CONGRESS. (THE ISTHMIAN CAXAL.) 



193 



a provision that the annual budget shall contain 

 a certain large amount in one instance it men- 

 tions $100,000 a year for the purpose of main- 

 taining the Church in that country. 



" Now, I am presenting these facts to the Amer- 

 ican people. 1 -do not care what the Senators 

 think about them, but I know the people will 

 take note of it. I know the people of the United 

 States do not want to go to Colombia under a 

 contract which sustains the majesty and superi- 

 ority of the laws of that state over a canal bill 

 where honorable men, though they may be 

 workmen, may desire to go and conduct their 

 business, or some man may desire to go there 

 and stay for the purpose of maintaining a little 

 shop to make some money for his wife and chil- 

 dren. I know that our people are not going to 

 consent, for the purpose of getting a canal, to 

 pay $40,000,000 for the opportunity of placing 

 themselves beneath the yoke of that concordat. 



" The people will make points upon Senators 

 on either side of this Chamber who undertake to 

 put them and their affairs in that category by 

 an expenditure of $40,000,000 and then deal with 

 a corporation that is denounced by the Liberal 

 party, now in arms and fighting around Panama, 

 as being absolutely and unquestionably violative 

 of the Constitution of Columbia of 1886. 



" That is as far as I care to go, Mr. President, 

 in the presentation of that question. So in the 

 very threshold of this legislation we are met by 

 a company that is denounced by more than half 

 of Colombia as a fraud and an outrage and as a 

 conspirator in favor of the Church party and 

 against liberal government. Whether it is true or 

 not, what difference does it make? It shows the 

 state of feeling there." 



June 19, the House bill was radically amended 

 by the Senate, and then passed by a vote of 67 

 yeas to 6 nays. The House non-concurred, but 

 after conference receded from its disagreement to 

 the Senate amendment. The President approved 

 the measure in the following form June 28, 1902: 



" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 

 Representatives of the United States of America 

 in Congress assembled, That the President of the 

 United States is hereby authorized to acquire, for 

 and on behalf of the United States, at a cost not 

 exceeding $40,000,000, the rights, privileges, fran- 

 chises, concessions, grants of land, right of way, 

 unfinished work, plants, and other property, real, 

 personal, and mixed, of every name and nature, 

 owned by the New Panama Canal Company, of 

 France, on the Isthmus of Panama, and all its 

 maps, plans, drawings, records on the Isthmus 

 of Panama, and in Paris, including all the capi- 

 tal stock, not less, however, than 68,863 shares 

 of the Panama Railroad Company, owned by or 

 held for the use of said canal company, provided 

 a satisfactory title to all of said property can 

 be obtained. 



" SEC. 2. That the President is hereby author- 

 ized to acquire from the Republic of Colombia, 

 for and on behalf of the United States, upon such 

 terms as he may deem reasonable, perpetual con- 

 rol of a strip of land, the territory of the Repiib- 

 ic of Colombia, not less than 6 miles in width, 



tending from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific 

 Ocean, and the right to use and dispose of the 

 waters thereon, and to excavate, construct, and 

 to perpetually maintain, operate, and protect 

 thereon a canal, of such depth and capacity as 

 will afford convenient passage of ships of the 

 greatest tonnage and draft now in use, from the 

 Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, which con- 

 trol shall include the right to perpetually main- 

 tain and operate the Panama Railroad, if the 

 VOL. XLII. 13 A 



iei 



; 

 



ownership thereof, or a controlling interest there- 

 in, shall have been acquired by the United States, 

 and also jurisdiction over said strip .and the 

 ports at the ends thereof to make such police 

 and sanitary rules and regulations as shall be 

 necessary to preserve order and preserve the pub- 

 lic health thereon, and to establish such judicial 

 tribunals as may be agreed upon thereon as may 

 be necessary to enforce such rules and regula- 

 tions. 



" The President may acquire such additional 

 territory and rights from Colombia as in his 

 judgment will facilitate the general purpose 

 hereof. 



" SEC. 3. That when the President shall have 

 arranged to secure a satisfactory title to the 

 property of the New Panama Canal Company, 

 as provided in section 1 hereof, and shall have 

 obtained by treaty control of the necessary terri- 

 tory from the Republic of Colombia, as provided 

 in section 2 hereof, he is authorized to pay for 

 the property of the New Panama Canal Com- 

 pany $40,000,000 and to the Republic of Colom- 

 bia such sum as shall have been agreed upon, 

 and a sum sufficient for both said purposes is 

 hereby appropriated, out of any money in the 

 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be paid 

 on warrant or warrants drawn by the President. 



" The President shall then through the Isth- 

 mian Canal Commission hereinafter authorized 

 cause to be excavated, constructed, and com- 

 pleted, utilizing to that end as far as practicable 

 the work heretofore done by the New Panama Ca- 

 nal Company, of France, and its predecessor com- 

 pany, a ship-canal from the Caribbean Sea to 

 the Pacific Ocean. Such' canal shall be of suffi- 

 cient capacity and depth as shall afford con- 

 venient passage for vessels of the largest ton- 

 nage and greatest draft now in use, and such as 

 may be reasonably anticipated, and shall be sup- 

 plied with all necessary locks and other appli- 

 ances to meet the necessities of vessels passing 

 through the same from ocean to ocean; and he 

 shall also cause to be constructed such safe and 

 commodious harbors at the termini of said canal, 

 and make such provisions for defense as may be 

 necessary for the safety and protection of said 

 canal and harbors. That the President is au- 

 thorized for the purposes aforesaid to employ 

 such persons as he may deem necessary, and to 

 fix their compensation. 



" SEC. 4. That should the President be unable 

 to obtain for the United States a satisfactory 

 title to the property of the New Panama Canal 

 Company and the control of the necessary terri- 

 tory of the Republic of Colombia and the rights 

 mentioned in sections 1 and 2 of this act, within 

 a reasonable time and upon reasonable terms, 

 then the President, having first obtained for the 

 United States perpetual control by treaty of the 

 necessary territory from Costa Rica and Nica- 

 ragua, upon terms which he may consider rea- 

 sonable, for the construction, perpetual main- 

 tenance, operation, and protection of a canal con- 

 necting the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean 

 by what is commonly known as the Nicaragua 

 route, shall through the said Isthmian Canal 

 Commission cause to be excavated and construct- 

 ed a ship-canal and waterway from a point on the 

 shore of the Caribbean Sea near Greytown, by 

 way of Lake Nicaragua, to a point near Brito, 

 on the Pacific Ocean. Said canal shall be of suf- 

 ficient capacity and depth to afford convenient 

 passage for vessels of the largest tonnage and 

 greatest draft now in use, and such as may be 

 reasonably anticipated, and shall be supplied 

 with all necessary locks and other appliances to 



