Immediately following these occurrences came the episode of the Panama Canal. To review briefly a long told and well known story, the United States Government had not been successful in its attempt to secure from Columbia the treaty it sought for the building of the Isthmian Canal. In 1903 a revolution broke out in Panama, and Columbia failed to coerce effectively the insurgents, hindered, it is asserted, by the far reaching influence of the Roosevelt Administration. As soon as this revolution got in full swing the United States recognized Panama, and negotiated the long sought treaty. By the year 1903 we had acquired the canal zone. The determination to build a canal not only rendered inevitable the adoption of a policy of naval supremacy in the Caribbean Sea, but led also to the formulation of new political policies to be applied in the larger Canal Zone, that is, the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, Columbia, and Venezuela. These new policies are: (a) The establishment of protectorates, (b) the supervision of finances, (c) the control of naval routes, (d) the acquisition of naval stations, (e) and the policing and administration of disorderly countries. This program of policies has afforded this country many opportunities for expansion in these areas.
American Seas a Commercial Center
Prior to the completion of the Panama Canal the American Seas, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, for many years had been silent waters. The Panama Canal has reversed these conditions. The important trade routes of the world will pass about these islands and over these seas, and they will be noisy with the whirl of the propeller and bright with the sail of ships. A great part of American commerce and a larger part of the traffic of the world will be through the American seas between the walls of this canal and by the shores of Haiti. These seas will become more popular with commerce than any other section of the world. They will be a gathering place and crossing point for the east and the west, and their possession, either forcibly or otherwise, will carry with it more potentiality than the possession of any other body of water on the face of the earth. It will be absolutely necessary, says this country, so to speak, that the outposts of the canal shall be in the hands of strong and stable governments, and it cannot be thought that the harbors necessary for that commerce and the islands by which it will pass, and in whose broad bays it will be compelled to anchor, shall be ripe with revolution and dangerous to that commerce. This country which is practically guardian of this commerce must allow to obtain no condition which will be a daily menace to this unusual trade.
In all of these communities the commercial diplomacy of our time will have a growing interest, an interest greatly enhanced by the fact that through the Caribbean, the traffic center of the American tropics, will pass the trade routes developed by the Panama Canal. Both the competition for the control of the trade which lies within their borders, and the fact that before their ports passes the commerce of distant countries, will give to Caribbean communities an importance in international affairs they have not had since the days when the Spanish Empire in America was at its height and the people of one of the great world powers depended for its prosperity on the arrival of the gold ships from its American colonies. The fortunes of the Caribbean are no matter of merely local interest. They involve, to a degree still unappreciated, the world at large and especially the American continents, both North and South. Upon the solution of the problems which arise there may depend the character of international and economic development in America. The importance of the new position in which the Caribbean region stands is brought home by almost every development in American international affairs.
Caribbean problems take on another important aspect when we remember the wonderful possibilities of economic development. Partly acting as a cause of this trade development, partly one of its results, there is going on a steady and rapid influx of foreign capital. The English financing of the Argentine is familiar to students of Latin-American history. In recent years, with the establishment of order in Mexico, that country has attracted large amounts of foreign investments. The departure of Spain from Cuba and Porto Rico was the signal for a rush of investors to these islands to develop resources which mistaken fiscal policies and local unrest had formerly kept unused. Foreign capital exploits the sugar, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, fruit, oil, and asphalt. These investments are scattered among all the great commercial nations. They give an international character even to purely internal improvements. Economic interests now tend to overflow national boundaries and to make the orderly development of every state truly a matter of general concern. Under the Monroe Doctrine we practically say to European nations they shall not for any cause lay their hands heavily upon a country in this hemisphere, which, with the added responsibility as trustee for the world in the possession of the Isthmian Canal, makes it dependent upon the United States, it is said, to keep order.
Haiti's Commercial Position
This policy of aggression has only one explanation. Next to Cuba, Haiti is the island of the greatest strategical influence in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The two important routes to the mouth of the canal from North America are, first the route by the Windward Passage between the island of Cuba and the island of Haiti; second, the route by the Mona Passage between the island of Haiti and the island of Porto Rico. This latter passage will be that chiefly used by the sailing vessels to and from the canal to the eastern portion of North America. The other important passage to the mouth of the canal is the Annegada Passage by the islands of St. Thomas and Porto Rico, and will be the route used from the isthmus to the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The travel to the British Islands and northern Europe will also use the Mona Passage between Haiti and Porto Rico. In other words, every ship sailing from Canada, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newport News, Charleston or the eastern coast of North America on its journey to the Latin American world of commerce will be compelled to pass by the island of Haiti, either through the Windward or the Mona Passage, and the travel to the greater part of Europe will use the Mona Passage by the east coast of Haiti. This world-wide commerce in case of stress and storm, according to the business world, must utilize this island in the necessities of sea life. It is the first convenient harboring place on its way to the Canal, and on its return it is the last stopping place. It will be as necessary to the commerce of this country as Malta or Aden or Gibraltar are to the Suez route. It lies athwart the greatest commerce that will cleave the seas. With the friendly influence of Cuba and Haiti the commerce of the United States will have a tremendous advantage in case of war or unfriendliness on the part of any nation, even if Jamaica is held by an unfriendly power. Modern nations with the shortening of trade routes, the touching of countries, and their demand for sure commercial conditions, are unfortunately arriving at the thought that there is no inalienable right on the part of any people to control any region to the detriment and injury of the world at large.
Summary
While many believe that the United States has thrown aside her lofty ideals to take on a program of imperialism, there is a growing colonial interest and expansion which does not, probably due to the very nature of conditions, extend these ideals. Whether the condition is one acceptable to us or not, says the business world, we are no longer merely a continental power. We already hold an Asiatic colony. A weak African state founded from this country has asked us for a protectorate and is already under our benevolent supervision. Toward the south we hold a colony, Porto Rico, and are the protectors of Cuba, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. We have responsibilities in Nicaragua.