Terms of the Treaty
This treaty, called the Hay-Varilla treaty, was ratified in December, 1903. Its terms provided that the sum of ten millions of dollars be paid by the United States to the Government of Panama, and the further sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year for all time, commencing nine years after the ratification of the treaty by both countries. The Republic of the United States was to have absolute title and sovereignty to a strip of land ten miles wide, five miles on either side of the center of the canal prism, extending from Colon to Panama, and three miles out into the water on either side, but without including either of the cities of Colon or Panama within its area.
This treaty further provided that the United States should guarantee the independence of the Panamanian Republic, the terms being most explicit that the United States should protect the Panamanian Government from insurrection within and invasion from without. This little joker in the treaty between the United States and Panama makes that little republic the strongest of all the republics on the American continent next to our own. In fact, the Republic of Panama is as strong as the United States, and will be so as long as the American flag floats in sovereignty over a foot of American soil.
The treaty also provided that the United States should have the privilege of sanitizing the cities of Panama and Colon, and that the cost of the same should be a charge against the Government of Panama.
When all obstacles to the acquirement of the zone were removed under the Hay-Varilla treaty, the next step on the part of the American Republic was to begin the most important work of sanitization.