but in central Colombia, five hundred miles in a straight line from the nearest point on the Panama route. Omotepe, in Lake Nicaragua, is ninety miles nearer the Panama route than the other tremendous volcano referred to under the name of Mount Batan, while Momotombo, lately, in eruption, is nearer to the Panama canal than Mount Batan at Sogamoso.

On May 31, 1902, the report of the minority of the committee on Interoceanic Canals was presented to the United States Senate by Senator Kittridge. It was lengthy and dealt fully with every feature of the canal question. In nearly every instance the minority based their findings upon the official report and testimony of the members of the Isthmian commission.

The amendment of Senator Spooner left the selection of the route with the Presi dent, and the minority recommended that this resolution be adopted. They declared that the Panama route was superior in all respects to the Nicaragua, and advised that the report of the Isthmian canal question commission be followed in all technical questions as being that of the highest competent experts.

The minority declared further that the commission's earlier reports in favor of the Nicaragua route were due to the fact that at that time it was impossible to acquire the property and concessions of the Panama canal company at a reasonable price. This is pronounced the best route for an Isthmian canal to be opened, constructed, controlled and protected by the United States. As to the engineering features of the respective routes, the testimony of the engineers of the Isthmian commission was strongly in favor of the construction of a canal by the Panama route. As to the possibility of destruction or damage to the locks or dams of the canal from volcanic eruptions, or from earthquakes, the facts showed that the Nicaragua course lies directly in line with many volcanoes, some of which are active and have wrought great destruction in the past, and the whole country through which the Nicaragua route passes has been often disrupted by earthquakes, while the Panama route has no volcanoes, extinct or otherwise, nearer than two hundred miles, and the official record of such disturbances for the last two years is one-tenth of those reported in the vicinity of the Nicaragua route, while much less in violence than those felt at the latter place.

A thorough examination of official reports and all reliable sources of information left no doubt in the minds of the minority of the superiority of the Panama route over the other. One marked practical advantage lies in the time of passage of the two canals. The Panama canal by reason of its short length allows the passage of a vessel entirely during twelve hours of daylight, while the Nicaragua route because of its great length would use fifty-seven hours, or two days and a half, in passing through it.

The report of the Isthmian commission gave thirty-three hours as all the time needed to pass through the Nicaragua canal, but the minority showed that this meant thirty-three hours of continuous steaming, and that it should be based on the actual time required by a vessel proceeding for twelve hours by daylight, tying up at night; and making the rest of the passage in nine hours on the third day, going a total of fiftyseven hours.

It was further claimed by the minority that the way was not clear by which the

United States was to obtain a right of way through Nicaragua. The testimony before the committee on interoceanic canal showed that several companies laid claim by reason of concessions from Nicaragua, direct purchases of land for cash, and by other conveyances, of the right of way for an interoceanic canal, and that the officers and stockholders of the several companies stated under oath to the committee that they expected to be paid in full by the United States for all their rights. Similar conditions existed at Costa Rica, and because of these claims, long and expensive litigation was inevitable before the United States could gain a clear title to the right of way for a canal, with every reason to believe that it would require several million dollars to satisfy some of these claims.

The legal questions involved were of great importance, but the minority expressed themselves, after an exhaustive examination of all documents bearing on the matter, as being convinced that the Panama Canal Company could give to the United States a perfect title to all its property without delay or litigation of any kind; that it had the full necessary consent from Colombia as to the transfer of its concessions, and that the government of Colombia was faithfully co-operating with the Panama Canal Company in its proposal to sell its rights and property to the United States.

In June, 1902, the "Spooner act," passed by Congress, made a provision for a canal along the Panama route, but in case this could not be secured, the Nicaragua route was the alternative. Authority was given the President to purchase the uncompleted canal, begun twenty years before, for the sum of $40,000,000. Now, since Panama was owned by Colombia, it was necessary to gain the consent of the latter government to the transaction, one provision of which was that our government should have control of a strip of land six miles in width, inclosing the canal all the way across the Isthmus. It followed, as a matter of course, that the canal itself would be the exclusive property of the United States. In January, 1903, these conditions were accepted by the Colombian minister at Washington.

The United States bound itself to pay a bonus of $10,000,000 to Colombia, and also a rental of $250,000 annually. The prospect of receiving such an immense sum of money set the Colombians wild, and their greed ran away with them. "The United States is the richest nation in the world," they whispered eagerly to one another, "the bonus is well enough in its way, but we can get that $40,000,000 in addition, enough to make us leaders wealthy. All we have to do is to persuade our legislators to reject the treaty."

The suicidal folly was committed, the treaty being rejected by the Colombian Congress in August, 1903. Panama was determined to have the canal, and since Colombia refused it, she now rebelled, declared herself independent and offered to treat directly with the United States for the construction of the work. Our government knew of the coming revolt, and it has been charged and denied that she secretly aided in fomenting it. Be that as it may, the United States forces, under the plea that the treaty stipulations compelled them to keep order along the Panama railway, would not permit the landing of any Colombian soldiers to put down the rebellion. The United States made haste to acknowledge the independence of the new nation, and Colombia, who in her greed to get that which did not belong to her spurned the generous sum

that was hers for the taking, as a result, lost everything. moral in the incident.

