THE PANAMA CANAL

New Zealand Tablet, 14 July 1910, Page 1092

THE PANAMA CANAL

The American authorities are confident that in less than five years vessels will pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Panama Canal. The completion of this great undertaking will no doubt have an appreciable effect on the trade between New Zealand and Great Britain, and shorten the sea route to such an extent that the Home mails should be delivered here at least within four weeks from the time of their leaving England. The Canal Record announces that the entire excavation as contemplated in the original project has been completed. Under that plan, which was approved by Congress at the beginning of the American occupation, 103,795,000 cubic yards of earth were to be removed. But later, in order to let through worships of the Dreadnought type and the giant liners under construction, the War Department ordered the widening and deepening of the cut. These changes involve the removal of about , 70,000,000 additional yards of material, and that is all of the work of excavation that remains. The record of achievement is without precedent in engineering undertakings. As excavation did not begin in earnest until 1907, the bulk of the work for which nine years were given has been accomplished in three and a quarter years. During March 3,067,479 cubic yards of material were taken out, and this in face of the heaviest rains ever known on the isthmus in March. In 1908 37,116,735 cubic yards ere removed, in 1909 35,096,166, making the total for the two years 72,212,901, a monthly average for the entire period of . over 3,000,000 cubic yards. • - In view of the possibilities arising from the completion of this great waterway, a few particulars regarding previous attempts to unite the Atlantic and Pacific may be of interest to our readers. The Rev. H. J. Swift, S.J., writing in. America, says'that Columbus sought in vain a strait or channel through which he might push in his heroic en-

deavor to bring India nearer to the shores of Europe; but hardly was it established that nature had formed no such passage when men began to suggest ways and means for remedying the oversight. Though not first in the order of time, the scheme of Antonio de la Gama, in 1534, was the first that reached the practical ■ stage of actually moving any rock or earth in the furtherance of the project. As the local representative of the Spanish crown he undertook to dredge the Chagres River, but he did not remain long enough on the isthmus tq accomplish even that work. It is well that he did not devote more time and greater energy to the enterprise, for, with the primitive means at his disposal it could have ended only in disaster with frightful loss of life among the natives, who would have been forced to attempt the impossible task. In 1698 William Paterson, a Scotchman, collected an enormous sum of money, and sailed at the head of a hopeful band of adventurers to establish a colony on the isthmus. The climate destroyed the colonists, who might be passed over in a word if it were not for the efforts of their leader to impress upon King William 111. the importance of securing the isthmus for a future canal. As the American colonies were then young and feeble, Paterson showed great insight when he averred that if the British Government did not act, the Americans would one day annex the isthmus and later the Pacific Islands, and thus establish a mighty empire. * They will then scour the Indian Ocean and the South Sea,’ he said, 1 and they will heap up vast wealth. If God favors them with a knowledge of the arts and sciences, they will spread throughout the world the blessings of civilisation, while England, in spite of her glory and her liberties, will be known to the world only in the memory of her past, as is now the fate of Egypt.’. Henry Clay was the first great American to speak with authority on the important question of the Canal. As Secretary of State in the Cabinet of John Quincy Adams, he gave the opinion of the Government when he said, in 1825, that as the Canal should be for the benefit of all nations, and not of one exclusively, it should be under the protection of all nations. This long remained the settled policy of the United States, for in the Treaty of 1846 with New Granada, of which the isthmus then formed a part, it was stipulated that the American Government should have the right of passage across the isthmus in any feasible way, and that it should be neutral territory, but the ownership and sovereignty of the soil should be guaranteed to New Granada.

The outcome of the Mexican War must have stirred the British to action, for the year 1848, which saw the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the United States and Mexico, witnessed an aggressive action on the isthmus. The island of Tigre on the Pacific side, and the mouth of the San Juan on the Atlantic coast, were occupied by British marines. James K. Polk, who had been elected on the campaign cry of ‘ Fifty-four Forty or Fight,’ was then President. The action of the British on the isthmus seemed to be their answer to the unwarranted American claim of 54deg 40min as our northern boundary. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 surrendered our Canadian pretensions and reiterated the neutrality of the projected highway. Clay’s position in 1825 was good enough at that stage of American development, but it cost later administrations many a diplomatic somersault to secure the advantage by which he had set so small store. President Grant voiced the general feeling in 1869 in his first annual message when he stated that it was of the greatest political importance to the United States that no European Government should own the canal, and eleven years later President Hayes made the declaration still stronger. On June 24,. 1881, a circular note to all the Powers informed them that the American Government must necessarily reserve to itself ‘ a political control of the canal distinct from administrative or commercial regulation.’ The next step forward was taken by James G. Blaine, who, as Secretary of State, emphatically declared that the interests of the country could not permit a Panama Canal without American fortifications. The end of the war with Spain, and the tremendous changes that it had 'involved, called forth from President McKinley in his message of December, 1898, the statement that in the light of recent events the canal had become more necessary, and' that the interests of the country demanded its construction by the Federal Government. But the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was still in the way. The HayPaunceforte Treaty, ratified by the Senate on December 18, 1900, smoothed away the difficulty, or, rather, effectually buried it under a mountain of carefully chosen phrases, and left the United States with a free hand. _ Although the Nicaragua route had many supporters, a majority of eight votes in the Senate on June 18, 1902, selected the Panama route, subject to a suitable treaty with Colombia. The Hay-Herran Treaty drafted to meet the requirements of the occasion gave Colombia a lump sum of ten million dollars, with an annual payment of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The Colombian Senate unanimously rejected the proposed treaty, and demanded twenty million dollars down and an annual payment of four hundred thousand dollars.

This action precipitated the revolution by which Panama separated from Colombia, and established itself as an independent nation. The United States, immediately recog-

nising the new republic, made a more favorable treaty, which, as the Hay-Buneau-Varilla Treaty, was ratified in February, 1904. Under the provisions of this treaty the prodigious undertaking has been pushed forward with an army of 40,000 employees. The effect that the canal will have upon the commerce of the Pacific will increase from year to year. Commodities exist on both sides of the ocean, and a more convenient interchange of them will naturally build •up a trade. If wise means be used to restore to the American merchant marine its former prestige, economic results of the most. satisfactory nature will result. The importance of , the canal in time of war is one of the surest pledges of a continued peace. The prediction of Scotland’s adventurous son in 1698 has waited long, but it now seems near realisation.