Vaughan Cornish

“ The importance of that route to Asia was thus greatly reduced as far as Europe was concerned, but, relatively, its importance to the United States was increased, for the Suez Canal does not shorten the Asiatic voyage from New York, Boston, or New Orleans to the same extent as it does for European ports.
The Old World had been severed into halves by the enterprise of one man, and that man no potentate, but merely one possessing the gift of persuasion. ”

“ INTRODUCTION AT the present moment the Canal Zone of the Isthmus of Panama is the most interesting place in the world. Here is gathered an army of 40,000 men engaged in the epoch-making work of uniting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and here is the greatest collection of machinery ever massed for the accomplishment of one undertaking. ”

“ To one who has seen something of both the United States and of the West Indies, the reason for the improved state of affairs was easily understood, viz., the American foremen and others in charge had begun to understand the type of men with whom they were dealing. Accustomed to the character of the American negro, and to the conventions which regulate intercourse with the coloured man in the United States, they did not at first recognise that the West Indian was a distinct type, and accustomed, at any rate in the British Colonies, to very different social relations towards the white man. ”

“ The American railway company was bought out at the enormous price of $25,500,000, and in the course of the next eight years a large part of the work required for a tide-level canal was well executed on sound lines by the genius of the French, who are excelled by none in the arts of the civil engineer. The exact proportion which the French work bears to that since accomplished by the American Government will be shown later. The engineers now on the Isthmus are full of praise for the work of the French engineers, and their wonder daily grows both at its quantity and its ingenuity. ”

“ Constantly shunted from one track to another, and occasionally having to retreat, much ingenuity is required to thread a way among the spoil-trains, but even the almost invaluable time of the Superintendent himself is sacrificed rather than any delay should occur to the "dirt" train, as it is usually called. It is this dirt which stands between the American nation and the realisation of their long cherished scheme, and nowhere is the classical definition of dirt as "matter in the wrong place" so appropriate as on the Isthmus. ”

“ To this short, sharp, and most deadly disease the native-born is immune; hence the affairs of the city of Panama have gone on well enough for centuries, as far as the residents are concerned, except that travellers by the Isthmian route tarried no longer than they could help. Whenever large numbers of strangers have congregated on the Isthmus, as during the Californian gold-rush, the construction of the railway, and the Canal construction of the French Companies, there has been an epidemic of yellow fever among them, and a very large proportion of cases have terminated fatally. ”

“ No one who cares to know the greater things which are shaping the world can now afford to be ignorant of what is happening on the Isthmus of Panama. In the former days of unstable companies the student of affairs might decline to occupy himself in the study of an undertaking of which the fruition was doubtful. Now, however, that [Pg 19] the Government of a great nation have put their hands to the plough the furrow will be driven through. The United States have acquired complete ownership and control of the Canal and of a strip of land five miles wide on either side, called the Canal Zone. ”

“ In dealing with the shortening of sea routes it was shown that the greatest reduction was that between the two coasts of North America, but even so the sea route remains longer than that by land, so that the question of commercial advantage is not settled by a mere statement of sea distances, and the indisputable and undiluted advantages of the Canal route for the Atlantic and Gulf [Pg 165] ports of North America are those of commerce with the Pacific coast of South America, with New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Northern China, Manchuria, and Eastern Siberia. ”

“ Life on the Isthmus, and on the Future of the White Man in the Tropics.
The Canal Zone now being healthy, the life of the Americans is a cheerful as well as a busy one. The climate, to which the local diseases used to be attributed, is not by any means wholly bad. There are really two climates, that of the Atlantic seaboard and that of the Pacific side. Colon is somewhat trying on account of the humidity, but a healthy trade-wind blows. The town of Panama, though receiving much less rain, is also somewhat humid, owing to there being less breeze. ”

“ With respect to the other officers of engineers, the significance of the appointments lies not in their being military men, but in their being permanent Government servants. The Government of the United States, unlike that of his Britannic Majesty, does not possess a large Civil Service whose members remain in the public employment through all changes of political parties. In the absence of any considerable body corresponding, for instance, to our Indian Civil Service, the Government of the United States frequently relies upon the Corps of Engineers for the supervision of great public works. ”

“ As I gazed into the deep trench below, the thought flashed across my mind, "If my life be spared a few years longer, I will sail through this on a ship."
The reason of the great change was readily apparent: organisation had now been perfected. In the first place, the whole width of the cut was laid down in railway tracks, tier above tier at the different levels, so that the view was like the approach to the metropolitan terminus of one of the world's [Pg 88] great railways. ”

“ Thus the works taken over by the United States in 1904 were available for any type of canal, and the decision to adopt the 85-foot-level was not taken until 1906. Even now, or in April, 1908, at the time of my visit, when so much work has been done upon the locks, many of the rank and file of the employees still cherish the hope of a tide-level canal, and there are not wanting well-informed people, both on the Isthmus and in the States, who, while accepting the high-level scheme as inevitable, regard a tide-level canal as essentially a better thing. ”

“ Among West Indian ports affected by the Canal, Kingston, Jamaica, must be particularly mentioned. Now situate at the entrance of a cul de sac, it will then be placed in a position of much greater centrality for the world's commerce, and astride the route from Colon to the North American Atlantic ports. Thus the importance of Jamaica as a constituent of the British Empire will be enhanced. May the opening of the Canal increase the prosperity of our fellow subjects who have suffered so greatly from hurricane and earthquake! ”

