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Letter of the President Placing the Isthmian Canal Commission Under the Supervision and Direction of the Secretary of War Etc.

WHITE HOUSE,

Washington D. C., May 9, 1904.

Sir: By the act of Congress approved June 28, 1902, the President of the United States is authorized to acquire for and on behalf of the United States all the rights, privileges, franchises, concessions, grants of lands, rights of way, unfinished work, plants, shares of the capital stock of the Panama Railway, owned by or held for the use of the new Panama Canal Company, and any other property, real, personal, and mixed of any name or nature owned by the said new Panama Canal Company situated on the Isthmus of Panama. The President is by the same act also authorized to acquire for and on behalf of the United States, perpetual control of a strip of land on the Isthmus of Panama, not less than six miles in width, extending from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and the right to excavate, construct, and maintain perpetually, operate and protect thereon, a ship canal of certain specified capacity, and also the right to perpetually operate the Panama Railroad. Having acquired such rights, franchises, property, and control, the President is by the same act required to excavate, construct, and complete a ship canal from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and to enable him to carry forward and complete this work, he is authorized to appoint, by and with the consent of the Senate, an Isthmian Canal Commission of seven members, who are to be in all matters subject to his direction and control.

By the terms of the canal convention between the United States and the Republic of Panama, entered into in pursuance of the said act of Congress approved June 28, 1902, the ratifications of which were exchanged on the 26th day of February, 1904, the Republic of Panama granted to the United States:

First, the perpetual use, occupation, and control of a certain zone of land, land under water including islands within 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, 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 rights, powers, and authority within the zone, auxiliary lands and lands under water, which the United States ould 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.

By the act of Congress approved April 28, 1904, the President is authorized, upon acquisition of the property of the new Panama Canal Company, and the payment to the Republic of Panama of the price for the compensation agreed upon in the said canal convention, to take possession of and occupy on behalf of the United States the zone of land, and land under water including islands within said zone, at the Isthmus of Panama 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 to be constructed thereon, including the islands of Perico, Naos, Culebra, and Flamenico, and from time to time as may be necessary and convenient certain auxiliary lands and waters outside the said zone for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, operating, sanitating, and protecting the ship canal, the use, occupation, and control whereof were granted to the United States by the Republic of Panama in the said canal convention.

By the same act, the President is authorized, for the purpose of providing temporarily for the maintenance of order in the canal zone and for maintaining and protecting the inhabitants thereof in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion, to delegate 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 Convention to the United States, until the close of the Fifty-eighth Congress.

Payments of the authorized purchase price of $40,000,000 to the new Panama Canal Company for the property of that corporation on the Isthmus, including the shares of railway stock and for the records in Paris, and of the sum of $10,000,000, as stipulated in the canal convention, to the Republic of Panama for the rights, powers and privileges granted to the United States by the terms of the said convention, have been made and proper instruments of transfer have been executed by the Panama Canal Company. The members of the Isthmian Canal Commission have been appointed. They have organized the commission and entered upon their duties. I have taken possession of and now occupy, on behalf of the United States, the canal zone and public land ceded by the Republic of Panama.

It becomes my duty, under the statutes above referred to, to secure the active prosecution of the work of construction of the canal and its auxiliary works, through the Isthmian Canal Commission, and in connection with such work and in aid thereof to organize and conduct a temporary government of the zone, so as to

maintain and protect the inhabitants thereof in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion.

Inasmuch as it is impracticable for the President, with his other public dutes, to give to the work of supervising the commission's construction of the canal and government of the zone the personal attention which seems proper and necessary, and inasmuch as the War Department is the department which has always supervised the construction of the great civil works for improving the rivers and harbors of the country and the extended military works of public defense, and as the said department has from time to time been charged with the supervision of the government of all the island possessions of the United States, and continues to supervise the government of the Philippine Islands, I direct that all the work of the commission done by virtue of powers vested in me by the act of Congress approved June 28, 1902, in the digging, construction, and completion of the canal, and all the governmental power in and over said canal zone and its appurtenant territory, which by virtue of the act of Congress approved April 28, 1904, and these instructions shall be vested in said Isthmian 'Canal Commission, shall be carried on or exercised under your supervision and direction as Secretary of War.

