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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PAI-PAS |
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PANAMA CANAL . When he crossed the Atlantic, the object Columbus had in view was to find a western passage from Europe to Cathay. It was with the greatest reluctance, and only after a generation of unremitting toil that the explorers who succeeded him became convinced that the American continent was continuous, and formed a barrier of enormous extent to the passage of vessels. The question of cutting a canal through this barrier at some suitable point was immediately raised. In 1550 the Portuguese navigator Antonio Galvao published a book to demonstrate that a canal could be cut at Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, Panama or Darien, and in 1551 the Spanish historian F. L. de Gomara submitted a memorial to Philip II. urging in fOrcible language that the work be undertaken without delay. But the project was opposed by the Spanish Government, who had now concluded that a monopoly of communication with their possessions in the New World was of more importance than a passage by sea to Cathay. It even discouraged the improvement of the communications by land. To seek or make known any better route than the one from Porto Bello to Panama was forbidden under penalty of death. For more than two centuries no serious steps were taken towards the construction of the canal, if exception be made of William Paterson's disastrous Darien scheme in 1698. In 1771 the Spanish government, having changed its policy, ordered a survey for a canal at Tehuantepec, and finding that line impracticable, ordered surveys in 1779 at Nicaragua, but political disturbances in Europe soon prevented further action. In 18o8 the isthmus was examined by Alexander von Humboldt, who pointed out the lines which he considered worthy of study. After the Central American republics acquired their independence in 1823, there was a decided increase of interest
corporation under the special patronage of the king of the Netherlands to construct a canal through Nicaragua, but the revolution and the separation of Belgium from Holland followed, and the scheme fell through. Subsequently numerous concessions were granted to citizens of the United States, France and Belgium, both for the Nicaragua and the Panama lines, but with the exception of the concession of 1878 for Panama and that of 1887 for Nicaragua, no work of construction was done under any of them.Knowledge of the topography of the isthmus was extremely vague until the great increase of travel due to the discovery of gold in California in 1848 rendered improved communications a necessity. A railroad at Panama and a canal at Nicaragua were both projected. Instrumental surveys for the former in 1849, and for the latter in 185o, were made by American engineers, and, with some small exceptions, were the first accurate surveys made up to that time. The work done resulted in geographical knowledge sufficient to eliminate from consideration all but the following routes: (r) Nicaragua; (2) Panama; (3) San Blas; (4) Caledonia Bay; (5) Darien; (6) Atrato river, of which last there were four variants, the Tuyra, the Truando, the Napipi and the Bojaya. In 1866, in response to an inquiry from Congress, Admiral Charles H. Davis, U.S. Navy, reported that " there does not exist in the libraries of the world the means of determining even approximately the most practicable route for a ship canal across the American isthmus." To clear up the subject, the United States government sent out, between 187o and 1875, a series of expeditions under officers of the navy, by whom all of the above routes were examined. The result was to show that the only lines by which a tunnel could be avoided were the Panama and the Nicaragua lines; and in 1876 a United States Commission reported that the Nicaragua route possessed greater advantages and offered fewer difficulties than any other. At Panama the isthmus is narrower than at any other point except San Blas, its width in a straight line being only 35 M. and the height of the continental divide is only 300 ft., which is higher than the Nicaragua summit, but less than half the height on any other route. At Nicaragua the distance is greater, being about 156 m. in a straight line, but more than one third is covered by Lake Nicaragua, a sheet of fresh water with an area of about 3000 sq. m. and a maximum depth of over 200 ft., the surface being about ro5 ft. above sea-level. Lake Nicaragua is connected with the Atlantic by a navigable river, the San Juan, and is separated from the Pacific by the continental divide, which is about 16o ft. above sea-level. At Nicaragua only a canal with locks is feasible, but at Panama a sea-level canal is a physical possibility. By the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 185o with Great Britain; by the treaty of 1846 with New Granada (Colombia), Article XXXV., and by the treaty of 1867 with Nicaragua, Article XV., the United States guaranteed that the projected canal, whether the Panama or the Nicaraguan, should be neutral, and, furthermore, that it be used and enjoyed upon equal terms by the citizens of both countries in each case. A modification of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty being necessary to enable