000,000. They simply desired to be reimbursed
for the amounts spent in securing their concessions and making their
preliminary surveys.

After careful consideration the commission recommended the purchase
of the Nicaraguan proposition. It was at this critical state of the
negotiations that President McKinley was removed by the bloody hand of
the assassin, and as a result Vice-President Roosevelt took his place
as the head of the American Government. President Roosevelt decided on
the Nicaraguan proposition; but before the matter was closed the French
Panama Company came fully to the realization that if the United States
purchased the concessions of the Maritime Canal Company and began the
construction of a canal through the Nicaraguan territory, without any
question that project would be completed in a reasonably short space
of time, as it would have the power of the entire American Government
behind it.

[Illustrations: BONEYARD OF THE OLD FRENCH MACHINERY.]

They also realized that if the Nicaragua Canal was constructed it would
probably make their holdings in Panama of far less value; and as they
were practically bankrupt then, they begged an opportunity to submit
a lower price for their property. This opportunity was granted, and
the result was that the French company offered their franchises and
holdings, including the railroad and the steamship line, for the sum of
$40,000,000.

This amount was so much lower than the amount originally demanded
that it caused a reconsideration by the President and Congress, which
terminated in the decision of the President and Congress to purchase
the rights and the property of the French Company.

The next step was to ascertain whether or not the French company could
convey a valid title to the United States, and Attorney-General Knox
was instructed to go to France and consult with the proper French
authorities and determine if such a legal conveyance could be made.
As a result of his investigations, General Knox on October 30, 1902,
decided that the French company could convey an absolute title to the
American Government.

A great nation such as the United States could not contemplate
becoming the tenant of any other country under the sun, much less a
feeble republic of Central America. The dignity of the United States
required absolute sovereignty over any territory through which the
American Nation might decide to construct an isthmian canal. Absolute
sovereignty over an isthmian canal, however, on the part of the United
States had been waived by the terms of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty
entered into with Great Britain a half century before. The terms of
this treaty provided that in case either nation should construct an
isthmian canal, such canal should not be fortified nor controlled by
either power; and that should any other nation construct an isthmian
canal, the United States and Great Britain should join in preserving
its neutrality.

Before the United States could exercise absolute sovereignty over
any strip of territory across the isthmus, the Clayton-Bulwer treaty
would have to be abrogated, and to accomplish this Secretary of
State Hay entered into negotiations with Great Britain. He found the
representatives of that country very willing to meet every reasonable
demand. After a short series of negotiations he succeeded in having
passed and ratified by both countries the Hay-Pauncefote treaty. Under
the terms of this treaty Great Britain waived all claims to sovereignty
and control over an Isthmian Canal, and substantially agreed to the
jurisdiction and control of the United States over any canal that might
be constructed by that country.


Acquirement of the Canal Zone

When this obstacle was removed the next step was to secure a canal
zone, and the United States entered into negotiations with the
Government of Colombia with that end in view. The result of the
negotiations was that an agreement was reached by which the Republic of
Colombia agreed to convey to the United States a strip of land thirty
miles wide and extending a marine league into the waters on either side
of the isthmus. The terms of the treaty were that the United States, in
consideration of the zone proposed to be transferred, should pay to the
Republic of Colombia ten million dollars in cash on the ratification
of the treaty by the separate governments, and commencing nine years
from the date of ratification, the sum of one hundred thousand
dollars a year for all time. This tentative treaty found great favor
in Washington, D. C., and was immediately ratified by the American
Senate, and then sent back to Bogota for ratification by the Colombian
authorities. But much to the astonishment and chagrin of the people of
the United States, and to the extreme disappointment of the people and
the authorities of Panama, this so-called Hay-Herran treaty was refused
ratification by the Colombian Senate.

The refusal of this ratification ultimately led to the secession
of Panama from its allegiance to the Republic of Colombia and the
acquirement of independence.

While on the Canal Zone in 1907 on an official visit I came into close
contact with the officials of Panama, particularly President Amador,
the first President of the Panama Republic, and General Arrias, who
held the combined offices of Secretary of State and War for the new
republic.

