The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-28
DISAPPOINTMENT
FOR PANHMAIANS
They Expect Work on Canal TO BEGIN in
Few Days
BY MERRILL A TEAGITE.
Special Correspondent Of the Morning Naus

necessary to go far afield when seeking
justification of the Judgment that the
Republic of Panama stands as a con-
tradiction among nations. The Ameri-
can colonies revolted against England
and set up their independence under
the provocation of lesser grievances
than Panama for years has been charg-
ing up against Colombia; yet Panama
never found cause for rebellion and Sc
cession in Colombian oppression. That
the new republic was born Without the
incentive of patriotism and with no
higher purpose in view that the purely
commercial one of securing the con-
struction of ship canal across the
narrow isthmian strip has already been
shown in this correspondence. Lack of
resentment toward Colombia because of
her oppressive administration, lack of
patriotism and lack of national pur-
pose, political in character, constitute
three striking contradictions that rest
at the very foundation of this new re-
public's existence, and that serves-to
isolate it from other nations that have
won their independence The entire
absence of anything resembling self-re-
lance, and the implicit confidence
shown in the United States, upon which,
the whole republican structure leans abb
solutely for support and maintenance,
is a fourth in the list of strange con-
Predictions discoverable here. There are
others equally striking that may be
traced without, in the smallest way,
iei,
existence-an existence as actual as it
is welcome to the people of the 18TH
mus. These contradictions form a vi
tai chapter in any story which pur-
ports to cover the situation in Panama
in it's various phases and they must be
considered.
In order to get at and present them
properly it may be we'll to start with
the general proposition, anomalous
though it may seem, for the republic
is a fact, that, judging by accepted
standards. the republic of Panama is
nonexistent. The territory known to
the Colombian federation as the De-
partment of Panama, and now en-
braced by the republic, is a long, mar
orally easterly and westerly direction.
1t is about ATS miles long, measured
in a straight line, and varies in width
from about forty-seven miles, between
Colon and Panama, to something more
than 100 miles at it's eastern extrem-
ity and along the eighty-first parallel
of longitude. On the west it is bound
ed by Costa Rica, with which nation
there is a long-standing boundary dis
pute, while on the east the Gulf of Da-
rien. and the Atrato river mark it's sep
aration from the South American
mainland and the great body of the
Colombian republic. The coast line,
considerable more than 1000 miles in
length, is rough and broken. The sur
face of the country is generally noun
famous, although immense swamps
and stretches of treeless upland are
frequent. Except along the coast, the
country is almost entirely uninhabited,
all of the towns and cities of any con-
sequence being located next the sea
or very near to it. In the interior are
bands of Indians, two or three of the
more important tribes of which have
rarely been communicated with. Vast
areas in the extreme eastern and west
ern portion of the country remain
wholly unexplored, and the knowledge
of what the interior holds is most linn
tied. In this territory there are sup
posed to live, including Indians, about
300, 900 persons. No attempt has ever
been made to take a census of the pop
ulation, so the figure named can only
be taken as a more or less accurate
estimate.
People Had No Voice In 1t.
This territory, while it stood in the
Colombian federation as the Depart
ment of Panama, and, therefore, at
the time of the secession, was divided
into seven provinces, viz: Chiriqui,
Los Santos, Varaguas, Panama, Colon,
Bocas del Toro and Cocla. Each of
these provinces was governed by
governor, subordinate to the depart
mental governor. Each had it's coun-
ell, and each was entitled to represen-
tation-by senators and representatives
in the two branches of the Colom-
bian Congress, which sat at Bogota.
1t will be seen from this explanation
that no matter how corrupt inefficient
and oppressive the old order of things
may have been, the fabric of the state
was complete in all of it's details, the
governmental structure having UeeIl
carried down as perfectly in theory as
It is In our own Union. 1t follows from
this, as a natural presumption, that
in the occasional movement all of
these provinces should have had
voice. 1t happens however, that nat
ural as that presumption may be, it
is wholly groundless in this instance.
The natural corollary of the last state
ment is that the republic as it stands
does not represent the people of Pan
ama-speaking now of the entire de-
partment-and such is actually the
case. 1t may represent them in the
sense that the sentiment of all the
people concurs in what has been done;
but it is an indisputable fact that out
side of the city of Panama the people
of the new republic had no voice what
ever in the establishment of the re-
public.
Were Not In the Secret.
In previous letters l have sketched
the story of the secessionist movement.
1t began with three men, and was exc
cuted under the supervision of those
three and four others, the seven work.
ing under the advice and counsel of
four Americans. Before the coup d'etat
others We're perforce, taken into the Sc
cret; but so closely were the plans
guarded that those who were really in
the secret and knew definitely the de-
tails might be counted on the fingers
of the two hands. This brings us to
the revolution itself, and introduces
the strangest of all the contradictions