The San Francisco call., 1904-02-24
TROOPS FOR PANAMA.
InfaRtrymen 10 Relieve the Marines
at Present Stationed There.

al I'EtSIUl Sl1ilOIleu Inefe.
WASHINGTON. Feb 23-Everything
is ready for the speedy consummation
Of the Panama canal treaty, and both
the War and State Departments have
the former by the dispatch of troops to
the isthmus Of Panama and the latter
by the completion of arrangements for
the exchange Of Publications of the
treaty. which must take place in Wash
ington. There is no reason why the
! ceremony should not occur within the
next forty-eight hours. Bunau-V -Varilla,
the Minister from Panama, was at the
State Department to-day in relation to
this matter. and very soon after he has
made the exchange of the treaties he
will lay down his mission, according to
notice he has already given. His sue
/ cessor as Minister here will be Pablo
Arosemena. the present head of the
! constitutional convention and the
! father of the secretary Of the Panama
legation here. Arosemena is described
as a lawyer of ability and a man of
means.
The administration intends to press
the canal project by all proper meth
DDS. AS a Cabinet official expressed it,
the next step after the appointment OF
the commission will be to. scratch
dirt" d" and already such members Of the
/ commission as are assured of theiI
places. like Admiral Walker and Major
General Davis have been giving some
attention to the provision of the cler-
ical force and the engagement Of en-
gineering talent to conduct the actua
work of canal digging.
The War Department to-day. ISSUED
orders for the entire Third Regiment o.
infantry TO proceed to the isthmus Of
Panama.
The regiment will leave at the earliest
possible time on the transports Sum
ner and Mcclellan from New York
The regiment is going to Panama tC
relieve the marines stationed there
The headquarters of the regiment is
at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, where are
stationed Companies c, d, /, K, L anc
NJ. At Fort Sheridan (Chicago) are
stationed Companies A and B, and a
Columbus Barracks Companies E, F
G and H. The regiment will be com
manded by Colonel Woodbury..
The War Department has in the pas
strenuously denied reports that it in
tended to send troops to the isthmus
but it is now explained that the state
ment only applied to conditions as they
existed before the United States ac
ouired vested rights through the acqui
sition of the canal zone by the ratifica
ton Of the canal treaty.
AS the department has not satisfied
itself that this ratification is only {
question of a few hours it has takel
the necessary steps to permanently gar
rison the isthmus. which could not b.
easily done with marines.
The department announces that non
of the families of officers OF enlisted
men Of the Third Infantry would b.
allowed to accompany the regiment
In the future, when permanent bar
= racks and officers quarters are con
structed on modern plans, this restric
: ton may be removed.
The thousand marines now on tn
- isthmus will be taken to Guantanam
as rapidly as their places can be file
Ifby the troops From Guantanamo a
least a part Of this force will be take
4 4 to the Philippines, probably coming t
1 the United States and embarking fron
San Francisco for Manila.
1t is intended that an adequate fore
Of marines shall be kept at Guanta
namo in case Of probable emergencie
d in Central and South America. Espe
e cially is it desired that there shall b
= a sufficient force there for the Govern
; ment to call upon if it should under
, take to execute drastic programm
: in Santo Domingo.