At a dinner given by the American Minister, being placed beside
General Arrias, I took occasion to inquire of him the reasons why the
Hay-Herran treaty was refused ratification by the Senate of Colombia,
after it had been tentatively agreed to by the Colombian authorities.

General Arrias’ explanation was to the effect that there were four
reasons why the Hay-Herran treaty was refused ratification on its
return to the Colombian Senate. The first was that the German influence
was strong in Colombia, and the German merchants and diplomats were
very much opposed to the extension of American influence down the west
coast of South America, particularly in the Colombian Republic. The
German merchants, seeing the collapse of the French Canal Company near
at hand, hoped that a German company might purchase the wreck of the
French enterprise and carry the canal to completion, realizing that
this course would mean much in the way of German aggrandizement.

The second influence, according to General Arrias, was that of the old
transcontinental railroad management of the United States. Popular
demand for an isthmian canal having swept away all obstruction at
Washington, D. C., the scene of operations was shifted to Bogota, and
railroad influence and railroad money were probably used to induce some
of the Senators to refuse to vote for the ratification of the treaty.

The third influence was that of patriotism. Some of the Colombian
Senators were opposed to a transfer of any portion of Colombian soil
to a foreign power, more especially as the Colombian constitution
contained a clause making it treason for any Colombian subject to
become a party to the alienation of any part of Colombian territory to
another country.

The fourth and the most potent influence was the fact that the French
Panama Canal Company had failed in every respect to keep the terms of
their contract with the Colombian Government. Not only had they failed
to complete the canal at the time specified in their franchise, but
having obtained an extension of that time, had failed to observe the
terms by which the extension had been secured.

Therefore the Colombian Government might very properly proceed to a
forfeiture, which could be obtained through due process of law in
something less than ten months’ time.

Many of the Colombian Senators took the position that it would be
lawful and more expedient to declare a forfeiture upon the French
company, and take over the canal under the terms of such forfeiture
as provided by the franchise. The Republic of Colombia would then
be in a position to sell the same to the American Government for
forty million dollars, and since then they would secure ten million
dollars for a zone and a perpetual rental of a large sum annually, the
financial condition of the country would be very much improved. As the
finances of the Republic of Colombia were at that time in a desperately
depleted condition, this prospect of their rehabilitation must have had
powerful effect with many of the Senators.

[Illustration: GATUN MIDDLE LOCK, LOOKING SOUTH FROM EAST BANK.]

These four reasons operating, no doubt caused the Colombian Senate to
refuse ratification to the Hay-Herran treaty.

But in Panama the people and the authorities were determined not to
submit to the action of the Colombian Senate. The Panamanians were
aware of the fact that the President of the United States had been
authorized by Congress to make a choice between either the French
Panama or the Nicaraguan route, and that under that authority he would
at once proceed to close a contract with the Maritime Canal Company of
Nicaragua if he could not secure a canal zone. They also realized that
if once the American Government began the work of excavating a canal
through Nicaraguan and Costa Rican territory, in all human probability,
the French Panama Company’s project would be abandoned.

Thus the cities of Colon and Panama, and the territory surrounding,
would be relegated to obscurity so far as world’s trade was concerned,
for many years. This the Panamanians were determined to prevent
if possible, so they took every step necessary to inaugurate and
successfully carry out a revolution in case of the refusal of the
Colombian Government to ratify the Hay-Herran treaty. They sent Dr.
Varilla as their representative to New York and instructed him to
remain in close touch with the cable, and should he receive a cablegram
that Panama had thrown off her allegiance to Colombia and had resumed
her old-time independence, he should proceed at once to Washington,
D. C., notify President Roosevelt of the fact, demand recognition of
the new Republic of Panama as an independent power, and enter at once
into negotiations with the United States for the recognition of that
independence and the transfer of a canal zone.


