Colón, Panama

“ Colón has one piece of architecture, viz., a church, a more or less Protestant one, the Church of England. There is nothing else like it in Colón, which is a city of saloons, not of churches. It stands alone and lonely on the seashore across the street from the Washington Hotel annex or wing, and is thus as far away from the bad people in the town as possible. The congregation is made up largely of Jamaica negroes. I do not remember seeing any other churches in this town, nor any church ruins, although ecclesiastically considered, the whole town was a ruin. ”

“ There is every reason to believe that at Balboa particularly the shipping interests will create a large and prosperous town, while already the cities of Panama and Colon, geographically part of the Zone, though politically independent, have a population of at least 60,000. ”

“ But I will say this: that unless one has business in Panama he may readily discover a more desirable location for a residence.
We soon returned to the wreck, which we preferred to the towns of the isthmus, and there amused ourselves until the Carmenia arrived at Colon. Then her captain, an active and energetic young man named Colton, took charge of the remains of the Gladys H. He had received orders to remove the cargo, strip the wreck of all valuables and then abandon her where she lay. ”

“ Every morning a heavy trainload of provisions leaves Colon, dropping its freight as it passes the various labor settlements. In numerous eating-houses meals are provided at very moderate charges, and at Panama and Colon large, up-to-date hotels are maintained by the American Government. These are used very extensively by the Canal staff, and give periodic dances, which are crowded with young people. The vagaries of the one-step are sternly barred by a puritan committee, and, to one who expects surprises, the style of dancing is disappointingly monotonous. ”

“ Across the tree-tops of the flat jungle, also seeming close at hand though the railroad takes seven miles—and thirty-five cents if you are no employee—to reach it, was Colon, the tops of whose low buildings were plainly visible above the vegetation. Not many "Zoners," I reflected, catch their first view of Colon from the veranda of the Administration Building at Gatun. ”

“ There is no more line of demarkation between Cristobal and Colon than between Ancon and Panama. A khaki-clad Zone policeman patrols one sidewalk, a black one in the sweltering dark blue uniform and heavy wintry helmet of the Republic of Panama lounges on the other side of a certain street; on one side are the "enumerated" tags of the census, on the other none. Cross the street and you feel at once a foreigner. It is distinctly unlawful to sell liquor on Sunday or to gamble at any time on the Canal Zone ”

“ Representatives of strong interests on the Isthmus of Panama, who make their headquarters in this city, are considering a plan of action to be undertaken in co-operation with men of similar views in Panama and Colon to bring about a revolution and form an independent government in Panama opposed to that in Bogota. ”

“ It possesses a fine fire fighting force, a Y. M. C. A. club, a commissary hotel, and along [34] the water front of Colon proper are the hospital buildings erected by the French but still maintained. Many of the edifices extend out over the water and the constant breeze ever blowing through their wide netted balconies would seem to be the most efficient of allies in the fight against disease. One finds less distinct separation between the native and the American towns at this end of the railroad than at Panama-Ancon. ”

“ Morally, the Canal Zone is as clean as any place on earth. The improvement of moral conditions in Colon and Panama has done much to make the lives of Americans wholesome and to decrease the dangers to childhood that have existed in the past. There will always be Americans on the Canal Zone, and a few of them will exercise the great American prerogative of speaking their minds, but most of them will be better off here than at any other time in their lives. ”

“ Colon is yet a little town, mostly West Indian to-day, but already the Cristobal [Pg 241] docks are piled high with South American products awaiting reshipment. The proposed establishment of a free port at Colon may yet result in a western Hongkong where the commerce of the seven seas comes together to be distributed to the five continents. Whatever might have been the results had there been no war, it is now sure that everything that happens in South America has henceforth a very definite significance for the United States. ”

“ A saloon, a Chinese shop selling dry goods and curios, a kodak shop with curios, a saloon, a lottery agency, another saloon, a money-changer’s booth, another saloon and so on for what seems about the hottest and smelliest half mile one ever walked. There is no “other side” to the street, for there run the tracks of the Panama railroad, beyond them the bay, and further along lies the American town of Cristobal where there are no stores, but only the residences and work shops of Canal workers. Between Cristobal and tinder box Colon is a wide space kept clear of houses as a fire guard. ”

“ When one considers that the Republic of Panama is made up largely of the cities of Panama and Colon, with a large area of almost wholly undeveloped territory, it will be seen that this service was rendered to practically all the people of the Republic. ”

“ The most attractive parts are the American quarter, where the employés of the Panama railway have their homes, and the old French quarter, where dwelt the French officers during their efforts to build the canal. In this last district, near the mouth of the old canal, stands a fine statue of Christopher Columbus, the gift of the empress Eugénie in 1870. Here also stands the mansion erected and occupied by Ferdinand de Lesseps during his residence on the isthmus. With the exception of railway shops, there are no important industrial establishments. ”

“ Many travelers will doubtless leave their ships at the Atlantic side, make a hasty drive about Colon—it really can be seen in an hour—and then go by rail to Panama, anticipating the arrival of their ship there by seven hours and getting some idea of the country en route. Visitors with more time to spare will find one of the short drives that is worth while a trip to the cemetery of Mount Hope where from the very beginning of the town those who fell in the long battle with nature have been laid to rest. ”

