Part 2
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.
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.
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 negroes 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.
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 negroes, 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.