The New Republic of Panama

This program was carried out later on. The Panamanians had very little
trouble in overawing the few Colombian officers within their territory.
They knew that the Colombian Government had no navy, from the fact that
a year before the Colombian navy had been sent to the City of Panama
to coerce the authorities there who were disputing with the Colombian
Government over some items of revenue which were an issue; and meeting
force with force the authorities of the City of Panama had succeeded,
with the assistance of a small tug-boat and one piece of cannon, in
sweeping the seas of the entire Colombian naval power, and as evidence
of their success the two masts of the Colombian navy were sticking up
out of the mud-banks of Panama Bay.

Nor were the inhabitants of Panama or Colon much concerned as to
a possible attack from a Colombian army. That would entail a long
march of hundreds of miles through morass and jungle, and could not
be successfully accomplished in less than a year’s time. And so the
Panamanians were free to act in their purposes of securing independence
without danger of very much interference from the home government.

The result of the revolution was very gratifying to the Panamanians.
As soon as they learned that the treaty had been refused ratification,
they immediately wired to Dr. Varilla at New York. He apparently was at
his post waiting the news, for it was whispered in Washington that he
took the night train from New York, reached Washington in the morning,
and arrived at the White House early in the forenoon. And from all
indications President Roosevelt must have been waiting just inside the
door to receive him, for it is said that the President was on hand to
grasp Dr. Varilla by the hand and welcome him to the White House, and
that when he came out two hours later, Panama was virtually recognized
as an independent government. Within a few days a treaty was negotiated
between Panama and the United States.


Terms of the Treaty

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.


Sanitization of the Canal Zone

The sanitization of the Canal Zone and the cities of Colon and Panama
is one of the most interesting features of the history of the Panama
Canal. The want of proper sanitation was, no doubt, very largely the
cause of the French failure.

The French authorities, either not understanding the significance
of maintaining the health of the great mass of employees engaged in
their work, or being criminally negligent of the lives and the health
of their employees, failed to take the necessary measures for the
protection of life and health. Their laborers were allowed to live in a
haphazard way. The <DW64>s were permitted to furnish their own food and
to sleep where they pleased.

The consequence was that the ignorant and the improvident ate food that
was not properly prepared, and slept very often in tents or on the
ground, subject to the night dews and miasmatic vapors of the tropics.
Diseases of the most virulent nature broke out in every camp, and
yellow fever became especially active in carrying off its victims.

[Illustration: THE EFFECT OF A BLAST ALONG THE CULEBRA CUT.

Upper Picture--Before; Lower--After a Blast.]

So with this dreadful experience as an example and a warning, the
American authorities realized that the first work of importance was
that of subduing the unhealthful conditions of the Canal Zone so
that labor might be engaged in with reasonable safety by the tens of
thousands of employees who would be placed upon the line of operations
of the canal when work was actively commenced.

Fortunately, surgeons of the American army had gained a great deal of
experience during the Cuban campaign, and one army surgeon had achieved
particular prominence in his handling of tropical diseases. Dr. W. C.
Gorgas, who had campaigned in Cuba and assisted General Leonard Wood in
the cleaning up and sanitization of Santiago and Havana, was peculiarly
fitted for the important work of establishing healthful conditions on
the Zone.

Dr. Gorgas had also had the advantage of being a collaborator as well
as a fellow officer of Dr. Reed in Cuba. Dr. Reed was one of the first
army surgeons to become familiar with the theory that the yellow fever
and the malarial fevers of the tropics were carried and distributed
through the agency of mosquitoes. In fact, Dr. Reed himself became
a victim to his desire for scientific knowledge, he having allowed
himself to be bitten by a mosquito that had first filled itself with
the virus of a yellow fever patient, and died as the result of the
experiment.


War on the Mosquito

Dr. Gorgas carried on the work of the investigation and development
of the mosquito theory after the death of Dr. Reed, and became a
recognized world-wide authority on the science of tropical diseases
and sanitation, when he was chosen as the officer to whom the
sanitization of the Zone should be entrusted. He was given ample funds
by the American Government and furnished with a force of men numbering
more than 2000, his theory being that by the destruction of the
breeding places of mosquitoes he could finally eliminate the mosquitoes
themselves.

