The Panama Canal

by Frederic J. Haskin

FERDINAND DE LESSEPS
PHILIPPE BUNAU-VARILLA
AN OLD FRENCH EXCAVATOR NEAR TABERNILLA

This was aided to a very large degree by the manner of living obtaining there at that time. In 1887 Lieutenant Rogers, of the United States Navy, inspected the canal work and reported that the laborers were paid every Saturday, that they spent Sunday in drinking and Monday in recuperating, returning to work on Tuesday. A prominent English writer declared after a visit to Panama that in all the world there was not, perhaps, concentrated in any single spot so much swindling and villainy, so much vile disease, and such a hideous mass of moral and physical abominations.

Add to these things the fact that no one then knew of the responsibility of the stegomyia mosquito for the existence of yellow fever, nor that the anopheles mosquito was the disseminator of malaria, and it is little wonder that the French failed. The hospitals, instead of aiding in the elimination of yellow fever, became its greatest allies. The bedposts were set in cups of water, and here the yellow-fever mosquitoes could breed uninterruptedly and carry infection to every patient. Wards were shut up tight at night to keep out the "terrible miasma," and the nurses went to their own quarters. When morning came there were among those thus left alone always some ready for the tomb.

The history of the French attempt to construct the Panama Canal begins, in reality, with the Suez Canal. In 1854 Ferdinand de Lesseps, a Frenchman connected with the diplomatic service, saw an opportunity to revive the plans for a Suez Canal that had been urged by Napoleon in 1798. His friend, Said Pasha, had just succeeded to the khediviate of Egypt, and his proposals were warmly received. The building of the canal, which presented no serious engineering problems, was begun in 1859 and completed 10 years later. There was a sordid side to its story, too; but as the losses were borne chiefly by the Egyptians, Europe ignored them and looked only to the great success of the canal itself.

As a result, de Lesseps became a national hero in France, and when it became known that he contemplated piercing another isthmus, the whole country rose to his support. In 1875, six years after the Suez Canal had been opened, and as soon as France had recovered her breath from the shock of the war with Prussia, a company was organized by de Lesseps to procure a concession for the building of a Panama Canal.

Already the world, as well as France, had come to regard de Lesseps as an engineer, rather than as a promoter of stock companies, and in this lay the germ of the disaster that was to overtake the whole scheme.

In 1876, Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse, a lieutenant of engineers in the French Army, was sent to Panama to determine the most feasible route and to conclude negotiations for the construction of a canal there. He made a perfunctory survey, commencing at Panama and extending only two-thirds of the way to the Atlantic coast; nevertheless, he calculated the cost in detail and claimed that his estimates might be depended upon to come within 10 per cent of the actual figures. However weak in engineering he may have been, he was strong in international negotiations, returning to France with a concession which gave him the right to form a company to build the canal, and which gave to that company all the rights it needed, subject only to the prior rights of the Panama Railroad Company under its concession. The concession was to run for 99 years, beginning from the date when the collection of tolls on transit and navigation should begin. The promoters were allowed 2 years to form the company and 12 years to build the canal. The Government of Colombia was entitled to a share in the gross income of the canal after the seventy-fifth year from its opening. Four-fifths of this was to be paid to the National Government and one-fifth to the State of Panama. The canal company was to guarantee that these annual payments should on no account be less than $250,000.

When Wyse returned to Paris he got de Lesseps to head the project. The hero of Suez summoned an international commission of individuals and engineers, known as the International Scientific Congress, which met in Paris, May 15, 1879. There were 135 delegates in attendance, most of whom were Frenchmen, although nearly every European nation was represented. The United States had 11 representatives at this congress. After two weeks' conference the decision was reached that a sea-level canal should be constructed from Colon to Panama. Only 42 of the 135 men who met were engineers, and it has been stated that those who knew most about the subject found their opinions least in demand. M. de Lesseps dominated the conference. Several members who were radically opposed to its conclusions, rather than declare their difference from the opinions of a man of such great distinction and high reputation as de Lesseps enjoyed at that time, absented themselves when the final vote was taken.

After it was determined to build a sea-level canal, the canal concession owned by Wyse and his associates was transferred to the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique (The Universal Interoceanic Canal Company) of which de Lesseps was given control. The canal company was capitalized at $60,000,000. The preliminary budget of expenses amounted to $9,000,000, of which $2,000,000 went to Wyse and his associates for the concession. The organizers were entitled to certain cash payments and 15 per cent of the net profits.