the United States to build the canal, a treaty making such modifications, but preserving the principle of neutrality, known as the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, was negotiated with Great Britain in 1900; it was amended by the United States Senate, and the amendments not proving acceptable to Great Britain, the treaty lapsed in March 1901. A new treaty, however, was negotiated in the autumn, and accepted in December by the U.S. Senate. The completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, and its subsequent success as a commercial enterprise, drew, attention more forcibly than ever to the American isthmus. In 1876 an association entitled " Societe Civile Internationale du Canal Interoceanique " was organized in Paris to make surveys and explorations for a ship canal. An expedition under the direction of Lieut. L. N. B. Wyse, an officer of the French navy, was sent to the isthmus to examine the Panama line. In May 1878 Lieut. Wyse, in the name of the association, obtained a concession from the Colombian government, commonly known as the Wyse Concession. This is the concession under which work upon the Panama Canal has been prosecuted. Its first holders did' no work of construction. In May 1879 an International Congress composed of 135 delegates from various nationssome from Great Britain, United States and Germany, but the majority First from Francewas convened in Paris under the Panama auspices of Ferdinand de Lesseps, to consider the Company. best situation for, and the plan of, a canal. After a session of two weeks the Congress decided that the canal should be at the sea-level, and at Panama. Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress the Panama Canal Company was organized under a general law of France, with Lessees as president, and it purchased the Wyse Concession at the price of ro,000,000 francs. An attempt to float this company in August 1879 failed, but a second attempt, made in December 188o, was fully successful, 6,000,000 shares of 500 francs each being sold. The next two years were de' oted to surveys and examinations and preliminary work upon the canal. The plan adopted was for a sea-level canal having a depth of 292 ft. and bottom width of 72 ft., involving excavation estimated at 157,00o,000, cub. yds. The cost was estimated by Lesseps in 188o at 658,000,000 francs, and the time required at eight years. The terminus on the Atlantic side was fixed by the anchorage at Colon, and that on the Pacific side by the anchorage at Panama. Leaving Colon, the canal was to pass through low ground by a direct line for a distance of 6 m. to Gatun, where it intersected the valley of the Chagres river; pass up that valley for a distance of 21 M. to Obispo, where it left the Chagres and ascended the valley of a tributary, the Cumacho; cut through the watershed at Culebra, and thence descend by the valley of the Rio Grande to Panama Bay. Its total length from deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific was about 47 M. It was laid out in such a way as to give easy curvature everywhere; the sharpest curve, of which there was but one, had a radius of 6200 ft., four others had a radius of 8200 ft., and all others had a radius of 9800 ft. or more. To secure this it was necessary to select a point for crossing the watershed where the height was somewhat greater than that of the lowest pass. The line was essentially the same as that followed by the Panama railroad, the concession for which granted a monopoly of that route; the Wyse Concession, therefore, was applicable only upon condition that the canal company could come to an amicable agreement with the railroad company. The principal difficulties to be encountered in carrying out this plan consisted in the enormous dimensions of the cut to be made at Culebra, and in the control of the Chagres river, the valley of which is occupied by the canal for a large part of its length. This stream is of torrential character, its discharge varying from a minimum of about 350 cub. ft. to a maximum of over ioo,000 cub. ft. per second. It rose at Gamboa on the 1st of December 1890, 181 ft. in twelve hours, its volume increasing from 15,600 cub. ft. to 57,800 cub. ft. per second at the same time; and similar violent changes are not uncommon. To admit a stream of this character to the canal would be an intolerable nuisance to navigation unless space could be provided for its waters to spread out. For a canal with locks the remedy is simple, but for a sea-level canal the problem is much more difficult, and no satisfactory solution of the question was ever reached under the Lesseps plan. Work under this plan continued until the latter part of 1887, the management being characterized by a degree of extravagance and corruption rarely if ever equalled in the history of the world. By that time it had become evident that the canal could not be completed at the sea-level with the resources of time and money then available. The plan was accordingly changed to one including locks, and work was pushed on with vigour until 1889, when the company, becoming bankrupt, was dissolved by a judgment of the Tribunal Civil de la Seine, dated the 4th of February 1889, a liquidator being appointed by the court to take charge of its affairs. One of the more important duties assigned to this official was to keep