Panama, past and present

Front matter

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CHAPTER I THe BrmceortHe Wortp. .... 1

Panama one of least known countries. Ignorance of Panama. Why so unprogressive and undeveloped. Benefits of Canal. What the war did for Panama. Great resources of country. Fauna and Flora. Advantages of Panama for investments. Size of Panama. Diversity of country. People. Travel in Panama. Lack of roads. Lack of accommodations in interior.

ae Psa on ene Past eo dd

Brief history of Panama. Columbus and his settlements. The Golden Castle. Duchy of Veraguas. Nicuesa. Enciso and Balboa. Discovery of Pacific. Pedrarias the Cruel. Sufferings and hardships. Early settlements. Founding of Old Panama. Explorations and conquests. Hostile Indians. First ideas for canal. Extermination of Indians. African slaves. Sir Francis Drake. Fortifications of Porto Bello. Pirates’ attacks. Survey for canal by Spain. Prosperity and wealth. Morgan’s attacks. Loot of Panama. British attempts to colonize.

III Tue DawnoraNew Era. .... 37

Barren years. Dreams of liberty. Freedom proclaimed. Union with Colombia. Argonauts of ’49. Panama Railway. The French Canal Company. Collapse of French scheme. Independence of Panama. Treaty with United States. Why Canal became a possibility. Sanitation by Americans. A dream fulfilled.

IV PanAMA OF THE PRESENT. ... . 53 Panama and the Canal Zone. Government. Limits of Zone. Leased lands. Peculiarities of Panama. Points of the compass. A confusing country. Law

Table Of Contents

OHAPTER PAGE and order. Cosmopolitan people. Panamanians. Character of people. Progressive element. Peons and their shortcomings. Need of roads. Interior towns. Fascinating spots.

V ‘Tue Front Door to tHe IstHMus. . 69

First sight of Isthmus. Arriving at Cristobal. Colon and Cristobal. First impressions. Colon in the making. A childish quarrel. Colon of the past. Colon of to-day. Streets and street scenes. Shops and life. Shopping. Buildings. Santurce. Cristobal. Sights and scenes in Cristobal. Life on the Zone. A benificent despotism.

Chapter III

Barren years. Dreams of liberty. Freedom proclaimed. Union with Colombia. Argonauts of ’49. Panama Railway. The French Canal Company. Collapse of French scheme. Independence of Panama. Treaty with United States. Why Canal became a posssibility. Sanitation by Americans. A dream fulfilled.

By this time, conditions in Panama were very bad for several reasons. First, there were the constant raids of the buccaneers on the Atlantic coast, then the cimmaroons and native Indians were constantly revolting and destroying settlements and property, as well as lives, while, to make matters even worse, commercial operations had practically ceased as Spain no longer used the Bridge of the World as her golden highway.

Thus matters went from bad to worse. The vast herds of cattle which grazed upon the open prairies of Cocle, Veraguas and Los Santos were driven off or killed by revolting slaves and Indians or were scattered far and wide when the ranches were burned and their owners mas- 37 sacred. The mines, formerly so rich, were either abandoned, owing to the impossibility of retaining slave labor or through the attacks of Indians who murdered all within reach and destroyed the shafts and works. Outlying farms and plantations could not be worked and Spain, grown decadent, could offer no help nor encouragement and the overbearing Spanish officials became tyrannical despots.

Then, with the first ery of liberty given in Quito in 1809, ideas of freedom and independence surged through Panama; but still the Isthmus remained faithful to the Crown and proved a most convenient spot for provisioning and outfitting the troops dispatched by Spain to quell the revolting colonies of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The last of these expeditions to leave the Isthmus,—and the only one which had any real bearing upon the future of Panama,—departed for Ecuador on Oct. 22nd, 1821 under command of Captain General Juan de la Cruz Murgeon. Before leaving, General Murgeon placed a distinguished Panamanian ‘in charge of the Isthmus. This man, who had formerly been Governor of Veraguas Province, was Colonel José de Fabrega and his promotion, at the time

THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA 39 when Spain’s cause in America appeared hopeless, raised the highest hopes of independence in the hearts of the Panamanians. So successful were the leaders of the secession in inducing the Spanish garrisons to desert that on November 13th, 1821 liberty was proclaimed in Los Santos and soon afterwards in Pese and Nata.