“ Uncle Naboth and I ran up to Colon, and not liking that city took a train across the isthmus to Panama, which we liked no better. The half-caste Spaniards and natives are a miserable lot, and do not compare either in intelligence or dignity with the isolated tribes of the San Blas. Some day, however, when the great canal is built, Americans will invade these parts in such numbers that the present population will disappear. ”

“ This says that the United States guarantees and will maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama.
In its political relations the Spanish term may be adopted, and the Republic may be said to be “in function” within the sphere of the United States. I omit particulars of the governmental system in order to examine the industrial resources and prospects. Details of administration are unnecessary, because the authority exercised by the American officials in the Canal Zone, and the supervising power over sanitation in Colon and Panama, take the subject out of its local limitations. ”

“ These twenty district hospitals, by means of hospital trains, fed two base hospitals, situated respectively at the northern and southern end of the Canal, Colon and Panama. The one at the southern end was much our largest hospital, containing at its maximum about fifteen hundred beds.
The city of Panama is situated on a peninsula, stretching into the bay of Panama. Just north of the city rises Ancon mountain, some six hundred and fifty feet in height. This mountain is [Pg 224] only accessible to a pedestrian; the trail is too rough and precipitous for horse or mule. ”

“ Bocas del Toro is the chief seaport town of Panama after Colón and the City of Panama, if not before, and is the center of the banana shipping business of the republic. It is situated in the Almirante Bay, which is the northern end of the Chiriqui Lagoon, but is completely separated from the main lagoon by islands and reefs between which small boats only can pass. ”

“ 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. ”

“ How could it be otherwise when a whole family lives in one room on twenty-five dollars a month with food at New York prices?
That the Jamaicans are a gregarious folk is to be expected. The social instinct is always strong in any people of African descent. Canal Zone bosses complain that their employees prefer to leave the clean and sanitary quarters of the Zone and live in the Guachapali and San Miguel districts of Panama and in Colon, where they are crowded together in a way that would prove fatal to a white man. ”

“ Kunas, descendants of those who helped and guided the buccaneers across the isthmus and were ever the allies of the pirates—or, for that matter, any enemies of the hated Dons.
Wonderful tales are told in Panama and Colon of the wild Kunas, or, as the people call them, “San Blas” Indians, of the forbidden district. It is said that they either kill whoever enters their land, or else slice off the soles of one’s feet and then turn one loose in the jungle; and the Panamanians, as well as the Chokois, are in deadly fear of them. ”

“ They are solid, substantial, and will last for centuries yet; but the natural movement of population, especially in view of the enormous rents demanded in Panama, will be to seek the new city which will grow up as a frame town with elements of stability. Much business is certain to drift to the Canal mouth, some of it in American hands. The mercantile community in the days when Colombia controlled the Isthmus was anything but Colombian. It was West Indian, Italian, Chinese, German, French, American, and English. ”

“ Without sick people to bite, the mosquitos could get no germs to carry, and, contrariwise, without the Stegomyia mosquito, the germs could not be carried from one person to another. Dr. Gorgas and his little army attacked the enemy from both directions at once.
The two great strongholds of the disease were the cities of Panama and Colon. Here the sanitary control which we had obtained by treaty-right was greatly helped by the fortunate fact that the first President of the Republic of Panama was Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero, a well-trained physician and an authority on tropical diseases. ”

“ It would be idle to describe, even to enumerate, all the revolutions which have disquieted the Isthmus since it first joined Colombia in repudiating the Spanish rule. They have been as thick as insects in the jungle. No physical, social or commercial ties bound Panama to Colombia at any time during their long association. ”

“ But in too many of the little countries along the shore of the Caribbean,—the region which a great American statesman has called "the land of the fantastic and the unexpected," men still prefer to vote as their forefathers did, with swords and cannon. Of all these backward countries, the one that has changed least since the days of the conquistadores is Colombia.
Panama was too small a state to stand alone, after it became independent of Spain, and accepted an invitation from Bogotá to put itself under the government there, but quickly found that it had exchanged King Log for King Stork. ”

“ All that can comfort the sick, or cheer and enliven them, has been assembled. Every chamber looks out upon the enchanting scenery. The lovely grounds are beautified by flowers, fruits, and shade trees, and cooled by the breezes of the great Pacific, which breaks upon the shore below. Panama and its lovely bay lie before us, and the verdant islands which gem in it, all lying with a common range of the city and of each other, seem tempting prizes for any maritime power.
During the past forty years, England and the United States have endeavored to purchase one or all of them from Colombia. ”

“ The western half contains at present all the population of the Republic. The eastern half has no population at all, with the exception of a few wild Indians. In Balboa’s time this eastern half was thickly populated, and contained most of the inhabitants. Columbus looked upon Panama as the richest portion of his American discoveries, particularly from a gold-producing standpoint, and the Spaniards generally shared this opinion. ”

“ One of the most interesting places we called at, on account of its position and associations, was Panama. For many a year it slept on neglected and almost forgotten. Now it has been completely aroused from its lethargy, to find itself in the middle of the highway to California, and the chief resting-place of gold-diggers. It is bounded by the sea on three sides, and surrounded by a wall with ditch and bastions on the land side. In the centre is the plaza, into which converge several streets of old-fashioned, sedate-looking Spanish houses, with broad verandas and heavy folding-shutters. ”