the property together and the concession alive, with a view to the formation of a new company for the completion of the canal. He gradually reduced the number of men employed, and finally suspended the works on the 15th of May 1889. He then proceeded to satisfy himself that the canal project was feasible, a question about which the failure of the company had caused grave doubts, and to this end caused an inquiry to be held by a commission of French and foreign engineers. This commission reported on the 9th of May 1890 that a canal with locks, for which they submitted a plan, could be built in eight years at a cost of 580,000,000 francs for the works, which sum should be increased to 900,000,000 francs to include administration and financing. They reported that the plant in hand was in good condition and would probably suffice for finishing the canal, and they estimated the value of the work done and of the plant in hand at 450,000,000 francs. The time within which the canal was to be completed under the Wyse Concession having nearly expired, the liquidator sought and obtained from the Colombian government an extension of ten years. Twice subsequently the time was extended by the Colombian government, the date ultimately fixed for the completion of the canal being the 31st of October 1910. For each of these extensions the Colombian government exacted heavy subsidies. The liquidator finally secured the organization of a new company on the loth of October 1894. The old company and the liquidator had raised by the sale of stock and bonds the sum of 1,271,682,637 francs. The securities issued to raise this money had a par value of 2,245,151,200 francs, held by about 200,000 persons. In all about 72,000,000 cub. yds. had been excavated, and an enormous quantity of machinery and other plant had been purchased and transported to the isthmus at an estimated cost of 150,000,000 francs. Nearly all of the stock of the Panama railroad68,534 of the 70,000 shares existingalso had been purchased, at a cost of 93,268,186 francs. The new company was regularly organized under French law, and was recognized by the Colombian government. It second was technically a private corporation , but the great Panama number of persons interested in the securities of the company, old company, and the special legislation of theFrench Chambers, gave it a semi-national character. By the law of the 8th of June 1888, all machinery and tools used in the work must be of French manufacture, and raw material must be of French origin. Its capital stock consisted of 650,000 shares of Too francs each, of which 50,000 shares belonged to Colombia. It succeeded to all the rights of the old company in the concessions, works, lands, buildings, plant, maps, drawings, &c., and shares of the Panama railroad. For the contingency that the canal should not be completed, special conditions were made as to the Panama railroad shares. These were to revert to the liquidator, but the company had the privilege of purchasing them for 20,000,000 francs in cash and half the net annual profits of the road. The Panama railroad retained its separate organization as an American corporation.Immediately after its organization in 1894 the new company took possession of the property (except the Panama railroad shares, which were held in trust for its benefit), and proceeded to make a new study of the entire subject of the canal in its engineering and commercial aspects. It resumed the work of excavation, witha moderate number of men sufficient to comply with the terms of the concession, in a part of the linethe Emperador and Culebra cutswhere such excavation must contribute to the enterprise if completed under any plan. By the middle of 1895, about 2000 men had been collected, and since that time the work progressed continuously, the number of workmen varying between 1900 and 3600. The amount of material excavated to the end of 1899 was about 5,000,000 cubic yards. The amount expended to the 30th of June 1899 was about 35,000,000 francs, besides about 6,500,000 francs advanced to the Panama Railroad Company for building a pier at La Boca. The charter provided for the appointment by the company and the liquidator of a special engineering commission of five members, to report upon the work done and the conclusions to be drawn therefrom, this report to be rendered when the amounts expended by the new company should have reached about one-half its capital . The report was to be made public, and a special meeting of the stockholders was then to be held to determine whether or not the canal should be completed, and to provide ways and means. The time for this report and special meeting arrived in 1898. In the meanwhile the company had called to its aid a technical committee composed of fourteen engineers, European and American, some of them among the most eminent in their profession. After a study of all the data available, and of such additional surveys and examinations as it considered should be made, this committee rendered an elaborate repont dated the 16th of November 1898. This report was referred to the statutory commission of five, who reported in 1899 that the canal could be built according to that project within the limits of time and money estimated. The special meeting of stockholders was called immediately after the regular annual meeting of the 