By the end of November, desertions had reached such a point that the force of loyal troops in the capital had been reduced to those in charge of the jails and when, on the night of Nov. 27th, sixty soldiers deserted their posts in a body carrying their arms with them, the Spanish officers became alarmed and placed the few remaining soldiers at the most strategic spots about the city.

Despite this the people invaded the Plaza Central and, without violence or bloodshed, demanded that the Municipal Council should meet and decide the fate of the Isthmus, with the result, that the Governor, the Captain General, the Bishop, the representatives of the various Provinces and a number of prominent civil and military authorities met and decided that Panama should be freed of Spanish rule and should join Colombia with Colonel Fabrega in supreme command of the country. Thus Panama was the only one of Spain’s colonies to secure independence without serious blood- - shed.

As Panama had voluntarily joined with Greater Colombia, the government of the latter appointed a Venezuelan, Jose Maria Carreno, to take charge, Fabrega at his own request being transferred to his old post as governor of Veraguas. On his arrival, Carreno put into effect the Constitution of Colombia and also organized a body of 1700 infantry and with these he left to codperate with the forces fighting for liberty in Peru, Colombia and Veneguela.

Owing to the anarchistic and unsettled condition of Colombia, the Panamanians decided to withdraw from the Colombia federation and to join their state with Venezuela and Eeuador, thus being protected by the European powers which had recognized these countries. With this object in view, a meeting of the leading citizens was called on September 26th, 1831 at which Panama was declared independent of Colombia and Simon Bolivar was called upon to aid in the union of a greater Colombia.

Under this new order of things General Jose

Domingo Espinar, the military commandant, assumed control and the movement was enthusiastically received through the Province of Panama, but was opposed in Veraguas, where Fabrega was not in favor of the move and, as Bolivar advised against it, the Isthmus was once more incorporated with Colombia by the decree of December 11th, 1831.

For the next sixteen years nothing of erent importance transpired to disturb the tranquility of the Isthmus but, at the close of the Mexican War, Panama suddenly sprang into world-wide prominence and reaped such a harvest of gold and prosperity as it had not seen since the famous days of the old Gold Road and the plate-laden galleons.

With the discovery of gold in California, hundreds of the Argonauts chose the Panama route in preference to the tedious, but scarcely more dangerous, way across the plains and the Rockies. Following in the footsteps of Morgan and his buccaneers, the gold seekers made their way up the Chagres to Cruces and hence by mule or afoot to Panama. Absolutely lacking in sanitation, Panama was then a veritable pest hole of disease; the towns on the Chagres and the rough camps and settlements which sprang up were reeking with filth and the deadly Chagres fever was carried everywhere by the swarming mosquitoes. Vile liquor and viler women added their quota to the hell hole of the Isthmus and Panama became a synonym for all that was deadly, disease ridden and to be shunned. The wonder is that any of the goldcrazed men ever lived to reach their destination, not that so many died, and the irony of it was, that in their one blind endeavor to reach the new Eldorado of California, they passed all unheeding through a land where every stream carries gold and which once was the greatest gold producing country in the world.

But to Panama the Argonauts were a treasure trove; immense stocks of merchandise filled the shops and stores; prices soared to unheard of heights; money flowed like water and undreamed of prosperity set in. Moreover, as it was very dangerous to transport gold across the, continent, and as the costs of freighting supplies by ox cart or pack train from east to west was tremendous, commerce once more flowed back and forth across the Isthmus; ships once more filled its harbors and then, to accommodate the fast increasing traffic, the Panama Railway was begun in May, 1850 and completed on January 27th, 1855 at a cost of nearly eight millions, and the Bridge of the World became a world’s highway in truth.

