control of the United States, the limits of said channel through said harbor to be suitably marked by buoys or otherwise: And provided further, That the said Terre Plein, between the said monument of Cristobal Colon and the middle line of Eleventh Street, extends to low water.

There are excepted from the city and harbor the existing lighthouse on Manzanillo Island, and all land lying within 30 meters thereof, these being within the Canal Zone.

PROVISIONAL DELIMITATION OF BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA, KNOWN AS "THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE," AND THE CITY AND HARBOR OF PANAMA, IN THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA.

Being the delimitation to which reference is made in the agreement entered into between the government of the said Canal Zone and the Government of the Republic of Panama, signed by Gen. George W. Davis, governor of the said zone, on behalf of the said government of the Canal Zone, and by Señor Don Tomas Arias, Secretary of State, and Señor Don Ramon Valdes Lopez, Attorney General, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Panama, as follows:

Beginning on the shore line of the Pacific Ocean at a stake driven above high-water mark on Punta Paitilla, thence on a straight line northwesterly to a similar stake driven upon the summit of Cerro Pelado, which hill is situated on the south side of the Savanna Road, said stake being about 1,800 meters northeast from the Caledonia Bridge; thence on a straight line to a similar post driven on the summit of Cerro Corundu; thence on a straight line to a similar stake at the southeast corner of a tract of land known as Le Section and upon the north side of the Hospital Road; thence on a straight line crossing the road leading from Panama to the hospital across the meadows and fields to a similar stake driven on the north side of the road leading from Panama to La Boca, about 75 meters from the old walled spring Chorillo; thence southwesterly in a straight line across La Boca Road to a similar stake driven at high-water mark upon Punta Mala, near the islet of Cabilan.

At each of the stakes above mentioned, and at each of the other calls above given for the purpose of marking the boundary in question, there shall be set a masonry monument about 1 meter square and 1 meter high, and in the center of the masonry and projecting about 60 centimeters above it shall be placed an iron column or post marked on the side of the Canal Zone with the letters "U. S." and on the opposite side with the letter "P."; all of said letters to be about 6

centimeters in height, these monuments to be erected as soon as prac ticable at the expense of the United States.

(Signed)

GEORGE W. DAVIS,

Governor Canal Zone.

TOMAS ARIAS,

Secretary of State, Republic of Panama.
RAMON VALDES LOPEZ,

Attorney General, Republic of Panama.

1904-1911.

AGREEMENT SERVING AS MODUS OPERANDI DURING THE PERIOD OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PANAMA CANAL.

NOTE. The special relations of the United States to the Republic of Panama with respect to the Panama Canal Zone resulted in a series of Executive orders on the part of the United States and of decrees on the part of the Republic of Panama establishing conventional agreement between the two Governments. By section 2 of the Panama Canal act, approved August 24, 1912 (37 Stat. L. 560), it is provided:

"That all laws, orders, regulations, and ordinances adopted and promulgated in the Canal Zone by order of the President for the government and sanitation of the Canal Zone and the construction of the Panama Canal are hereby ratified and confirmed as valid and binding until Congress shall otherwise provide

It thus transpired that those Executive orders having the effect of an international agreement were ratified and confirmed by the Congress as a whole and not solely by the Senate.

This series of Executive orders, constituting the temporary agreement serving as a modus operandi during the period of the construction of the canal, may be held to have been intended to terminate at the time of the formal opening of the canal; but, having the force of an act of Congress, it could not be changed without an act of Congress or a new treaty with Panama. As between the United States and Panama it would seem that the agreement depends upon good faith rather than legal and conventional binding character.

In a letter of the Acting Secretary of State to the President of September 1, 1922, transmitted to Congress (67th Cong., 2d sess., S. Doc. 249) it is stated:

"The Taft agreement was intended as a temporary arrangement to cover the period of construction of the canal. As such it has served its purpose, since the canal has for some time been formally open to commerce. It no longer provides an adequate basis for the adjustment of questions arising out of the relations between the Canal Zone authorities and the Government of Panama, and it is the opinion of this department, and, I am informed, of the War Department also, that the agreement should be replaced in the near future by a more permanent arrangement.

"I have the honor, therefore, to recommend that Congress be requested to authorize the abrogation of the Executive orders above mentioned, which comprise the so-called Taft agreement. When

this authorization is granted it will be possible to terminate the agreement with Panama and to proceed at once with the negotiation of a new treaty."

The resolution authorizing the abrogation is Public Resolution No. 88, 67th Congress, approved February 12, 1923.

AGREEMENT EFFECTED BY EXCHANGE OF NOTES BETWEEN THE SECRETARY OF WAR OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE PRESIDENT OF PANAMA.

Panama December 3, 1904.

(Foreign Relations, 1904, p. 643.)

PANAMA, December 3, 1904.

YOUR EXCELLENCY: After very full conferences with you and your advisers, I have drafted an executive order, which I have the authority of the President of the United States to sign and put in force, and which in its operation and conditions, if complied with, seems to me to offer a solution, honorable and satisfactory to both nations, of the differences between the United States and the Republic of Panama. I inclose a draft of the order. I understand that you and your advisers concur in the wisdom of this solution, but I should be glad to have an expression of your approval of it before formally signing the order and giving it effect. Your Excellency will observe that the order is drawn to take effect on the 12th of December. This delay is for the purpose of giving full publicity to all concerned. I have the honor to be, with the assurances of my most distinguished consideration,

Your obedient servant,

Secretary of War of the United States, at Panama.