In carrying out his plan the vegetation on either side of the canal for
half a mile was cut down and burned, the dead trees destroyed, the low
marshy places drained where possible; and where it was impossible to
successfully drain the ground and water pools they were covered with a
petroleum mixture. In fact, petroleum was found to be so effective that
it came to be the favorite means of destroying the mosquitoes, and one
approaching Colon today, if the wind is in the right quarter, may catch
the odor of that ingredient one hundred miles at sea.

It was found after investigation by Dr. Gorgas that the mosquito,
called the stegomyia, was peculiarly partial to the yellow fever
victim, and that after biting a yellow fever patient and becoming
inoculated with the poison, the stegomyia became very active in its
distribution to other subjects. A mosquito called the anopheles, by
some peculiar freak of nature, had a like attraction for the victims of
malarial diseases.

And so, between the two kinds of mosquitoes there seemed to be a
rivalry as to which could do the most damage. But fortunately neither
one of these pestiferous insects could fly over a quarter of a mile,
and so the theory of Dr. Gorgas was that by destroying their breeding
places and eliminating them from the Canal Zone, he might preserve the
health of the workers.

Colon was overhauled by repaving the streets after first saturating
the ground with petroleum, bringing in fresh water and constructing
sewers. In fact, all the measures that were necessary to establish
healthful conditions were used.

The same course of treatment was given the City of Panama, much to the
disgust of many of the Panamanian residents, who had been using water
from wells and cisterns that had been dug two centuries before, when
Panama was founded.

A splendid system of hospitals was built up by rehabilitation of
the hospital system left by the French company and the addition of
others. Thousands of cabins were built for the common laborers, the
so-called “silver men,” and better cottages for white men who might
take their families with them to the Zone while engaged in labor there.
Dormitories for single white men were built at every construction
point. Restaurants were established at which a meal of four courses was
furnished the superior class of white employees at 35 cents. Provision
was made for the issuance of cooked rations at a price of 10 cents
per ration to the “silver men,” who are nearly all <DW64>s, it being
the policy of the commission to protect the life and health of every
employee of the Zone, so that the health of the individual would become
a guarantee of the safety of the whole body of working men.


The Present Low Death Rate

Time and experience have conclusively shown Colonel Gorgas’ theories
to have been correct, and the gratifying result is that because of
the wonderful precautions taken and the very effective work done in
scientific sanitization since the commencement of operations under
Colonel Gorgas tropical diseases have almost been eliminated on the
Zone. As a matter of fact, there has not been a case of yellow fever
on the Canal Zone since June, 1906, and the malarial fevers have been
reduced to a minimum. The Canal Zone has now a lower death rate than
most American cities, and has almost become a health resort. In the
opinion of some of the most eminent authorities, the most effective
work entering into the entire construction of the canal is the work of
sanitization so successfully accomplished by Colonel Gorgas and his
able assistants.

While the work of sanitization was under way, the President of the
United States was taking counsel with a board of engineers as to the
type of canal that should be constructed. As usual in all such matters,
the authorities were about equally divided, half of the engineers being
strongly in favor of a sea-level canal, and the other half advocating
what was called a lock canal.


The Two Types of Canal

The difference between the two types of canal is this: A sea-level
canal contemplated an excavation from shore to shore at the level of
the sea; a lock canal contemplated the construction of a great dam
across the valley of the Chagres and the course of the Chagres river,
which dam would have the effect of holding the waters of the Chagres
river. The accumulation of those waters in time would form a lake,
the surface of which lake, of course, would be considerably above the
level of the sea on either side. The dam would necessarily have to be
surmounted through the agency of locks.

