use, occupation, and control of a certain zone of land, land under water including islands within the said zone, at the Isthmus of Panama, all to be utilized in the construction, maintenance and operation, sanitation and protection of the ship canal, of the width of ten miles extending to the distance of five miles on each side of the central line of the route of the canal, and the use, occupation and control of other lands and waters outside of the zone above described which may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance and operation, sanitation and protection. of said canal or of any auxiliary canals or other works necessary and convenient for the same purpose; also the islands of Perico, Naos, Culebra and Flamenico, situated in the bay of Panama; and, second, all the right, powers, and authority within the zone, auxiliary lands and lands under water which the United States would possess and exercise if it were the sovereign of the territory granted, to the entire exclusion of the exercise by the Republic of Panama of any such sovereign rights, power and authority.""

The action authorized by this act and treaty being consummated, Congress, on April 28, 1904, passed another act authorizing the President to assume possession of the property acquired. By the same act the President was authorized, "for the purpose of providing temporarily for the maintenance of order in the canal zone and for maintaining and protecting

1

1 Letter of the President placing the Isthmian Canal Commission under the supervision and direction of the secretary of war and defining the jurisdiction and functions of the commission, May 9, 1904.

the inhabitants thereof in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and religion, to delegate to such person or persons as he may designate, and to control the manner of their exercise, all the military, civil and judicial powers, as well as the power to make all needful rules and regulations for the government of the canal zone, and all the rights, powers, and authority granted by the said canal commission to the United States, until the close of the Fifty-eighth Congress." It will thus be seen that Congress has again pursued the policy that it followed when Louisiana and Florida were acquired, of placing at the outset all governmental powers in the hands of the President, to be exercised by him through such persons and in such manner as he may deem best.

In pursuance of this grant of authority, the President, by letter of May 9, 1904, formally placed the whole control over the administration of affairs in the canal zone, both as regards the construction of the canal and the government of the territory, under the direction of the War Department. This letter goes on to enumerate the specific powers that the Isthmian Canal Commission, acting under the supervision of the War Department, shall have. These include the authority to make all needful rules and regulations for the government of the zone, to establish a civil service under which appointment shall, as nearly as is practicable, be made by a merit system, and to legislate on all rightful subjects of legislation not inconsistent with the laws and treaties of the United States. For this latter purpose the commission shall sit as a 1 Idem, p. 2-3.

legislative body and any four or more members shall constitute a quorum to do business. All laws, rules, regulations, etc., must be submitted to the secretary of war and if not approved by him shall cease to be in force. As regards local affairs, the latter provides that municipal laws shall be administered by the ordinary tribunals substantially as before the change. Major General George W. Davis, a member of the canal commission, who had already served as military governor of Porto Rico and later of the Philippines, was designated as the first governor of the canal zone. This is as far as the work of the organization of a government for the zone has, up to the time of the present writing, proceeded; although it is reported that the commission and Governor Davis have elaborated a fundamental law providing for the details of the administration of public affairs which is now awaiting formal action and approval by the secretary of war.

The remaining insular possessions of the United States, Wake Island, Midway or Brooks Island, Howland and Baker islands and the Guano islands, are either totally or practically uninhabited, and no provision has consequently been made for their government.

CHAPTER X

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

THAT a consideration of the government and administration of dependent territory should necessarily include that of the territory in which the capital of the nation itself is located is a rather remarkable fact. As it is, however, that territory has to-day as much the status of dependent territory and is as completely subject to the control of Congress as any territory or dependency over which the General Government now exercises authority. Both on this account and because the final form of the government that has been given to this federal territory is unlike that of the government of any other political division, except in so far as it has furnished a model for the government of Manila, a description of the action taken by the United States for its administration constitutes a unique and unusually interesting study in forms of political organization and administration.

The Constitution of the United States in enumerating the powers of Congress gives to that body the right "to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States." Among the reasons

for this grant of plenary powers to Congress over the administration of the affairs of the national capital was that of insuring that the legislative and executive functions of the government should be exercised without risk of interference. Trouble in this respect had been experienced by the Continental Congress, which, in 1783, had been compelled to transfer its sessions from Philadelphia in order to evade a hostile demonstration by a part of the revolutionary army for the purpose of hastening the payment of money due them for their services, the authorities of the city of Philadelphia and of the State of Pennsylvania at the time acknowledging their inability to furnish adequate protection.

The choice of the particular site for the permanent capital was the subject of a long and bitter controversy, during which the fate of the nation itself seemed for a time to be at stake. The reasons for this disagreement lay in the jealousy which existed between the Northern and Southern States, each section fearing that if the capital were located in the other that that section would thereby have its influence over national affairs greatly increased. Final agreement upon the site now constituting the District of Columbia was, as is well known, obtained as the result of a compromise between the contending interests. Supported by Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton secured the acceptance of an agreement by which the North, in return for the support by the South of the proposition for the assumption of the state debts by the General Government, withdrew its opposition to the Potomac. site, which was the location representing the choice of the South. This agreement, in so far as the location