30th of December 1899. It is understood that the liquidator (who held about one-fourth the stock) refused to take part in it, and that no conclusions were reached as to the expediency of completing the canal or as to providing ways and means. The engineering questions had been solved to the satisfaction of the company, but the financial questions had been made extremely difficult, if not insoluble, by the appearance of the United States government in the field as a probable builder of an isthmian canal. The company continued to conduct its operations in a provisional way, without appealing to the public for capital.The plan adopted by the company involved two levels above the sea-levelone of them an artificial lake to be created by a dam at Bohio, to be reached from the Atlantic by a flight of two locks, and the other, the summit-level, to be reached by another flight of two locks from the preceding. The summit-level was to have its surface at high water 102 ft. above the sea, and to be supplied with water by a feeder leading from an artificial reservoir to be constructed at Alajuela in the upper Chagres valley; the ascent on the Pacific side to be likewise by four locks. The canal was to have a depth of 29+ ft. and a bottom width of about 98 ft., with an increased width in certain specified parts. Its general plan was the same as that adopted by the old company. The locks were to be double, or twin locks, the chambers to have a serviceable length in the clear of 738 ft., with a width of 82 ft. and a depth of 32 ft. 10 in., with lifts varying from 20 to 53 ft., according to situation and stage of water. The time required to build the canal was estimated at ten years, and its cost at 525,000,000 francs for the works, not including administration and financing. The occupation of the Panama route by Europeans, and the prospect of a canal there under foreign control, was not a pleasing spectacle to the people of the United Nicaragua States. The favour with which the Nicaragua scheme. route had been considered since 1876 began to assume a partisan character, and the movement
York
be known as the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua passed Congress and was approved on the loth of February 1889, and on the 4th of May 1889 the company was organized. It took over the concessions and, acting through a construction company, began work upon the canal in June 1889. Operations upon a moderate scale and mainly of a preliminary character were continued until 1893, when the financial disturbances of that period drove the construction company into bankruptcy and compelled a suspension of the work. It has not since been resumed. At that time the canal had been excavated to a depth of 17 ft. and a width of 280 ft. for a distance of about 3000 ft. inland from Greytown; the canal line had been cleared of timber for a distance of about 20 m.; a railroad had been constructed for a distance of about 11 m. inland from Greytown; a pier had been built for the improvement of Greytown harbour and other works undertaken. In all, about $4,500,000 had been expended. Congress continued to take an interest
The interest of the United States in an isthmian canal was not essentially different from that of other maritime nations Isthmian down to about the middle of the 19th century, but Canal coin- it assumed great strength when California was mission. acquired, and it has steadily grown as the importance of the Pacific States has developed. In 1848 and again in 1884, treaties were negotiated with Nicaragua authorizing the United States to build the canal, but in neither case was the treaty ratified. The Spanish War of 1898 gave a tremendous impetus to popular interest in the matter, and it seemed an article of the national faith that the canal must be built, and, furthermore, that it must be under American control. To the American people the canal appears to be not merely a business enterprise from which a direct revenue is to be obtained, but rather a means of unifying and strengthening their national political interests, and of developing their industries, particularly in the Pacific States; in short, a means essential to their national growth. The Isthmian Canal Commission created by Congress in 1899 to examine all practicable routes, and to report which was the most practicable and most feasible for a canal under the control, management and ownership of the United States, reported that there was no route which did not present greater disadvantages than those of Panama and Nicaragua. It recommended that the canal at Panama have a depth of 35 ft. and a bottom width 150 ft., the locks to be double, the lock chambers to have a length 740 ft., width 84 ft. and depth 35 ft. in the clear. The cost of a canal with these dimensions, built essentially upon the French plans, was estimated at $156,378,258. A plan, however, was recommended in which the height of the Bohio dam was increased about 20 ft., the level of Lake Bohio raised by that amount, the lake made the summit-level, and the Alajuela dam omitted. The cost upon this plan was estimated at $143,971,127. According to the plan recommended by the Commission for Nicaragua the line began at Greytown on the Caribbean Sea, where an artificial harbour was to be constructed and follow the valley of the San Juan for too m. to Lake Nicaragua; thence across