Political Reforms
The Panama Canal.The most important foreign question confronting President Roosevelt on the day of his inauguration,that of the Panama Canal,was a heritage from his predecessor.The idea of a water route across the isthmus,long a dream of navigators,had become a living issue after the historic voyage of the battleship Oregon around South America during the Spanish War.But before the United States could act it had to undo the ClaytonBulwer treaty,made with Great Britain in 1850,providing for the construction of the canal under joint supervision.This was finally effected by the HayPauncefote treaty of 1901authorizing the United States to proceed alone,on condition that there should be no discriminations against other nations in the matter of rates and charges.
This accomplished,it was necessary to decide just where the canal should be built.One group in Congress favored the route through Nicaragua;in fact,two official commissions had already approved that location.Another group favored cutting the way through Panama after purchasing the rights of the old French company which,under the direction of De Lesseps,the hero of the Suez Canal,had made a costly failure some twenty years before.After a heated argument over the merits of the two plans,preference was given to the Panama route.As the isthmus was then a part of Colombia,President Roosevelt proceeded to negotiate with the government at Bogota a treaty authorizing the United States to cut a canal through its territory.The treaty was easily framed,but it was rejected by the Colombian senate,much to the President's exasperation."You could nomore make an agreement with the Colombian rulers,"he exclaimed,"than you could nail jelly to a wall."He was spared the necessity by a timely revolution.On November 3,1903,Panama renounced its allegiance to Colombia and three days later the United States recognized its independence.
This amazing inciden.Panama:A Ship Passing through the Gatun Lockswas followed shortly by the signature of a treaty between Panama and the United States in which the latter secured the right to construct the longdiscussed canal,in return for a guarantee of independence and certain cash payments.The rights and property of the French concern were then bought,and the final details settled.A lock rather than a sealevel canal was agreed upon.Construction by the government directly instead of by private contractors was adopted.Scientific medicine was summoned to stamp out the tropical diseases that had made Panama a plague spot.Finally,in 1904,as the President said,"the dirt began to fly."After surmounting formidable difficultiesengineering,labor,and sanitarythe American forces in 1913joined the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific.Nearly eight thousand miles were cut off the sea voyage from New York to San Francisco.If any were inclined to criticize President Roosevelt for the way in which he snapped off negotiations with Colombia and recognized the Panama revolutionists,their attention was drawn to the magnificent outcome of the affair.Notwithstanding the treaty with Great Britain,Congress passed a tolls bill discriminating in rates in favor of American ships.It was only on the urgent insistence of President Wilson that the measure was later repealed.
The Conclusion of the RussoJapanese War.The applause which greeted the President's next diplomatic stroke was unmarred by censure of any kind.In the winter of 1904there broke out between Japan and Russia a terrible conflict over the division of spoils in Manchuria.The fortunes of war were with the agile forces of Nippon.In this struggle,it seems,President Roosevelt's sympathies were mainly with the Japanese,although he observed the proprieties of neutrality.At all events,Secretary Hay wrote in his diary on New Year's Day,1905,that the President was "quite firm in his view that we cannot permit Japan to be robbed a second time of her victory,"referring to the fact that Japan,ten years before,after defeating China on the field of battle,had been forced by Russia,Germany,and France to forego the fruits of conquest.
Whatever the President's personal feelings may have been,he was aware that Japan,despite her triumphs over Russia,was staggering under a heavy burden of debt.At a suggestion from Tokyo,he invited both belligerents in the summer of 1905to join in a peace conference.The celerity of their reply was aided by the pressure of European bankers,who had already come to a substantial agreement that the war must stop.After some delay,Portsmouth,New Hampshire,was chosen as the meeting place for the spokesmen of the two warring powers.Roosevelt presided over the opening ceremonies with fine urbanity,thoroughly enjoying the justly earned honor of being for the moment at the center of the world's interest.He had the satisfaction of seeing the conference end in a treaty of peace and amity.
The Monroe Doctrine Applied to Germany.Less spectacular than the RussoJapanese settlement but not less important was a diplomatic passageatarms with Germany over the Monroe Doctrine.This clash grew out of the inability or unwillingness of the Venezuelan government to pay debts due foreign creditors.Having exhausted their patience in negotiations,England and Germany,in December 1901,sent battleships to establish what they characterized as "a peaceful blockade"of Venezuelan ports.Their action was followed by the rupture of diplomatic relations;there was a possibility that war and the occupation of Venezuelan territory might result.