Subject to the limitations of law and the conditions herein contained, the Isthmian Canal Commission are authorized and directed:

1, 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 Fifty-eighth Congress.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. To make and cause to be executed after due advertisement all necessary contracts for any and all kinds of engineering and construction works.

5. 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.

6. To make all needful rules and regulations respecting an economical and correct disbursement and an acounting 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 also to establish a proper and comprehensive system of bookkeeping, showing the state of the work, the expenditures bv classes, and the amounts still available.

7. To make requisition on the Secretary of War for fui.s needed from time to time in the proper prosecution of the work and to designate the disbursing officers authorized 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 approval of the commission, is authorized 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 Commisson 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 said commission, but there are certain great principles of government which have been made the basis of an 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 principles referred to may be generally stated as follows:

That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right of a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense; that excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offense, or be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a

punishment for crime; that no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or of the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: Provided, however, that the commission shall have power to exclude from time to time from the Canal Zone and other places on the Isthmus over which the United States has jurisdiction persons of the following classes who were not actually domiciled within the zone on the 26th day of February, 1904, viz: Idiots, the insane, epileptics, paupers, criminals, professional beggars, persons afflicted with loathsome or dangerous contagious diseases, those who have been convicted of felony, anarchists, those whose purpose it it is to incite insurrection, and others whose presence it is believed by the commission would tend to create public disorder, endanger the public health, or in any manner impede the prosecution of the work of opening the canal; and may cause any and all such newly arrived persons or those alien to the zone to be expelled and deported from the territory controlled by the United States, and the commission may defray from the canal appropriation the cost of such deportation as necessary expenses of the sanitation, the police protection of the canal route, and the preservation of good order among the inhabitants.

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 the sanitary ordinances of a preventive or curative character to be enforced in the cities of Colon and Panama and which are contemplated and authorized by article 7 of said canal convention. Such legislative power shall also include the power to raise and appropriate revenues in said zone; and all taxes, judicial fines, customs duties, and other revenues levied and collected in said zone by or under the authority of said commission shall be retained, accounted for, and disbursed by said commission for its proper purposes. The members of said commission to the number of four or more shall constitute a legislative quorum, and all rules and regulations passed and enacted by said commission shall have set forth as a caption that they are enacted by the Isthmian Canal Commission "By authority of the President of the United States."

The commission shall hold its regular quarterly meetings at the office of the commission either in Panama or at a branch office in Washington, and special meetings may be held at the pleasure of the commission.

All laws, rules, and regulations of a governmental character enacted by the commission hereunder shall be submitted to you for your approval, and should your approval be withheld from any such law, rule, or regulation, then from that time the law, rule, or regulation shall thereafter have no force or effect.

Major-General George W. Davis, U. S. Army (retired), a member of the Canal Commission, is hereby appointed governor of the Isthmian Canal Zone. He will proceed at once to the Isthmus of Panama. He will in my name, as the chief executive in the Canal Zone, for and on behalf of the United States, see that the laws are faithfully executed, and will maintain possession of said territory, including the public lands therein and the property real and movable on the Isthmus of Panama, except that of the Panama_Railroad, that has recently been acquired from the Republic of Panama. He is hereby vested with the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the rules, regulations, and laws in force by virtue of action of the commission or by virtue of the clause hereof continuing in force the laws of Panama. In case of his disability or absence from the Canal Zone at any time, the Isthmian Canal Commission is empowered to designate the person or persons to act as governor during such absence or disability. Except as herein prescribed the duties of the governor shall be fixed by legislation of the Canal Commission.

For the preservation of order and protecting the property of the United States, within or without said zone as provided by article 7 of the canal convention, an adequate police force shall be maintained. If at any time there shall arise necessity for military or naval assistance the governor shall, if possible, promptly notify you, and in the event of a sudden exigency the governor may call upon any available military or naval force of the United States to render assistance, and the same shall be immediately furnished.