After much controversy and bickering, and a great deal of muck-raking
by the newspapers and magazines of the United States and Europe, the
plan of a lock canal was finally adopted. This plan contemplated the
impoundment of the waters of the Chagres river by a dam constructed
at Gatun, a little village about three and one-half miles inland
from the shore of Limon bay. This dam when finished would be 7700 feet
in length, half a mile in width at the base, and 135 feet in height.
It was designed that this dam should hold the waters of the lake at
a height of 85 feet above sea-level, but it was constructed 50 feet
higher so that all danger might be obviated in case of excessive floods.

[Illustrations: AT WORK IN THE CULEBRA CUT.]

The plan of the canal contemplated that this dam should be surmounted
by three locks constructed in pairs, so that in case one series of
locks became impaired the other could be used, or ships might pass up
one side and down the other at the same time. Each of the locks was to
be 1000 feet long, 110 feet wide, and have a lifting capacity of 28½
feet. Therefore, when completed, this series of locks constructed of
concrete would be more than 3000 feet in length and about 250 feet in
width, without doubt the largest concrete formation ever constructed.

The engineers of the Panama Commission give four reasons for the
adoption of the lock system instead of the sea-level type. In the first
place, it would take twice as long to construct a sea-level canal as
it would a lock canal. Secondly, it would cost twice as much money,
and as the lock canal system is costing nearly four hundred millions
of dollars, the difference in cost would be a great obstacle to the
construction to the other type of canal. The third reason was that in
case a sea-level canal was constructed it would be necessary to place
locks somewhere along its course because of the fact of the variation
of tides between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

The tide rises and falls at Colon, on the Atlantic side, about 3½ feet,
at the time of extreme high tide; while on the Pacific side the tides
rise and fall 27½ feet, and this great variation would cause a current
to rush through the course of the canal so great that locks would be
required for its control.

But the fourth was the most potent reason of all why the lock system
was adopted. On the Isthmus of Panama the rainfall amounts to 130 to
150 inches annually. Sometimes the precipitation will amount to 10 or
12 inches in twenty-four hours. The Chagres river is the only agency
for the drainage of a vast area of water-shed in the Caribbean sea.
Therefore, at times the Chagres river might be a small, inconsequential
stream that a boy could wade across, and yet before twenty-four hours
had elapsed, because of a heavy rainfall, it might have swelled into
a raging torrent that would wreck the strongest battleship of the
American navy. The large volume of water discharged by the Chagres
river could not be turned into the canal proper, as the currents and
the rush of flood waters would soon impair the banks of the canal.


The Lock System Adopted

Therefore it would be necessary, under the sea-level type of canal,
to construct a series of embankments and dams that would be far more
expensive to build and keep in repair than would be one great dam over
the course of the Chagres river. Besides, the safety of the lock system
would be much greater than that of the sea-level type. These were the
reasons which finally controlled the determination of the engineers to
construct a lock system of canal.

After the type of canal was decided upon, the next step was the
assemblage of the force of laborers and the mechanical appliances
necessary for the physical operations. In order to carry out this
scheme, a commission was originally appointed, composed half of
civilians and half of military officers. The first engineers were
selected as being the most eminent of their profession, and taken from
civil employment.

But great difficulties were encountered in perfecting the proper kind
of an organization to successfully complete this stupendous project.
The engineers taken from private life and entrusted with the work,
after a little experience on the Isthmus, would be offered greater
inducements to abandon their Governmental employment and take some
other position, generally far more lucrative, in the United States. And
so, either through accident or design, the Canal Commission lost the
services of such men as Wallace, Stevens, Shonts, Grunsky, and other
noted engineers, and again it seemed as if canal operations would be
badly crippled for want of the right kind of men to direct the work.


Army Engineers Installed

This tendency of the civil engineers to leave their employment caused
much concern to the President and Congress, and finally President
Roosevelt, with his characteristic acumen, decided that he would place
the work of canal construction under the army engineers entirely. So,
at his suggestion, Congress reframed the law of the Canal Commission,
and President Roosevelt remarked that under the new law he would put
army engineers on the job, and that they would either stay there until
it was done or get out of the army.

