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barrier is insuperable would be to discredit engineering science.

The French companies failed, it is true. Why they failed I have already tried to make clear. But they did not labour in vain. They did a great deal of work, and provided a great deal of material which can now be used in our completion of the canal. Practically all their excavation work can thus be utilised, whether in the great cut at Culebra or on the tidal flats where the canal is already navigable. No less to the purpose is it to observe that much of the machinery taken thither by them, even by the original De Lesseps company, was found by our engineers, on taking possession, still in serviceable condition. There were, of course, some things which could not be used. I doubt if it would have been worth while to furbish up the sectional steamboats which were lying around on the hilltops, and I am quite sure that the consignments of snow-shovels which were received there in the days of De Lesseps will never be needed. But in purchasing the title and plant of the French company we secured something far more than the proverbial “right of way and two streaks of rust." We secured millions of dollars' worth of useful machinery and materials and of work well done.

Under the authority of the Spooner bill, as the law for the construction of the canal was termed, the President went forward with promptness and energy. He waited for nothing but for the canal treaty with Panama to be ratified by our deliberate Senate. He submitted that convention to the Senate on December 7, 1903. It was not ratified until February 23, 1904. Six days later, on February 29, 1904, he appointed an Isthmian Canal Commission of seven members, who were duly confirmed by the Senate on March 3. The Commissioners were John G. Walker, a Rear-Admiral of the United States Navy, on the retired list, who had been at the head of former canal commissions for the purpose of investigation and report; George W. Davis, a Major-General of the United States Army, on the retired list; William B.

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Parsons, an eminent civil engineer, of New York; William H. Burr, Professor of Civil Engineering in Columbia University, New York; Benjamin M. Harrod, formerly City and State Civil Engineer, of New Orleans, Louisiana; Carl E. Grunsky, civil engineer, of San Francisco, California; and Frank T. Hecker, a civil engineer, of Detroit, Michigan. Rear-Admiral Walker was made Chairman of the Commission and General Davis was appointed Governor of the Canal Zone. Dominic I. Murphy, of Washington, D. C., was engaged as Secretary to the Commission, and Charles E. Magoon, an eminent jurist, of Lincoln, Nebraska, as General Counsel.

On May 9, 1904, the President issued these instructions to the Commission:

"Subject to the limitations of law and the conditions herein contained, the Isthmian Canal Commission are authorised and directed: First-To make all needful rules and regulations for the government of the Zone and for the correct administration of the military, civil, and judicial affairs of its possessions until the close of the LVIIIth session of Congress. Second-To establish a civil service for the government of the strip and construction of the canal, appointments to which shall be secured as nearly as practicable by a merit system. Third-To make, or cause to be made, all needful surveys, borings, designs, plans, and specifications of the engineering, hydraulic, and sanitary works required, and to supervise the execution of the same. Fourth -To make, and cause to be executed after due advertisement, all necessary contracts for any and all kinds of engineering and construction works. Fifth-To acquire by purchase or through proper and uniform expropriation proceedings, to be prescribed by the Commission, any private lands or other real property whose ownership by the United States is essential to the excavation and completion of the canal. Sixth-To make all needful rules and regulations respecting an economical and correct disbursement and an accounting for all funds that may be appropriated by Congress for the construction of the canal, its auxiliary works, and the government of the Canal Zone; and to establish a proper and comprehensive system of bookkeeping showing

the state of the work, the expenditures by classes, and the amounts still available. Seventh-To make requisition on the Secretary of War for funds needed from time to time in the proper prosecution of the work, and to designate the disbursing officers authorised to receipt for the

same.

"The inhabitants of the Isthmian Canal Zone are entitled to security in their persons, property, and religion, and in all their private rights and relations. They should be so informed by public announcement. The people should be disturbed as little as possible in their customs and avocations that are in harmony with principles of well ordered and decent living.

"The municipal laws of the Canal Zone are to be administered by the ordinary tribunals substantially as they were before the change. Police magistrates and justices of the peace and other officers discharging duties usually devolving upon these officers of the law will be continued in office if they are suitable persons. The Governor of the Zone, subject to the approval of the Commission, is authorised to appoint temporarily a judge for the Canal Zone, who shall have the authority equivalent to that usually exercised in Latin countries by a judge of a court of first instance; but the Isthmian Canal Commission shall fix his salary and may legislate respecting his powers and authority, increasing or diminishing them in their discretion, and also making provision for additional or appellate judges, should the public interest require.