the lake about 70 M. to the mouth of Las Lajas river; then up the valley of that stream through the .watershed, and down the valley of the Rio Grande, 17 M. to Brito on the Pacific, where also an artificial harbour was to be constructed. The distance from ocean to ocean is 187 m. About midway between the lake and the Caribbean the San Juan receives its most important affluent, the San Carlos, and undergoes a radical change in character. Above the junction it is a clear water stream, capable of improvement by locks and dams. Below, it is choked with sand, and not available for slack-water navigation. A dam across the San Juan above the mouth of the San Carlos was to maintain the water of the river above that point on a level with the lake. The line of the canal occupied essentially the bed of the river from the lake to the dam; from the dam to the Caribbean it followed the left bank of the river, keeping at a safe distance from it, and occasion-ally cutting through a high projecting ridge
The time required to build the canal was estimated at ten years, and its cost at $200,540,000. The report of the commission, transmitted to Congress at the end of 1900, ended thus: The Panama Canal, after completion, would be shorter, have fewer locks and less curvature than the Nicaragua Canal. The measure of these advantages is the time required for a vessel to pass through, which is estimated for an average ship at 12 hours for Panama and 33 hours for Nicaragua. On the other hand, the distance from San Francisco to New York
The government of Colombia, in which lies the Panama Canal, has granted an exclusive concession, which still has many years to run. It is not free to grant the necessary rights to the United States, except upon condition that an agreement be reached with the New Panama Canal Company. The Commission believes that such agreement is impracticable. So far as can be ascertained, the company is not willing to sell its franchise, but will allow the United States to become the owner of part of its stock. The Commission considers such an arrangement inadmissible. The Governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, on the other hand, are untrammelled by concessions, and are free to grant to the United States such privileges as may be mutually agreed upon. In view of all the facts, and particularly in view of all the difficulties of obtaining the necessary rights, privileges and franchises on the Panama route, and assuming that Nicaragua and Costa Rica recognize the value of the canal to themselves, and are pre-pared to grant concessions on terms which are reasonable and acceptable to the United States, the Commission is of the opinion that " the most practicable and feasible route for " an isthmian canal, to be " under the control, management and ownership of the United States," is that known as the Nicaragua route. This report caused the New Panama Canal Company to view the question of selling its property in a new light, and in the spring of 1901 it obtained permission from the Panama Colombian government to dispose of it to the United Route States. It showed itself, however, somewhat reluc- adopted. tant to name a price to the Canal Commission, and it was not till January 1902 that it definitely offered to accept $40,000,000. In consequence of this offer, the commission in a supplementary report issued on the 18th of January 1902 reversed the conclusion it had stated in its main report, and advised the adoption of the Panama route, with purchase of the works, &c., of the French company. A few days previous to this report the Hepburn bill authorizing the Nicaragua canal at a cost of $180,000,000, had been carried in the House of Representatives by a large majority, but when it reached the Senate an amendmentthe so-called Spooner billwas moved and finally became law on the 28th of June 1902. This authorized the president to acquire all the property of the Panama Canal Company, including not less than 68,869 shares of the Panama Railroad Company, for a sum not exceeding $40,000,000, and to obtain from Colombia perpetual control of a strip of land 6 m. wide; while if he failed to come to terms with the company and with Colombia in a reasonable time and on reasonable terms, he was by treaty to obtain from Costa Rica and Nicaragua the territory necessary for the Nicaragua canal. Negotiations were forthwith opened with Colombia, and ultimately a treaty (the Hay-Herran treaty) was signed in Declaration January 1903. The Colombian Senate, however, of Panama refused ratification, and it seemed as if the Panama In depend- scheme would have to be abandoned when the ease. complexion of affairs was changed by Panama revolting from Colombia and declaring itself independent in November 1903. Within a month the new republic, by the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty, granted the United States the use, occupation and control of a strip of land 10 m. wide for the purposes of the canal. A few days after the ratification of this treaty by the United States Senate in February 1904the concession of the French company having been purchased a commission was appointed to undertake the organization and management of the enterprise, and in June Mr J. F. Wallace was chosen chief engineer. Work was begun without delay, but the commission's methods of administration and control soon proved unsatisfactory, and in April 1905 it was reorganized, three of its members being constituted an executive committee which was to be at Panama continuously. Shortly afterwards, at the end of June, Mr Wallace resigned his position as chief engineer and was succeeded by Mr John F. Stevens. In connexion with the reorganization of the commission a board of consulting engineers, five being nominated by European construe- governments, was appointed in June 1 .905 tQ consider tion the question, which so far had not been settled, Problems. whether the canal should be made at sea-level, without locks (at least except tidal regulating locks at or near the Pacific terminus), or should rise to some elevation