Experience has proved that President Roosevelt’s judgment was correct,
for the work has gone on since the reorganization of the commission
with the regularity of a machine. There has hardly been a stop or
a break at any point along the line of operations. Colonel G. W.
Goethals, one of the most successful of the army engineers, was placed
at the head of the Canal Commission and given full charge, and his work
has been so successful that he has demonstrated his ability to command
and to control the operations placed in his charge to the satisfaction
of the great powers that gave him his commission.

His first step upon being placed in control was to provide the means
of feeding and caring for an army of from 25,000 to 40,000 men. A
bake shop was built at Crystobal, out of which 30,000 loaves of bread
are turned twice a day if necessary, and a batch of pies and cakes in
proportion. Storage warehouses have been built for the storage of meats
and vegetables and various other supplies, that are brought from the
north by shiploads. Ice plants have been constructed so that ice may
be distributed up and down the line of operations. Every morning at 3
o’clock a supply train leaves Colon, and furnishes every camp along the
line of the canal with fresh supplies for the day’s consumption.

Thus, under army supervision the employees of the Canal Zone are as
well supplied with rations and materials as they would be on an army
reservation.

Following these necessary preparations for handling the big force of
men, came the assemblage of the machinery and the mechanical implements
necessary to perform the work. Without going into exhaustive details,
it is only necessary to say that the very best materials, implements
and machinery that money could supply, brought from all parts of the
world, were sent to Panama.


Old French Machinery

One of the most interesting things the traveler upon the Isthmus
will see is the mass of discarded French machinery piled all along
the line of operations. No doubt the French used the best machinery
that could be obtained at that time, but that was thirty years ago,
and the progress of the world, particularly in the use of labor-saving
machinery, is nowhere more thoroughly demonstrated than on the
Isthmus of Panama by a comparison of the old French machinery with
that assembled by the American engineers. There are piles of French
locomotives that today are absolutely worthless, not because the
machinery itself is defective, but because of their feeble power. At
the town of Empire there are forty-five French engines piled in one
heap that cannot be used by the Canal Commission. In fact, they are of
such little power that they would hardly be used by a street contractor
on a city job in the United States.

[Illustration: Upper Picture--Gatun Lower Locks.

Lower Picture--Huge Traveling Crane Used in Construction Work.]

In direct contrast to these are the splendid engines sent to the
Isthmus by the commission--200 locomotives, not of the largest,
but about of the medium size one sees on the American railways;
2000 splendidly constructed steel dump cars for the hauling of rock
and debris; 300 air-compressed drills for boring into the rocks in
blasting operations; 125 steam shovels of 75, 90 and 125 tons capacity;
apparatus and machinery for the moving of railroad tracks, so effective
that a railroad track can be slung 10 or 12 feet to one side or the
other, laid down and spiked almost as fast as a man can walk; great
steel plows that are pulled across strings of gravel cars, plowing
the gravel or debris off the cars on one side so rapidly that a long
train of 25 or 30 cars can be unloaded in a few minutes. The stationary
machinery is of the best quality that genius and money can construct,
and so effective have been these means of labor saving that the work
has been accelerated from time to time until it is now a realized fact
that the canal will be actually constructed a year and a half ahead of
time.

When the Canal Commission first began their work after the completion
and the adoption of their plans, it was estimated that 110,000,000
cubic yards of debris must be excavated from the canal prism. This
debris must be taken and deposited at some place so remote that it
could never wash back into the canal by the rains and floods. The
debris taken from the cuts on the high lands could not be used in the
structure of the Gatun dam, as it would be too liable to percolation.


The Gatun Dam

The Gatun dam is being constructed by hydraulic process through the
instrumentality of suction pumps, which suck up the slime and the
debris from the course of the Chagres river and the swamps and morass
through which the canal is being constructed. This debris and this
water are sucked up and allowed to run along the center of the dam, the
water running off and the solid matter congealing there, and by this
hydraulic process that great structure will be formed.

The traveler upon the Isthmus today, if standing upon an eminence
overlooking the cut through Culebra hill, would imagine himself on a
height overlooking an industrial city like Pittsburg. There are scenes
of such immense activity on every side that he forgets he is in a
remote part of the world far from his home, and that he is actually
standing upon an eminence in the tropics.