Although Panama thought the pinnacle of prosperity and affluence had been reached with the building of the railroad and the immense increase in interoceanic commerce which followed, yet it was as nothing compared to the boom which fell to the lot of the country when the Frenck commenced the task of severing the Isthmus by a ship canal. As mentioned in a previous chapter, the idea of a trans-isthmian canal was broached soon after the country was settled by the Spaniards, in 1534 in fact, but that, and a later scheme in 1616, were abandoned for several reasons. The church opposed it on the ground that it would be sacrilegious to connect oceans separated by God; the cost was too great to be borne by the treasury of Spain, while finally, and possibly most important of all, the Spaniards feared that a canal across the Isthmus would be of greater benefit to their foes than to themselves.

The first survey in 1534 was over very nearly the same route followed by the French, and later by the Americans, the idea being to utilize the Chagres River to Cruces and then cut through to the Rio Grande. But the survey of 1616 was over the old Darien route followed by Balboa, and, in many ways, this was preferable to the other. In fact, both the French and American engineers looked into the possibilities of this route and not a few engineers claim that it would have been cheaper and better in the end than the one adopted.

‘After more than two centuries the project of a canal across the Isthmus was again broached in 1838 when a concession was granted to a French company and Napoleon Garella was sent to make a report. Although he reported favorably yet the concession was allowed to lapse owing to lack of capital. Then, in 1878, the Universal Interoceanic Canal was organized and ineorporated by Ferdinand de Lesseps who convened a congress called the ‘‘ International Congress of Surveys for an Interoceanic Canal.’’ This committee, which met in Paris in 1879 decided upon a sea level canal to be completed in . twelve years at a cost of $240,000,000.

Almost immediately, a large slice of the limited capital was used in purchasing a controlling interest in the stock of the Panama Railway, for the excessive sum of over $18,000,000. During the next two years over $60,000,000.

were used in surveys and preliminary work and little accomplished, for De Lesseps, who had successfully built the Suez Canal, would listen to nothing but a sea-level canal for the Isthmus. By 1887 not a stroke of actual construction work had been done and by then the French had become convinced that it was impossible to complete their original plans with the funds at their disposal. As a result, the sea-level idea was abandoned in favor of a canal with locks, which would raise the summit level above the flood level of the Chagres and which would be supplied with water by pumping. With this new plan in view, actual excavation work was commenced in 1888, but, a year later, the company went into bankruptcy. Although over $260,000,000. had been expended and only 66,700,000 cubic yards had been excavated, nevertheless, a new company was formed in 1894 and work was resumed in 1895; but through mismanagement, waste, inefliciency, lack of adequate funds and, most of all, owing to the enormous fatality among the men from fever and other diseases, the French gave up in despair, leaving vast amounts of supplies, machinery and equipment to rust and corrode and to be overgrown with the jungle.

It was then that negotiations were begun with the governments of the United States and Colombia with a view to disposing of the French concessions to the United States and the Herran-Hay treaty was drawn up by which Colombia was to authorize the French company to dispose of its rights and properties to the United States, and giving the latter the sole right to construct and operate the canal for a term of 100 years,—which might be renewed,— and at the same time ceding a zone three miles wide on each side of the canal, but excluding the cities of Panama and Colon.

‘(Although satisfactory to both the French and the Americans, yet this treaty met with great opposition in Colombia and was rejected by the Colombian congress on August 12th, 19038, despite declarations by the Panamanian representatives, Jose Domingo de Obaldia and Dr. Louis de Roux, who stated that if the treaty were thrown out Panama might revolt and establish an independent government in order to make the canal possible.