elevation
z = r ' r o o i Cft Colon x 7/ a4l c , Ch ' ` tir ~rr, < DAM C 3 u a ,. Ra'.' way GN LOCK nd . "11.E ' ti w II y = .r ^`z tIrn ,(fir - F M - ~ Sr English Miles4 Dams ` - ,~ X35 ~ r;C 41c *, - a ' Locks y ~ r ~i p i F..- Panama Rai/way (old location) #g~ r M t "~ U 62E6 OU Panama Rail i/ way 4! /new location/ o- Canal Zone boundary .x y~aa~tc ~? r ~~ l~ I\ r DATA f UE1,~LdCK N ~rlu~~ r ~j~ ~+ v ,eRO\ ~~ ~L(lmfltir '~ Y~ rp / I ~y-FLO r ~Y+] .tee err .r (,'~` ~~ nom' 1T 3 i`~ w ax r,. PajIS~IfB,~ __ _c _ESA SRI arum WW.. President Roosevelt decided that it would be best for the government to continue the work, which was placed under the more immediate control of the U.S.A. Corps of Engineers. At the same time the Isthmian Canal Commission was reorganized, Major G. W. Goethals, of the Corps of Engineers, becoming engineer in chief and chairman, in succession to Mr J. F. Stevens who, after succeeding Mr T. P. Shonts as chairman, himself resigned on the 1st of April. The following are the leading particulars of the canal, the course of which is shown on the accompanying map. The length from deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific will be about 5o m., or, since the distance from deep water to the shore-line is about 41 M. in Limon Bay and about 5 m. at Panama, approximately 401 M. from shore to shore. The summit level, regulated between 82 and 87 ft. above sea-level, will extend for 311 M. from a large earth dam at Gatun to a smaller one at Pedro Miguel, and is to be reached by a flight of 3 locks at the former point. The Gatun darn will be 7200 ft. long along the crest including the spillway, will have a maximum width at its base of 2000 ft., and will be uniformly too ft. wide at its top, which will rise 115 ft. above sea-level. The lake (Lake Gatun) enclosed by these dams will be 1641 sq. m. in area, and will constitute a reservoir for receiving the floods of the Chagres and other rivers as well as for supplying water for lockage. A smaller lake (Lake Miraflores), with a surface elevation of 55 ft. and an area of about 2 sq. m. will extend from a lock at Pedro Miguel to Miraflores, where the valley of the Rio Grande is to be closed by an earth dam on the west and a concrete dam with spillway on the east, and the canal is to descend to sea-level by a flight of two locks. All the locks are to be in duplicate, each being Ito ft. wide with a usable length of Iwo ft. divided by a middle gate. The channel leading from deep water in the Caribbean sea to Gatun will be about 7 M. long and 500 ft. broad, increasing to moo ft. from a ppoint 4000 ft. north of the locks in order to form a waiting basin for ships. From Gatun locks, o6 m. in length, the channel is to be moo ft. or more in width for a distance of nearly 16 m. to San Pablo. Thence it narrows first to 800 ft., and then for a short distance to 700 ft., for 31 m. to mile 27 near Juan Grande, and to 500 ft. for 4; M. from Juan Grande to Obispo (mile 311). From this point through the Culebra cut to Pedro Miguel lock, it will be only 300 ft. wide, but will widen again to 500 ft. through Miraflores lake, 13 m. long, to Miraflores locks, the total length of which including approaches will be nearly a mile, and will thence maintain the same width for the remaining 8 m. to deep water on the Pacific. The minimum bottom width of the canal will thus be 300 ft., the average being 649 ft., while the minimum depth will be 41 ft. In 1909 it was estimated that the construction of the canal would be completed by the 1st of January 1915, and that the total cost to the United States would not exceed $375,000,000 including $50,000,000 paid to the French Canal Company and the Republic of Panama, $7,382,000 for civil administration, and $20,053,000 for sanitation. The last was one of the most necessary expenditures of all, since without it disease would have greatly retarded the work or perhaps prevented it altogether. See W. F. Johnson, Four Centuries of the Panama Canal (New York, 1906); Report of the Board of Consulting Engineers for the Panama Canal (Washington, 1906) ; Annual Reports of the Isthmian Canal Commission (Washington) ; Vaughan Cornish, The Panama Canal and its Makers (London, 1909). PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCES. At intervals delegates from the independent countries of North, Central and South America have met in the interests of peace and for the improvement of commercial relations and for the discussion of various other matters of common interest. A movement for some form of union among the Spanish colonies of Central and South America was inaugurated by Simon Bolivar while those