The development of labor-saving machinery has been so marked since the
construction of the canal was actually commenced that each month’s
work has marked an increase in the amount of debris excavated from
the canal prism. When the Government began operations in 1906, the
engineers had before them the task of excavating 110,000,000 cubic
yards. Their first month’s operations were very successful, and they
reported at the end of the month an excavation of about 250,000 cubic
yards. They estimated that if they could keep up this amount of work
through each month they could finish the canal at a certain time; but
the carping yellow newspapers and magazines of the United States and
Europe were extremely skeptical of the ability of the Canal Commission
to continue to turn out 250,000 cubic yards per month. The critics
foretold that when the rainy season came more debris would be carried
into the canal prism by floods than could be taken out by machinery
in the dry season. At times this criticism grew very irksome and
disagreeable to the commissioners. However, they kept their temper, and
continued improving their machinery, and month by month the output grew
greatly. It grew to such an enormous extent that the estimated time has
been shortened to the extent that I have formerly indicated.

[Illustration: CANAL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, PANAMA.]


The Work of Excavation

To give a comparison by the use of figures of the remarkable progress
made, I will say that about six months ago I took up the report of the
Canal Commission and I found that in the previous month the amount of
debris excavated for that one month exceeded 4,000,000 of cubic yards,
this tremendous output being a complete answer to the criticisms of the
opponents of canal construction.

In order to give a mental picture of the type of canal, let us take an
imaginary trip through the canal proper. It will be forty-two miles
from shore to shore. In addition to this there will be an excavation
out in Limon bay on the eastern side, and in Panama bay on the western
side, of about four miles on either side, in order to reach deep water.

Supposing that we are sailing down through Limon bay, which is a
small bay at the bottom of the Caribbean sea, on one of our American
battleships. We first enter the canal which leads from the bay up into
the shore toward Gatun dam, and this section of the canal will be 500
feet wide and 40 feet deep at low water level. This channel penetrates
through the mud banks and land about four miles, when it encounters
Gatun dam. Gatun dam must be surmounted through the agency of locks,
which have been previously described.


Operation of the Locks

Our vessel then sails into the first, or the lower, of the locks. The
steel doors are closed and locked, and water from the chamber above is
let down by means of pipes and valves which discharge underneath the
vessel. This water flowing into the lower chamber, raises our vessel
28½ feet to the level of the second lock. Our ship sails into the
second lock, the doors are closed behind and locked, the water let down
from above, and again our vessel is raised 28½ feet. And so the process
is repeated the third time, until our ship sails out upon the lake
which is formed by the impounding of the waters of Gatun dam.

This lake, when filled to its capacity, will be thirty-three miles long
between extreme points, and eight miles wide at the widest part. The
course of a vessel from this lake will be twenty-three miles to a place
called Bas Obispo. This is the point at which the canal begins to run
through the hill called Culebra, and therefore the cut is called the
Culebra cut, and is nine miles long. The canal through this portion
of its course will be 250 feet wide at the bottom, and the sides of
the canal will <DW72> so gradually that at the highest point of Culebra
hill, which is 325 feet above sea level, the width will be about
one-half mile.

Our vessel passes through this nine-mile course to Pedro Miguel. At
Pedro Miguel there will be a pair of locks 1000 feet long, 110 feet
wide, and with a drop or lifting area of 35 feet, instead of 28 feet.
Through this lock our vessel will be lowered to a small lake formed by
the damming of two small streams in the vicinity of the City of Panama.
This lake will be a couple of miles across, and on the farther point,
called Miraflores, two pairs of locks will lower our vessel to the
level of the Pacific Ocean. From the Miraflores locks a channel will be
constructed out into Panama bay--500 feet wide and 40 feet deep at low
tide, the same as on the Caribbean side.