A few days after the rejection of the treaty, Obaldia, who had been appointed governor of Panama, returned to his native land and with his friends of the independent party at once proceeded to open secret negotiations with Washington, with the idea of obtaining assurances that, in case the independence of Panama were declared, the United States would recognize it. As an inducement, the Panamanians pledged themselves to sign a -treaty similar to the Herran-Hay and, to carry out these negotiations, Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero was dispatched to the United States. Accomplishing his mission with the greatest success, and being assured.that Uncle Sam would stand behind their secession, the Panamanians appointed a Committee of Independence with Guerrero at its head and at once obtained the cooperation of the liberal party and the services of General Esteban Huertas, who was then chief of the Colombian troops in Panama. Headed by the liberal leader, General Domingo Diaz, the leading citizens met in Santa Ana Plaza on the afternoon of Nov. 3rd, 1903 and marched to the Chiriqui barracks where General Huertas had already imprisoned two Colombian generals, Juan B. Tobar and Ramon C. Amaya, who had been dispatched from Colombia at the head of a battalion with orders to replace General Huertas. Unfortunately for them, they had traveled across from Colon alone, leaving their troops behind owing to the difficulty of transportation and had thus fallen easily into the hands of the revolutionists.

‘On the evening of the same day, the council issued an Act of Independence and appointed Jose Agustin Arango, Federico Boyd and Tomas Arias as a Governing Committee to provisionally rule the new republic.

Thus it was practically a bloodless revolution, - although there was some fighting in the outlying districts, and on January 15th, 1904 Dr. Guerrero was appointed President of the Republic and assumed his duties on Feb. 20th.

Meanwhile, on November 18th, 1903 the Canal treaty between Panama and the United States had been signed and on May 4th, 1904 active work commenced on this greatest of engineering feats.

Thus, in less than a year from the time when Colombia rejected the Herran-Hay treaty, the Panamanians had won their independence, had negotiated the Canal treaty and actually had seen the great work commenced,—truly no one could accuse them of the ‘‘mafana’’ habit in this instance!

Although the Panamanians were quite alive to the benefits, both financial and otherwise,

THE DAWN OF ANEW ERA 49 which would accrue to them by the building of the Canal, yet.it is doubtful if they, or any one else, realized the extent of such benefits or the far reaching effects of the Canal and their agreement with Uncle Sam, and it is certain that they did not realize how much they were giving on their part nor to what extent the treaty bound them hand and foot.

No doubt exists that, on the whole, Panama has gained by the Canal, but it is at times a bit galling to find oneself compelled to swallow pride and self-respect for one’s own good. This is the case with Panama, for while the ten million dollars paid by the United States for its privileges was welcome to the newborn republic; while the tremendous commerce and undreamed of prosperity which it brought have been a Godsend to the people; while the sanitation and sanitary laws have resulted in incalculable benefits and while the presence of the Americans and American forces have protected Panama from internal strife and foreign aggression, yet her sovereignty has’ become little more than a name, her freedom of action has been sadly curtailed; there have been many abuses and unfair discriminations; she has been compelled to submit to many petty annoyances and to the will of a great power and, among many of the more intelligent people, there is a feeling that Panama got the worst of the bargain. ;

On the other hand, had it not been for the Canal and the Americans it is doubtful if the Panamanians could have won their freedom,— at least without a long and bloody war,—and, _ had it been won, the Republic would have been unsettled, insecure and in dire financial straits, so that even if Panama did sell its birthright for a mess of pottage, as some Panamanians think, still that birthright without the pottage would have been of little value.

Much credit has been given to the Americans for carrying out the tremendous project at which the French had so signally failed, and while great credit is due them, yet it must not be forgotten that without the aid of the Panamanians the Canal would have been an impossibility at the time it was built.

So too, we should not forget the humble West Indian negroes, the thousands of dark-skinned laborers who toiled and strove and did the menial work and without whom our engineers, our wealth, our marvelous machinery, our vast resources, would have been of no avail.

And, strange as it may seem, the really important factor in the success of the herculean task,—the true, fundamental reason for our achievement, was one of the lowest forms of animal life.—a microscopic protozoan parasite of a certain species of mosquito!

For centuries the Isthmus had been a pest hole of death and disease, a hot bed of pernicious malaria, a veritable white man’s grave.