colonies were still fighting for independence from Spain, and in 1825 the United States, which in May 1822 had recognized their independence and in December 1823 had promulgated the Monroe Doctrine, was invited by the governments of Mexico and Colombia to send commissioners to a congress to be held at Panama in the following year. Henry Clay, the secretary of state, hoped the congress might be the means of establishing a league of American republics under the hegemony of the United States, and under his influence President J. Q. Adams accepted the invitation, giving notice however that the commissioners from the United States would not be authorized to act in any way inconsistent with the neutral attitude of their country toward Spain and her revolting colonies. The principal objects of the Spanish-Americans in calling the congress were, in fact, to form a league of states to resist Spain or any other.European power that might attempt to interfere in America and to consider the expediency of freeing Cuba and Porto Rico from Spanish rule; but in his message tothe Senate asking that body to approve his appointment of commissioners Adams declared that his object in appointing them was to manifest a friendly interest in the young republics, give them some advice, promote commercial reciprocity, obtain from the congress satisfactory definitions of the terms " blockade " and " neutral rights " and encourage religious liberty. In the Senate the pro-posed mission provoked a spirited attack on the administration. Some senators feared that it might be the means of dragging the United States into entangling alliances; others charged that the President had construed the Monroe Doctrine as a pledge to the southern republics that if the powers of Europe joined Spain against them the United States' would come to their assistance with arms and men; and a few from the slave-holding states wished to have nothing to do with the republics because they proposed to make Cuba and Porto Rico independent and liberate the slaves on those islands. The Senate finally, after a delay of more than ten weeks, confirmed the appointments. There was further delay in the House of Representatives, which was asked to make an appropriation for the mission; one of the commissioners, Richard C. Anderson (17881826), died on the way (at Cartagena, July 24), and when the other, John Sergeant (17791852), reached Panama the congress, consisting of representatives from Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, had met (June 22), concluded and signed a " treaty of union, league and perpetual confederation " and adjourned to meet again at Tacubaya, near the City of Mexico. The governments of Guatemala, Mexico and Peru refused to ratify the treaty and the Panama congress or conference was a failure. The meeting at Tacubaya was never held.Mexico proposed another conference in 1831, and repeated the proposal.in 1838, 1839 and 1840, but each time without result. In December 1847, while Mexico and the United States were at war, a conference of representatives from Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, New Granada and Peru met at Lima, gave the other American republics the privilege of joining in its deliberations or becoming parties to its agreements, continued to deliberate until the 1st of March 1848, and concluded a treaty of confederation, a treaty of commerce and navigation, a postal treaty and a consular convention; but with the exception of the ratification of the consular convention by New Granada its work was rejected. Representatives from Peru, Chile and Ecuador met at Santiago in September 1856 and signed the " Continental Treaty" designed to promote the union of the Latin-American republics, but expressing hostility toward the United States as a consequence of the filibustering expeditions of William Walker (1824186o); it never became effective. In response to an invitation from the government of Peru to each of the Latin-American countries, representatives from Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina met in a conference at Lima in November 1864 to form a " Union." Colombia was opposed to extending the invitation to the United States lest that country should " embarrass the action of the Congress "; the conference itself accomplished little. In 18771878 jurists from Peru, Bolivia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Argentina, Venezuela and Costa Rica met at Lima and concluded a treaty of extradition and a treaty on private international law, and Uruguay and. Guatemala agreed to adhere to them. War among the South American states prevented the holding of a conference which had been called by the government of Colombia to meet at Panama in September 1881 and of another which had been called by the government of the United States to meet at Washington in November 1882. In 18881889 jurists from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay met at Montevideo and concluded treaties on international civil law, international commercial law, international penal law, international law of procedure, literary and artistic property, trade-marks and patents, several of which were subsequently ratified by the South American countries. In May 1888 the Congress of the United States had passed an Act authorizing the President to invite the several Latin-American governments