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nor ratified by either country. Tbe
Panamanian legislators also turned
them down - but for the opposite
reason. The treaties didn't go far
enough, they claimed, in meeting
their nation's aroused demands.
U. S. Weakness at Fault
Perhaps the most intense rebuff of
the negotiators' work carne from
Harold Lord Varney, presiden! of
the Committee on Pan American
Policy and editor of
Pan American
H eadlines.
His remarks were read
into the Congressional Record of
September 18, 1967:
"The appalling truth is that abso-
1utely no necessity exists for the ab–
ject and unprecedented surrender
that we are making on the Isthmus.
No foreign force
is
compelling us to
give up the rights which tbe Hay–
Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903 as–
sured us in perpetuity ... .
"By sorne occult reasoning [presi–
dential advisors believe] that we will
win the world's admiration if we run
out on the Panama Canal we built
and the Canal Zone over which we
are assured sovereignty by every
feature of intemational law.
"No supposition could be more
preposterous. There can be no surer
way for the United States to win the
contempt of the world, and particu–
lar!y of Latin America ....
"At nearly every juncture the
Panamanians have won increasing
gains not because they are strong, or
right, but because of the weaknesses
and euphoria of the last three
Washington Administrations. If the
United States had at any point
taken a firm and convincing stand
on its rights under the 1903 Treaty,
Panamanian demands would have
withered and turned to reason. Un–
fortunately ... Panama has won the
jackpot virtually by default."
Here the issue stands in 1973.
Tiny Panama is on the política! of–
fensive again. And this time its lead–
ers are trying to win world support
for their nation's "revolution of
sovereignty."
o
28
Stranger Than Ficüon-
TheCanal
America Didn't
Want to Build
P
ERHAPS NO
story of fiction is as
exciting as the 400-year
history of man's dreams,
schemes, failures and ultimate suc–
cess in building a canal across the
Isthmus of Panama.
Was there an unseen hand of his–
tory which reserved victory and na–
tional honor for the United States at
thc time of its ascendancy to be–
come the greatest single power on
earth?
Charles V of Spain was the first
monarch to grasp the significance of
a canal joining tbe Atlantic and
Pacific. He initiated the first investi–
gations in 1523 , and in 1534 ordered
the Governor of Panama to make a
formal survey of the route following
the Chagres and Grande Rivers, the
general course which tbe actual
Panama ( anal takes today.
From that date until May 4, 1904,
wben the United States undertook
construction, the principal maritime
nations of the world gave earnest
consideration to the project, which
was urged by geographers and nav–
igators.
American interest in the Isthmus
was stirred during the nation's in–
fancy. This interest was greatly
heightened by the completion in
1855 of the U. S. financed Panama
Railroad , which followed the
present Canal alignment. The rail–
road, in turn, had been spurred by
the discovery of gold in California
in 1849 and the need to sail from
coast to coast as quickly as possible.
The French Begin
The first tangible efforts to build a
canal carne on January 10, 1880. On
that date, an ambitious project was
formally inaugurated by Count Fer–
dinand de Lesseps for the privately
financed Frencb Canal Company.
De Lesseps was the national hero of
France. He had already successfully
promoted the construction of the
Suez Canal which opened in 1869.
Riding the crest of bis popularity,
De Lesseps declared that "Panama
will be easier to build, easier to fin–
ish and easier to maintain than
Suez. " The Count somehow as–
sumed that chopping down Pan–
ama 's continental divide and
hacking through its disease-infested,
tropical jungles to provide a sea–
leve! passage from the Atlantic to
the Pacific would prove no more dif–
ficult than slicing through the sands
of Suez.
Despite the valiant effort of the
French engineering corps, poor ini–
tial planning, shaky financing and
raging tropical diseases combined to
doom the mammoth undertaking to
failure after ten years of toil. The
project engulfed the lives of 20,000
laborers who perished in the
swamps of the "pesthole of the
Americas."
A new French Canal Company
was formed in 1894, but it per–
formed only enough work to retain
the company's franchise so that
it
could be sold to another builder.
PLAIN TRUTH Moy 1973