In the construction of the Panama Railway the toll of human life was so great that it has been said (with little exaggeration) that a life was sacrificed for every tie laid. During the French efforts the death rate was even higher and, if one cares to see a startling illustration of the mortality of those days, one should visit the cemetery at Mount Hope where, in endless rows stretching far into the distance, close packed together and covering acres of ground, are the tiny, white crosses marking the resting places of those thousands sacrificed to the relentless greed of commerce.

But when the Americans took charge all this was changed. Scientists had learned of the source of malaria and yellow fever; their microscopic studies of the protozoan parasite of the mosquito had reached the stage where practical measures could be employed to destroy the insect germ carriers and stamp out the fevers, and the first things done were to clean up Panama and Colon; drain swamps and bogs; cover the stagnant waters with oil to destroy mosquito larve and prevent the insects from breeding.

And so successful were these methods, so thoroughly was sanitation carried out, that the _ Isthmian towns and the Zone were transformed as if by magic from pest holes to the most healthful spots in the tropics.

Chapter IV Panama Of The Present

Panama and the Canal Zone. Government. Limits of Zone. Leased lands. Peculiarities of Panama. Points of the compass. A confusing country. Law and order. Cosmopolitan people. Panamanians. Character of people. Progressive element. Peons and their shortcomings. Need of roads. Interior towns. Fascinating spots.

One of the most perplexing puzzles to many visitors to Panama is the question of what is Panama and what is Canal Zone. Many people have an idea that the Americans control the entire Isthmus; others believe that only the Canal itself is under the United States Government; others cannot understand that Panama is a sovereign state with its own government and still others think that the cities of Panama and Colon are in the Zone.

The Republic of Panama is composed of eight provinces or states known as Panama, Colon, Coclé, Los Santos, Herrera, Veraguas, Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro, each province having its own governor and provincial officials and the whole being governed by the President 53 with his cabinet and the National Assembly (composed of delegates from the various provinces) in Panama City, the capital of the republic.

The American territory consists only of the Canal Zone,—a strip of land ten miles in width (five miles on either side of the Canal) across the Isthmus and passing through the provinces of Panama and Colon. Normally this area would include the cities of Panama and Colon, but special provisions were made in the treaty excepting these cities and a narrow strip of land, from the Zone in order that the cities might remain on Panamanian territory, and that their inhabitants might have ingress and egress without the necessity of passing through Zone territory.

Moreover, the Canal Zone does not belong to the United States, but is merely leased and under American control, being governed by a military governor appointed by the President of the United States.

Another cause of confusion arises from the fact that while the original treaty provided for the ten mile strip, a later treaty was entered into by which the United States was granted control of all land bordering the Zone up to

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Vee SG orTanAdaye the 100 foot level above the sea. This was done in order that the Zone authorities might control the sanitation on the borders of Gatun Lake and its tributary streams and also to provide for an increase in the size and height of the Lake should the necessity ever arise. As a result, the present boundaries of the Zone, along the 100 feet contour line, greatly exceed the five mile limit on either side. Between the limits of this contour line and the original boundaries the Zone government has certain limited powers. .

In addition to all this, there were certain lands which were leased to the Panama Railway long before the Canal was projected and when, later, the railway was taken over by the United States, these properties came with it, but are not under the control or government of the Zone or the United States.

Thus, the Washington Hotel in Colon is maintained and operated by the government through the Commissary Department of the Panama Railway, but the land whereon it stands is Panamanian territory leased to the railway and not subject to United States control, laws or rules.

This will be better understood by referring to the accompanying maps and the intending visitor to the Isthmus will do well to thoroughly familiarize himself with the matter for, witha .- bone-dry Zone and a decidedly wet Panama, one is likely to get into serious difficulties if not thoroughly conversant with the boundaries of the two.

For example, although liquor cannot be sold by the Washington Hotel,—it being a United States Government hotel,—yet, as it is in Panamanian territory and not subject to American laws, guests are at liberty to have their liquor in the hotel, to have it served in the dining room and even to have it kept in the hotel ice box until needed. But because this is so, it must not be assumed that the rule holds good at the other end of the Canal at the Hotel Tivoli, for this is a United States Government hotel on Canal Zone territory and woe to the innocent guest who attempts to possess or use liquors within its precints.