SIR: As the embodiment of the conclusions reached by our respective Governments, after the full and satisfactory conferences which have been had between you, myself, and advisers, I have the pleasure to express the concurrence of the Republic in the executive order of the Secretary of War made by direction of the President of the United States under date of this the 3d day of December, 1904.

Aside from the wisdom and justice evidenced by this happy solution of the differences between the United States and the Republic of Panama, permit me to express, in behalf of the Republic and of

myself and advisers, our gratitude for your gracious visit to Panama and your patient, judicial, and statesmanlike considerations of the subjects involved.

I have the honor to be, my dear Mr. Secretary, and with assurances of my highest esteem, sincerely yours,

M. AMADOR GUERRERO, President of the Republic of Panama

SANTIAGO DE LA GUARDIA,

Secretary of Government and Foreign Affairs.

PANAMA, December 3, 1904.

By direction of the President, it is ordered that, subject to the action of the Fifty-eighth Congress as contemplated by the act of Congress, approved April 28, 1904:1

2

SECTION 1. No importation of goods, wares, and merchandise shall be entered at Ancon or Cristobal, the terminal ports of the canal, except such goods, wares, and merchandise as are described in Article XIII of the treaty between the Republic of Panama and the United States, the ratifications of which were exchanged on the 26th day of February, 1904, and except goods, wares, and merchandise in transit across the isthmus for a destination without the limits of said isthmus, and except coal and crude mineral oil for fuel purposes to be sold at Ancon or Cristobal to sea-going vessels; said coal and oil to be admitted to those ports free of duties for said purposes:

Provided, however, That this order shall be inoperative, first, unless the Republic of Panama shall reduce the ad valorem duty on imported articles described in class 2 of the act of the National Convention of Panama passed July 5, 1904, and taking effect October 12, 1904, from fifteen per centum to ten per centum and shall not increase the rates of duty on the imported articles described in the other schedules of said act except on all forms of imported wines, liquors, alcohol, and opium on which the Republic may fix higher rates; second, unless article 38 of the Constitution of the Republic of Panama as modified by article 146 thereof shall remain in full force and unchanged so far as the importation and sale of all kinds of merchandise are concerned; third, unless the consular fees and charges of the Republic of Panama in respect to entry of all vessels and importations into said ports of Panama and Colon shall be reduced to sixty per cent of the rates now in force; and, fourth, unless goods imported into the ports of Panama and Colon consigned to or destined for any part of the Canal Zone shall not be subjected in the Republic of Panama to any other direct or indirect impost or tax whatever.3

SEC. 2. In view of the proximity of the port of Ancon to the port of Panama, and the port of Cristobal to the port of Colon, the proper customs or port official of the Canal Zone shall, when not inconsistent with the interests of the United States, at the instance of the proper authority of the Republic of Panama, permit any vessel, entered at or cleared from the ports of Panama and Colon, together with its cargo and passengers, under suitable regulations for the transit of the

133 Statutes at Large, 429.

2 For text see Vol. II, p. 1353.

Amended by Section 1 of the Executive Order of January 5, 1911.

imported merchandise and passengers to and from the territory of the Republic of Panama, to use and enjoy the dockage and other facilities of the ports of Ancon and Cristobal respectively upon payment of proper dockage dues to the owners of said docks:

Provided, however, That reciprocal privileges as to dockage and other facilities at Panama and Colon, together with suitable arrangement for transit of imported merchandise and passengers to and from the territory of the Canal Zone, shall be granted by the authorities of the Republic of Panama, when not inconsistent with its interests, to any vessel, together with its cargo and passengers entered at or cleared from the ports of Ancon and Cristobal: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall affect the complete - administrative, police, and judicial jurisdiction of the two Governments over their respective ports and harbors, except as hereinafter provided in section 6.

Provided, also, That vessels entering or clearing at the port of Panama shall have the absolute right freely to anchor and lade and discharge their cargoes by lighterage from and to Panama at the usual anchorage in the neighborhood of the islands of Perico, Flamenco. Naos, and Culebra, though included in the harbor of Ancon under the provisional delimitation as amended under section 5 hereafter, and to use the said waters of said harbor for all lawful commercial purposes.

SEC. 3. All manifests and invoices and other documents in respect to vessels or cargoes cleared or consigned for or from the ports of Panama and Colon shall, as heretofore, be made by the officials of the Republic of Panama. All manifests, invoices, and other documents in respect to the vessels and cargoes cleared or consigned for or from the ports of Ancon or Cristobal shall be made by officials of the United States.

SEC. 4. No import duties, tolls, or charges of any kind whatsoever shall be imposed by the authorities of the Canal Zone upon goods, wares, and merchandise imported or upon persons passing from the territory of the Republic of Panama into the Canal Zone, and section 5 of the Executive order of June 24, 1904,1 providing that duties on importations into the Canal Zone are to be levied in conformity with such duties as Congress has imposed upon foreign merchandise imported into ports of the United States is hereby revoked, but this order shall be inoperative unless the authorities of the Republic of Panama shall grant by proper order reciprocal free importation of goods, wares, and merchandise and free passage of persons from the territory of the Canal Zone into that of the Republic of Panama.

SEC. 5. The provisions of this order also shall not be operative except upon the condition that the delimitation of the cities and harbors of Colon and Panama, signed on the 15th day of June, 1904, by the proper representatives of the Governments of the Republic of Panama and of the Canal Zone, shall be provisionally enforced, and while the same shall remain in force with the consent of both parties thereto, the provisional delimitation shall include not only the terms set forth in the writing thereof, but also the following, viz.: That the harbor of Panama shall include the maritime waters in front of Appendix I, hereof.