There is a tremendous

The United States Senate ratified the treaty in February, 1904. Thus every obstacle to the construction of the canal was removed. In the following May all the property of the Panama Company was transferred to the United States, and $40,000,000 was deposited with prominent bankers in New York, who agreed to disburse it in accordance with the decisions of the French courts. The completion of one of the greatest public enterprises of the century was therefore assured, as well as its ownership and control by our own government. Following the ratification of the treaty. Congress passed an act providing for the temporary goverment of the canal zone by officers to be appointed by the President. He appointed as members of the Isthmian Canal Commission, to take charge of the construction of the canal and the government of the canal zone, the following persons: Rear-Admiral John G. Walker, retired, Chairman; Major-General George W. Davis, U. S. N. retired; William Barclay Parsons, New York; William H. Burr, New York; Benjamin M. Harrod, Louisiana; Carl Ewald Crunsky, California, and Frank J. Hecker, Michigan. Mr. John F. Wallace, General Manager of the Illinois Railroad System, was appointed Chief Engineer of the canal.

On April 22, the Panama Canal Company's rights were duly transferred, at Paris, to the United States. On May 9, the company was paid $40,000,000 by a warrant of the Secretary of the Treasury, and on the same day the Republic of Panama received the stipulated $10,000,000. The President decided that the Panama Commission should report through the War Department. General Davis of the Commission was made governor of the canal zone, and soon appointed new mayors and other officials for the municipalities lying within the zone. In November, at the direction of the President, the Secretary of War visited Panama to confer with the authorities of the Republic, and settle any questions which might arise in reference to the administration of the zone. His mission had excellent practical results in provision for the care of those engaged in work on the Isthmus.

It soon became evident that a better organization of the Commission was imperative. For this purpose the old Commissioners were requested to resign their positions, and promptly complied. The same number of Commissioners was retained, but the management was practically centered in an executive committee of three members, to the chairmanship of which the President appointed a hitherto unknown man, Theodore P. Shonts, head of the Toledo, St. Louis and Western line. Mr. Wallace became a member of the Commission. The new appointees were Rear-Admiral Endicott, BrigadierGeneral Peter C. Hains, Colonel Oswald H. Ernst and Judge Charles E. Magoon, previously an official of the War Department, who was made also governor of the canal Provision was made for a consulting board of thirteen engineers, and the governments of Great Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands were invited each to assign a distinguished engineer to consult with the American members.

zone.

In June, 1905, Mr. Wallace suddenly announced his proposed retirement from this position in order to accept one more lucrative. His resignation came at a singularly inopportune time and produced a scathing rebuke from Secretary Taft, with a demand

for his immediate resignation. The post of Chief Engineer was at once filled by the selection of John F. Stevens of Maine.

The Consulting Board of Engineers carefully examined and considered the various plans proposed to and by the Isthmian Canal Commission and visited the isthmus to make direct observations. They met in Washington September 1, 1905, and began the preparation of their report. This was completed and presented to the Isthmian Canal Commission on the 10th of January, 1906, and by them transmitted to Congress through President Roosevelt on February 19. Eight members of the Board, including the five foreign engineers, favored a sea-level canal. The remaining five members voted in favor of a lock canal. Chief Engineer Stevens also favors the lock canal, as do five of the six members of the Canal Commission. The minority report was concurred in, too, by Secretary Taft and President Roosevelt, and it is probable that a lock canal will be built in accordance with the general plan recommended in the minority report. The estimated cost of each plan is as follows: for a sea-level canal, $247,021,Oco; for an 85-foot-level canal, $139,705,200.

T

CHAPTER XVII.

- ROOSEVELT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION, 1901-1904-CONTINUED-Free cuba.

HE most beautiful land ever beheld by human eyes," Christopher Columbus wrote in his diary, when, on October 28, 1492, he landed on the north coast of the island of Cuba. First of the New World to obtain eastern civilization, latest to get western freedom, every page of her history is crimsoned with blood.

"In the name of Spain," shouted Diego Velasquez, when, in the spring of 1511, he with the equally merciless Cortez and Las Casas, and his three hundred men, sailed from San Domingo and assailed the helpless Indians with the ferocity of so many tigers.

The fagots were already blistering the limbs of Hatuey, the Indian chief, when one of Velasquez's priests told him to pray that he might go to heaven. "Where do the Spaniards go when they die?" asked the sufferer.

"To heaven," was the confident reply.

"Then I prefer to go to hell," said the grim victim, and so he died, with tenfold more assurance of a blessed hereafter than his bloodthirsty persecutors.

The first city founded in Cuba was Baracoa, and its founder was the Spanish murderer Velasquez, who dedicated it to Spain and placed it in charge of a Spanish garrison. The second city founded by Velasquez was St. James.

As I have shown, Spain was not only the most ferocious of taskmasters, but the most foolish of nations. She knew that all she had to do to retain the Pearl of the Antilles was to show its inhabitants half-decent treatment, and keep a part of the promises and pledges she made to them. She understood enough of human nature to comprehend that the worm can be persecuted into turning, and she kept up the persecution until, in the desperation of despair, it struck at the tyrant when it knew the blow would recoil upon its own head. It was in 1823 that the first serious revolt took place, and from that time forward the century was marked by plots, uprisings, suppression, massacres, rapine and violence, in which all mercy was thrown to the winds. The years 1826, 1830, 1848, 1850, 1851, 1855, 1868, 1879, 1885 and 1895 were marked by such uprisings, whose history is one long dismal tale of crime that was participated in by both sides, and shocked the civilized world.

Referring more at length to some of these numerous uprisings and the early history of Cuba, it should be said that from 1511 to 1607 the island was devastated by bloody wrangles among the Spanish officials and by the raids of pirates of all nations, who, skulking along the shores of the southern Atlantic, swooped down upon the seacoast towns and plundered them, and slew such inhabitants as remained. An historical event of this period was the departure from Havana of Hernando de Soto and his fleet, brought from Spain for the conquest of Florida.