It is a matter of first importance that the most approved and effective methods and measures known to sanitary science be adopted in order that the health conditions on the Isthmus may be improved. It is the belief of those who have noted the successful results secured by our army in Cuba in the obliteration of yellow fever in that island that it is entirely feasible to banish the diseases that have heretofore caused most mortality on the Isthmus, or at least to improve as greatly the health conditions there as in Cuba and Porto Rico. I desire that every possible effort be made to protect our officers and workmen from the dangers of tropical and other diseases, which in the past have been so prevalent and destructive in Panama.

Rear-Admiral John G. Walker, U. S. Navy (retired), and Colonel Frank J. Hecker, members of the Isthmian Canal Commission, are hereby designated as members of the joint commission provided for by articles 6 and 15 of the canal convention. The moiety of the necessary expenses of the commission to be created in pursuance of articles 6 and 15 of the above-cited

canal convention will be defrayed from the appropriation applicable to the ship canal to connect the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The Isthmian Canal Commission will prepare for Congress and place in your hands on or before December 1 of each year a full and complete report of all their acts and of the operations conducted by them in respect to the canal construction and the government of the Canal Zone. These reports will contain a detailed account of all moneys received and disbursed in the performance of their duties and of the progress made in the construction of the canal.

The necessary expenses incurred by the commission in carrying on the government of the Canal Zone will be defrayed from the local revenues so far as the said revenues may be sufficient, and the remainder will be met from the appropriation made by the fifth section of the act of Congress approved June 28, 1902. An estimate of the proposed expenditures and revenues for each year in carrying on the government of the zone will be submitted to Congress at the beginning of each annual session.

By virtue of the ownership by the United States of about sixty-nine seventieths of the shares of the capital stock of the Panama Railroad the general policy of the managers of said road will be controlled by the United States. As soon as practicable I desire that all the members of the Isthmian Canal Commission be elected to the board of directors of the road, and that the policy of the road be completely harmonized with the policy of the Government of making it an adjunct to the construction of the canal, at the same time fulfilling the purpose for which it was structed as a route of commercial movement across the Isthmus of Panama. If any contracts or other obligations now subsist between the railway company and other transportation companies that are not in accord with sound public policy, then such contracts must be terminated as soon as it is possible to effect that object.

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No salary or per diem allowance of compensation in addition to the stated salary and per diem allowance of the members of the Isthmian Canal Commission will be allowed to any member of the commission by reason of his services in connection with the civil government of the canal zone, or his membership of any board or commission concerned in or connected with the construction of the canal, or by reason of his services as an officer or director of the Panama Railroad.

If there now be in force within the Canal Zone any franchise granting to any person or persons a privilege to maintain lotteries or hold lottery drawings or other gambling methods and devices of a character forbidden by the laws of the United States, or if the grantee of any such privilege has now the right to sell lottery tickets or similar devices to facilitate the business of the concessionaire, the commission shall enact laws annulling the privileges or concessions and punishing' future exercise of the same by imprisonment or fine, or both.

These instructions may be modified and supplemented as occasion shall arise. Very respectfully,

HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT,

Secretary of War.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

We shall send our flag into all ports of trade, not as a menace, but as the harbinger of peace and good-will.-Hon. C. W. Fairbanks, at Freehold, N. J., June 27, 1903.

This is an era of great combinations both of labor and of capital. In many ways these combinations have worked for good; but they must work under the law.-President Roosevelt at Charleston, April 9, 1902.

It is almost as necessary that our policy should be stable as that it should be wise. A nation like ours could not long stand the runious policy of readjusting its business to radical changes in the tariff at short intervals, especially when, as now, owing to the immense extent and variety of our products, the tariff schedules carry rates of duty on thousands of different articles.-President Roosevelt at Minneapolis, April 4, 1903.

The man on the farm, more than any other of our citizens today, is called upon continually to exercise the qualities which we like to think of as typical of the United States throughout its history-the qualities of rugged independence, masterful resolution, and individual energy and resourcefulness. He works hard (for which no man is to be pitied), and often he lives hard (which may not be pleasant); but his life is passed in healthy surroundings which tend to develop a fine type of citizenship.-President Roosevelt at Bangor, Me., Aug. 27, 1902.