Although the youngest and one of the smallest of American republics, yet Panama is an extremely interesting and a tremendously rich country and, moreover, it has the distinction of possessing many unique features. It is the narrowest barrier between the two great oceans;

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-~ it is the connecting link between the two Americas and it is the only spot in the world where one may see the sun rise from the Pacific and set in the Atlantic.

While our geographies taught us that the Isthmus does not extend north and south, and while we have been told many times that the Canal does not run east and west, and even though we may have learned that Colon on the Atlantic coast is further west than Panama on the Pacific, yet the visitor to Panama invariably finds his sense of direction at a loss and becomes terribly twisted and confused as to the points of the compass.

Somehow, north and east never seem to be in the right place. One looks out from Colon upon the Caribbean and expects to see the sun rising in the morning and instead, sees it set there at night. One sees ships, bound for New York, headed in a direction which one feels” should carry them to the coast of Colombia and it comes as a distinct shock to discover that Isthmian time and New York time are the same and that Panama is as far east as Buffalo or Toronto. In sailing from the Pacific terminus of the Canal for the Pacific ports of South America the vessel heads more west than south while, if bound for Cartagena, one re more to the north than the east.

It is even worse in the interior and the traveler feels that he must be taking leave of his senses when he sees the sun rising in gorgeous splendor above the serrated tips of the Cordilleras and when, a little later, he gains the coast and gazes at the moon lifting slowly from the Pacific, he feels that this indeed is topsy-turvy land. And almost as confusing and topsy-turvy to a stranger as are the points of the compass, are many of the other characters and features of Panama.

Here is a Latin American republic where revolutions and insurrections are unknown. Here is one of the little countries we are wont to associate with comic operas and fiction magazines, yet wherein peace and order reign and where laws and concessions are as secure and stable as our own. Here is a land of temperamental Latins where elections are held and officials elected without as much graft, and with less turbulent scenes, than in our own United States, and here is a country within a few hundred miles of the equator where it is never as hot as in New York in summer and where the death rate is lower than in most of our cities.

Truly a cosmopolitan country is Panama. Every color, creed and race is here; turbanned Hindus; Chinese, Japanese, Negro and Slav, Spaniard and Greek, Italian and Arab, German and Dane, Dutch and French, English and Egyptian, Turk and Armenian, Syrian and Russians; Stolid Indians and tow-headed Swedes; Americans by thousands and countless others of every imaginable mixture of all.

So numerous are the sons and daughters of other lands that the visitor wonders if there are any real Panamanians and he quite overlooks the fact that the term Panamanian covers a multitude of skins and that he may be white, black, yellow, or brown; he may be from the Orient or the Occident; he may be a slant-eyed Celestial or a kinky-haired negro, a silky-voiced Hindu or a bland-faced Hebrew, for here, on the Bridge of the World, have gathered men from the uttermost ends of the earth to settle down, marry and rear their families and to become citizens of Panama.

But in speaking of Panamanians as such, it is understood that one refers to the natives of Spanish, or mixed blood. And just as it is a veritable melting pot of nations so too it is a true democracy and a really free country. As long as the stranger within the bounds of Panama obeys its laws, minds his own business and does not disturb the peace he is at liberty to. ply his trade, go his way, live his life and manage his affairs as he sees fit without interference, molestation or discrimination.

The lowliest peon may become president (as has been done), the humblest tradesman may rise to the highest position, for no line is drawn at creed, color or station in life.

All too often, the American looks down upon the Panamanian, speaks contemptuously of him as a ‘‘Spigotty’’ or ‘‘Spig’’ and openly loathes and despises him. Of course the Panamanian has his faults and his shortcomings, as does every race, but because he is not of our blood, because his moral code is not ours, because he shows his common sense and his concessions to the tropics by taking life easily and never hurrying, is no excuse for condemning him outright.