to a conference in Washington to consider measures for preserving the peace, the formation of a customs union, the establishment of better communication between ports, the adoption of a common silver coin, a uniform system of weights, measures, patent-rights, copyrights and trade-marks, the subject of sanitation of ships and quarantine, &c. All the governments except Santo Domingo accepted the invitation and this conference is commonly known as the first Pan-American Conference. It met on the 2nd of October 1889, was presided over by James G. Blaine, the American secretary of state, who had been instrumental in having the conference called, and continued its sessions until the 19th of April 1890. A majority of its members voted for compulsory arbitration, and recommendations were made relating to reciprocity treaties, customs regulations, port duties, the free navigation of American rivers, sanitary regulations, a monetary union, weights and measures, patents and trade-marks, an international American bank, an intercontinental railway, the extradition of criminals, and several other matters. Nothing came of its recommendations, however, except the establishment in Washington of an International Bureau of American Republics for the collection and publication of information relating to the commerce, products, laws and customs of the countries represented. At the suggestion of President McKinley the government of Mexico called the second Pan-American Conference to meet at the City of Mexico on the 22nd of October 1901. There was a full representation and the sessions were continued until the 31st of January 1902. The chief subject of discussion was arbitration, and after much wrangling between those who insisted upon compulsory arbitration and those opposed to it a majority of the delegations signed a project whereby their countries should become parties to the Hague conventions of 1899, which provide for voluntary arbitration. At the same time ten delegations signed a project for a treaty providing for compulsory arbitration. The conference also approved a project for a treaty whereby controversies arising from pecuniary claims of individuals of one country against the government of another should be submitted to the arbitration court established by the Hague convention. The conference ratified a resolution of the first conference recommending the construction of complementary lines of the proposed Pan-American railway. At this conference, too, the International Bureau of American Republics was organized under a governing board of diplomatists with the secretary of state of the United States as chairman; it was directed to publish a monthly bulletin, and in several other respects was made a more important institution. Its governing board was directed to arrange for the third Pan-American Conference, and this body was in session at Rio de Janeiro from the 21st of July to the 26th of August 1906. Delegates attended from the United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, San Domingo, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Salvador and Uruguay; Haiti and Venezuela were not represented. The secretary of state of the United States, Elihu Root, though not a delegate, addressed the conference. The subjects considered were much the same as those at the two preceding conferences. With respect to arbitration this conference passed a resolution that the delegates from the American republics to the second conference at the Hague be instructed to endeavour to secure there " the celebration of a general arbitration convention so effective and definite that, meriting the approval of the civilized world, it shall be accepted and put in force by every nation." With respect to copyrights, patents and trademarks this conference re-affirmed the conventions of the second conference, with some modifications; with respect to naturalization it recommended that whenever a native of one country who has been naturalized in another again takes up his residence in his native country without intending to return to his adopted country he should be considered as having reassumed his original citizenship; and withrespect to the forcible collection of public debts to which the " Drago Doctrine " 1 is opposed, the conference recommended that " the Governments represented therein consider the point of inviting the Second Peace Conference at the Hague to consider the question of the compulsory collection of public debts, and, in general, means tending to diminish between nations conflicts having an exclusively pecuniary origin." The fourth Conference met in Buenos Aires in July-August r91o, agreed to submit to arbitration such money claims as cannot be amicably settled by diplomacy, and renamed the Bureau the Bureau of Pan-American Union.2 The first Pan-American scientific congress met at Santiago, Chile, on the 25th of December 1908 for the consideration of distinctly American problems. It continued in session until the 5th of January 1909, and resolved that a second congress for the same purpose should meet at Washington in 1912. See International American Conference, Reports and Recommendations (Washington, 1890), and especially the Historical Appendix. End of Article: PANAMA CANAL If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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