The Panama Canal-Routes Between Ports in Different Oceans by Panama and Suez Respectively

The following tables give distances between seaports on different oceans by the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn, Suez and Panama routes. The distances (with a few additions) are taken from the tables of the French hydrographic office, and are by the most direct navigable routes for steamers.

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1 Halifax.
2 Quebec....
3 Portland

12,060

10,561

4 Boston

7 Baltimore.

8 Annapolis..
9 Charleston.
10 Savannah...
11 Key West...
12 Pensacola..
13 Mobile.
14 New Orleans.
15 Sabine......
16 Galveston.
17 Vera Cruz.

13 526

14,965 12,656 10,069 14,895 12,586 10,018 14,369 14,163 11,854 10,997 13,272 11,002 11,738 15,468 13,044 10,841 15,398 12,974 10,790 14,872 12,448 11,333 13,969 11.439 12,383 13.917 11,387 12,305 14,666 12,242 11,769 13,775 11,390 15,176 12,937 9,940 15,106 12.867 9,889 14,580 12,441 10,432 13,677 11,332 11.482 13.625 11,280 11,404 14,374 12,135 10,868 13,483 15,166 12,993 9,894 15,096 12,923 9,843 14.570 12.397 10,386 13.667 11,388 11,436 13,615 11,336 11,358 14.364 12.191 10,822 5 New York 15,248 13,165 9,743 15.178 13,095 9,692 14,652 12,569 10,235 13,749 11,560 11,285 13,697 11,508 11,207 14.446 12,363 10.671 13,555 11,511 | 11,412 6 Philadelphia. 15,328 13,319 9,732 15,258 13,249 9,681 14,732 12,723 10.224 13,829 11,714 11,274 13,777 11,662 11,196 14,526 12,517 10,660 13,635 11,665 11,401 15,360 13,411 9,785 15,290 13,341 9,734 14,764 12,815 10.277 13.861 11,806 11,327 13,809 11,754 11,249 14,558 12.609 10,713 13,667 11,757 11,454 15,340 13,443 9,665 15,270 13,373 9,614 14,744 12,847 10,157 13,841 11,838 11,207 13,789 11,786 11.129 14,538 12,641 10,593 13,647 11,789 11,434 15,282 13,596 9,380 15,212 9,329 14,686 13,000 9,872 13,783 11,991 10,922 13,731 11,939 10,844 14,480 12,794 10,308 13,589 11,942 11,049 15,316 13,666 9,385 15,246 13,596 9,334 14,720 13,070 9,877 13,817 12,061 10,927 13,765 12,009 10,849 14,514 12,864 10,313 13,623 12,012 11,054 15,482 13,984 8,903 15,412 13,914 8,852 14,886 13,388 9,395 13,983 12.379 10.445 13.931 12,327 10,367 14,680 13,182 9,831 13,789 12,330 10,572 15.766 14,470 9.161 15,696 14,400 9,110 15,170 13,874 9,653 14,267 12,865 10,703 14,215 12,813 10,625 14,964 13,668 10,089 15,801 14,507 9,188 15,731 14,437 9,137 15,205 13,911 9,680 14,302 12,902 10,730 14,250 12,850 10.652 14,999 13,705 15,814 14,555 9,197 15,744 14,485 9,146 15,218 13,959 9,689 14,315 12,950 10.739 14,263 12,898 10,661 15,012 13,753 15,910 14.695 9,231 9,282 15,840 14,625 15,314 14,099 9,774 14,411 13,090 10,824 14,359 13,038 10,746 15,108 13,893 15,930 14,731 9,298 15,860 14,661 9,247 15,334 14,135 9,790 14,431 13,126 10,840 14,379 13,074 10,762 15,128 13,929 10,226 15,878 14,828 9,183 15,808 14,758 9,132 15,282 14,232 9,675 14,379 13,223 10,725 14,327 13,171 10,647 15,076 14,036 10,111 14,185

13,466 11,051

11,611

13,414 10,999 11,533

12,510

11,283

11,609

13,473

11,339

11,563

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10,116

14,073 12,816 10,830
14,108 12,853 10,857

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