The engineering features of the Panama Canal are not intricate, and not
in any sense difficult from an engineering standpoint, save for the
great magnitude. It is the size of the enterprise that has appalled,
and discouraged the canal’s construction, and not the technical
difficulties of the work required.


The Future of the Canal

When the Panama Canal is completed the commerce and trade of the
world will be revolutionized. San Francisco will be brought nearly
9000 miles closer to New York than it is today and European ports
nearly 6000 miles closer. It is estimated by statisticians skilled in
transportation and in carrier service, that the cost of transporting
the great mass of bulky products from the Pacific Coast to Eastern
seaboards of the United States and to European points will be reduced
nearly two-thirds. In other words, freights that now cost approximately
$1.00 per 100 pounds over the transcontinental railroads from Pacific
Coast ports to Eastern markets, may be carried through the canal for
about 33 1/3 cents.

It is estimated that this saving of freight on timber alone, which is
still standing in California, would pay the cost of the canal, great as
it is, three times over. We can hardly estimate the effect that this
shortening of water rates will have on all the countries fronting the
Pacific Ocean.

It would seem as if the Western hemisphere was at last coming into
its own in dignity and progress, in its relation to all the world.
Certainly the tides of people of enterprise and of business have been
steadily pressing westward since long before Bishop Berkeley declared
that “Westward the star of empire takes its way,” and that Western wave
is rushing onward today more strongly and steadily than ever before in
the world’s history. Men of even middle age today probably will live
to see the fulfillment of the dreams and prophecies of the olden time
in the opening up of our coasts and land to ship commerce with every
country on the globe.

In ancient days it was the fact that seas divided nations, because of
the difficulty of ocean travel. In those days the only safe routes were
those over the land, but in this modern time of gigantic ocean vessels,
capable of carrying thousands of passengers and hundreds of thousands
of tons of freight, water travel and transportation is the cheapest and
most agreeable of all forms. And therefore, today it is a fact that
seas unite the countries of the world instead of dividing them.

[Illustration: PRESIDENT TAFT SIGNING JOINT RESOLUTION DESIGNATING SAN
FRANCISCO AS THE PLACE TO HOLD THE WORLD’S FAIR IN 1915.]

The completion of the Panama Canal will be only the completion of one
link of the chain of three great improvements that are in contemplation
by the statesmen of America.

On the eastern side of the continent all the States bordering on, or
tributary to, the Mississippi river are engaged in the propaganda for
the deepening of that river to a depth of 14 feet from New Orleans
to St. Louis, and 12 feet from St. Louis to St. Paul, as well as the
improvement of the tributaries thereof, so that ocean-going vessels may
penetrate to the very heart of the American continent and discharge
their cargoes there.

The up-to-date and progressive city of Chicago, the mighty metropolis
of the center of the continent, is alive to the possibilities of the
near future, and has made provision for the issuance and sale of bonds
to the amount of $24,000,000, the proceeds of which are to be used
in the deepening and widening of the Chicago drainage canal and the
Illinois river, so that ocean-going vessels may not only penetrate as
far as St. Louis, but may also proceed to Chicago, and place that great
city in direct water communication with any part of the world.

The improvement of the Mississippi and its tributaries, then, is one
of the links of the chain. The Panama Canal is the central link. The
third link must be and will be, if the projects of the most eminent
and patriotic American statesmen are carried out, the re-establishment
of the American merchant marine, so that American ships may be used as
the agency for the distribution of the products of our great industrial
country to all the lands fronting the Pacific Ocean, as well as to all
other parts of the earth.

I believe that it has been a well recognized policy of all the
Presidents and statesmen of our country for the last twenty years to
urge the accomplishment of these improvements. They come slowly, of
course, but all large projects take time in their development, and
those of us who today are so fortunate as to live in California, or
anywhere upon the Pacific Coast, may easily look forward to the time,
not far distant, when California will be at least the second State of
the American Republic in wealth, and industrial and commercial power,
and San Francisco the second city in importance under the American flag.




 Transcriber’s Note:

 --Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.






End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Panama Canal, by Duncan E. McKinlay

*** 