Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-01-11

VIII ulQgIeQ annoyance allO dIIlda
in keeping with the treaty relation!
Panamas attainment Of sovereign
those relations always has been the
safeguarding Of the Panama Canal
the vital waterway between the At
lantic and Pacific. Since the minia-
ture Republic of Panama, with
neither army nor navy Of its own, is
utterly incapable of defending either
the Canal or itself, our assumption
Of the task would seem logically to
be as desirable to the Panamanians
as to us.
Panama's Politics Hot
AL that was involved were 10-year
leases on some airbases which we
had constructed during the last war
under treaty obligations to defend
the Canal adequately in wartime
We had put a lot of money into
those bases, were planning to spend
q lot more and were ready to pay a
handsome rental for the privilege
The Panamanian President and his
cabinet were satisfied with the deal
The assent of the Legislature was
almost taken for granted.
But political storm was brewing
A presidential election was in. the
ofing and Panamanian politics are
proverbially hot. The opposition
raised the familiar DOGGY of Yankee
imperialism" spurred on by Com
munist agitators, busy there as else
where in Latin America. Every
source of friction was sedulously
rubbed raw, and a volatile populace
was correspondingly inflamed. In
face of mass demonstrations, the
legislators bowed to the popular
will" and threw the treaty out the
window.
That, in nutshell, is how 1t
happened. But why it happened is
a long and somewhat complex story
Strategy Is Old
Panama owes its very existence
to the fact that it is the shortest
and most feasible route between
the Atlantic and the Pacific. This
was true long before the Canal
The conquering Spaniards quickly
realized this and founded Pa
mama City in 1913, only 26 years
after Columbus discovered the New
World. From Panama on the Pa
cific to the corresponding Atlantic
port now called Colon is only 40
miles. And across that narrow
stretch of isthmus ran q highway
over which passed the interocean
communication and trade of the vast
Spanish American empire. The
rest of the isthmus remained what
it, for the most part, still is today
a tumble of volcanic hills or low
mountains, smothered in dense jun
gle, almost inaccessible and sparsely
Inhabited by Indians and mixed
breeds, ignorant, backward and
scourged with malaria and other
tropical diseases. Virtually all &C
tivity was restricted to the twin
cities and the highway which ran
between them.
AS a major communications link
between vast and distant regions,
Panama tended to be both parasite
cal and cosmopolitan. Its popula-
ton is one of the most heterogene-
GUS on earth, the city elements be-
ing q mixture of whites, Indians,
Negroes and Orientals, in varying
proportion. With the fall of the
Spanish empire in America. Panama
became part Of the Republic of
Colombia. But between Panama
and Colombia there was no land
communication and little mutual
sympathy. Panama's economic i'm
portance increased greatly with the
gold rush to California after 1849
which led to the building Of rail-
road across the isthmus to avoid
the interminable voyage around
Cape Horn. But this prosperity was
exploited by grasping politicians
from Bogota, the distant Colom-
bian capital. Hence, discomfort and
thoughts of secession among the
Panamanians which were later to
bear fruit.
First Canal Work Failed
Meanwhile, the progress of mod
ern engineering made possible the
cutting Of an artificial waterway
across the narrow neck of the
Americas, stimulated by the success
full cutting of the Suez Canal in 1869.
Panama. however, was not the only
canal candidate. There was an al
tentative route across Nicaragua,
some distance to the northward, and
a third possibility still farther north.
across the narrow part of Mexico
known as the Isthnus of Tehuante-
pee. These three routes were much
but the first attempt was
made at Panama by the great
French engineer, De Lesseps. the
creator of the Suez Canal. Having
raised big sum of money and got
. concession from the Colombian
government, De Lesseps started to-
work in 1889. But Panama was not
Suez. The engineering difficulties
were enormous, the climate was
deadly and corruption was rampant.
In a few years the venture was
failure.
The United States had not been
pleased with this European attempt |
to cut canal which our public |
opinion thought should be an Amer
lean enterprise. We were therefore
considering a canal across Nicara-
qua. Failure brought Panama on the
market. By playing of the Mica
raguan alternative. our diplomacy
not the French cornpanv ready tn |