“ In those parts of tropical Asia already peopled by industrious Orientals there can never be a white peasantry. Equatorial Africa presents great differences in different parts with respect to native population, and the question of a possible future for white peasantry is there a complicated one. In South America, however, there are vast equatorial regions either wholly unpeopled, or sparsely inhabited by tribes of that Indian stock which has elsewhere proved so slight an impediment to the establishment of the white labourer. ”

“ It needs no prophet to foresee interesting commercial developments in a region where the alternative routes and alternative sources of manufacturing supply offer almost equal allurements.
I must also draw attention to the position of New Orleans and other ports on the Gulf of Mexico in relation to the Canal. At present New Orleans by sea is further than New York from Valparaiso and San Francisco, Yokohama and Shanghai, but it is 581 miles nearer to Colon. Hence, when the Panama Canal is open it will be 581 miles nearer than New York to those ports, and to Sydney, Melbourne, and Wellington. ”

“ The handling of a gang of negroes from the tropics is an art which has had to be learnt.
The Barbadians are reported to be, generally speaking, the best of the West Indian workmen, except the men from some of the [Pg 105] country districts of Jamaica, who are their equals. Although the climate and products of the Isthmus are so similar to those of their own islands, comparatively few of these employees settle there, but return to the homes they love so well. ”

“ The Republic of Panama provides the cities with police, who are Panamanians. The police force of the Isthmian Canal Commission (Department of Civil Administration) numbers 200, of whom 88 are the West Indians already mentioned and the remainder white Americans. The force is numerically small, but the power to deport all undesirable persons is of great assistance. Moreover, as the Zone is practically inaccessible except from the [Pg 118] ports of Colon and Panama, a fairly complete watch can be kept on all entries. ”

“ This was near the end of the dry season. When the rains commence a greater number of mosquitoes must be expected.
Natives of the Isthmus and the West Indies are not immune from malaria, and in [Pg 137] 1904-5 about one-half of the inhabitants who were examined proved to have the parasite of malaria in their blood. As the anopheles becomes infectious through biting a malarious man, it is evident that such a dissemination of the parasite throughout the blood of the human population renders mosquitoes especially dangerous. ”

“ Moreover, each man's job on the Isthmus is part of a vast undertaking, the progress of which he can watch, which fires his enthusiasm, and makes him feel that he has a reward beyond his wage in the privilege of participating in national achievement. ”

“ A tidal lock being added to regulate the ebb and flow at Panama (for the Atlantic side is tideless) , the canal would be complete.
But as things actually are, the rainfall on the Isthmus is very heavy, particularly on the Atlantic side, where it reaches 140 inches [5] per annum, and the rivers have at all times considerable bodies of water, and during the rainy season (commencing in May) are subject to sudden and violent freshets. The Chagres at Gamboa has been known to rise 35-1/2 feet in 24 hours. ”

“ The capability of the dam to maintain the waters of the lake at a sufficient level in the dry season depends upon their not finding a ready way either through the dam itself or below it. The construction of the dam is believed to guarantee its own practical impermeability. Not only is there a puddled core, but the mud, sand, and rocks of which the principal mass will be composed will be laid down in the manner best calculated to secure compactness. ”

“ We shall presently describe the high-level canal as it is to be, from which it will be seen that it will provide a magnificent waterway, but before concluding the present section I must mention the special point in which it will be inferior to a tide-level canal. This is for purposes of defence. A fortress has to be preserved from capture, but not from damage. The locks, however, must be preserved from serious damage, which demands far more elaborate protection. Such protection, moreover, has to be provided at two positions (Gatun and Milaflores) about 30 miles apart. ”

“ The inability of Colombia to make an effective effort to assert its power on the Isthmus was due to naval weakness in the absence of communication by land. No army could march through the tropical forests which still isolate the Canal Zone from South America, and control at Colon and Panama still depends upon sea power. ”

“ But Colon and Panama, both small cities, are exposed to the disease, as are about seventeen little towns and forty villages for labourers along the line of the Canal. As the flight of anopheles is not more than one hundred, or possibly two hundred yards, the working population can be in great measure protected from their attack by destroying the breeding places for such a distance on either side of the dwelling and working places. ”

“ A low-level transverse can only be found by following up the course of a river, crossing the divide, and following the [Pg 48] course of another river downwards to the other ocean. From the vicinity of Colon, by following up the valley of the River Chagres, we are led in precisely the required direction, i.e., directly towards the Pacific, for nearly two-thirds of the way. The distance from the head of Limon Bay, following the curves of the valley, is 26 miles to this place, Obispo, and for the greater part of the distance the river flows in a broad valley of deep alluvial deposits. ”

“ Supposing a Panama Canal to be open at [Pg 167] the present time, there would be hardly any United States ships to use it, except in transport between home ports from which ships flying foreign flags are debarred. The transport to South America, New Zealand, Australia, Northern China, and Japan would necessarily be almost wholly carried on by ships of other nations, especially British.
The absence of an American merchant marine trading with foreign ports is indeed a circumstance without parallel among other nations engaged in modern manufacture. ”

“ From the bottom of the trench excavated for the puddled core, sheet piling, made of 4-inch timbers, is to be driven down for another 40 feet, so that sheet piling and puddled core together will form an impervious barrier to -80 feet; that is to say, 80 feet below the surface-level of the sea, or about 85 feet below the lowest natural surface of the ground. The puddled core is carried up through the earthen dam to the level of +90, that is to say, 5 feet [Pg 72] above the level of the lake, which is to be 85 feet above sea. ”