"The laws of the land with which the inhabitants are familiar and which were in force on February 26, 1904, will continue in force in the Canal Zone and in other places on the Isthmus over which the United States has jurisdiction, until altered or annulled by the Commission; but there are certain great principles of government which have been made. the basis of our existence as a nation which we deem essential to the rule of law and the maintenance of order, and which shall have force in said Zone.

"The Commission may legislate on all rightful subjects of legislation not inconsistent with the laws and treaties of the United States so far as they apply to said zone and other places; and the said power shall include the enactment of sanitary ordinances of a preventive or curative character to be enforced in the cities of Colon and Panama. Such legislative power shall also include the power to raise and

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appropriate revenues. All taxes, judicial fines, custom duties, and other revenues levied and collected in said zone by, or under the authority of the Commission, shall be retained, accounted for, and disbursed by the Commission for its proper purposes. All laws, rules, and regulations of a governmental character enacted by the Commission are to be submitted to the Secretary of War for approval. Gambling is prohibited in the canal strip."

The Commissioners promptly proceeded to organise the great enterprise which had been committed to them. General Davis reached Panama on May 17th to assume the duties of the Governorship, and two days later was formally received by President Amador with much ceremony. He made on that day an inaugural proclamation to the inhabitants of the Canal Zone (see Appendix VII.), announcing that the United States had taken possession of it and outlining, according to the President's instructions to the Commission, the governmental and administrative policy which would be pursued. Announcement was also made of the appointment of the following officers: Secretary, Ernest Lagarde, Jr.; Treasurer, E. C. Tobey, a Paymaster of the United States Navy; Captain of Police, G. R. Shanton; Sanitary Officer, Dr. L. W. Sprattling, U. S. N. The last named was presently succeeded by Dr. W. C. Gorgas, a Colonel of the United States Army. The work of delimiting the Zone, preparing maps, etc., was pushed to completion by June 16, while the actual transfer of the archives and authority of the Zone was made on June 1.

Four engineering parties were organised, to begin work on the canal. One, under the lead of Charles List, was to survey and study the harbour of Colon, or the roadstead where a harbour was to be created, and the route of the canal as far as Gatun, where the first hills were reached and where it was proposed to construct a dam and locks. The second, under A. B. Nichols, was to give its attention to Gatun and investigate the practicability of constructing the dam. The third, under H. F. Dosé, was to investigate the proposed

dam site at Bohio. The fourth, under Boyd Ehle, was commissioned to examine and report upon the proposed dam sites at Gamboa and Alhajuela. From this it will be perceived that the Commission at that time took it for granted that a high-level canal, with locks, was to be constructed. Major W. M. Black, U. S. A., was put in temporary charge of actual excavation work, and with Lieutenant Brooke, U. S. A., and A. C. Harper, maintained a small showing of activity in the Culebra cut, where such excavation would need to be done, no matter what type of canal was finally adopted.

These various companies were scarcely at work, however, before an important change occurred in the direction of affairs. On June 1, John F. Wallace, an eminent civil engineer of Chicago, Illinois, was appointed Chief Engineer of the whole enterprise. He arrived at Panama on June 28, and soon suggested to the Commission a new programme of work, which it adopted. He did not accept the high-level plan as a foregone conclusion. On the contrary, he was decidedly in favour of a sea-level canal, if it were found possible to make one. In any event, the first thing to do, in his mind, was to survey carefully the whole route, with a view to securing perfectly trustworthy data from which the practicability and comparative desirability of the various plans of construction could be determined. At the same time he proposed to proceed with the work of actual construction experimentally at Culebra; with the work of rehabilitating the existing machinery, supplies, and buildings, and of securing such new machinery as would be needed; and with the sanitation of the Canal Zone.

How much need there was of such work and how untrustworthy former surveys were may be seen from my promised recurrence to the Bohio-Obispo section of the canal. In most discussions of the high-level canal plan the great Bohio dam has figured as the crux of the whole situation. In surveying for that dam the French engineers chose the narrowest part of the valley, where there would be the smallest amount of

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