February 12, 1999
Page 4
Message of The President on The Panama Canal
Communicated to the two Houses of Congress
by President Theodore Roosevelt
December 17, 1906
Complaints Not Well Founded
The result of the investigation of this honest complaint was typical of what occurred when
I investigated most of the other honest complaints made to me. That is, where the
complaints were not made wantonly or maliciously,they almost always proved due to failure
to appreciate the fact that time was necessary in the creation and the completion of this
Titanic work in a tropic wilderness. It is impossible to avoid some mistakes in
building a giant canal through jungle-covered mountains and swamps, while at the same time
sanitating tropic cities, and providing for the feeding and general care of from twenty to
thirty thousand workers. The complaints brought to me, either of insufficient
provision in caring for some of the laborers, or of failure to finish the pavements of
Colon, or of failure to supply water, or of failure to build wooden sidewalks for the use
of the laborers in the rainy season, on investigation proved, almost without exception, to
be due merely to the utter inability of the Commission to do everything at once.
For instance, it was imperative that Panama, which had the highest death rate and where
the chance of a yellow fever epidemic was strongest, should be cared for first; yet most
of the complaints as to the delay in taking care of Colon were due to the inability or
unwillingness to appreciate this simple fact. Again, as the thousands of laborers
are brought over and housed, it is not always possible at the outset to supply wooden
walks and bath houses, because other more vital necessities have to be met; and in
consequence, while most of the settlements have good bathhouses, and, to a large extent at
least, wooden walks, there are plenty of settlements where wooden walks have not yet been
laid down, and I visited one where the bath houses have not been provided. But
in this very settlement the frames of the bath houses are already up, and in every case
the utmost effort is being made to provide the wooden walks. Of course, in some of
the newest camps tents are used pending the building of houses. where possible, I
think detached houses would be preferable to the semi-detached houses now in general use.
Unjust Criticism
Care and forethought have been exercised by the Commission, and nothing has reflected more
credit upon them than their refusal to either go ahead too fast or to be deterred by the
fear of criticism from not going ahead fast enough. It is curious to note the fact
that many of the most severe critics of the Commission criticize them for precisely
opposite reasons, some complaining bitterly that the work is not in a more advanced
condition, while the others complain that it has been rushed with such haste that there
has been insufficient preparation for the hygiene and comfort of the employees. As a
matter of fact neither criticism is just. It would have been impossible to go
quicker than the Commission has gone, for such quickness would have meant insufficient
preparation. On the other hand, to refuse to do anything until every possible
future contingency had been met would have caused wholly unwarranted delay. the
right course to follow was exactly the course which has been followed. Every
reasonable preparation was made in advance, the hygienic conditions in especial being made
as nearly perfect as possible; while on the other hand there has been no timid refusal to
push forward the work because of inability to anticipate every possible emergency, for, of
course, many defects can only be shown by the working of the system in actual practice.
In addition to attending to the health of the employees, it is of course necessary to
provide for policing the Zone. This is done by a police force which at present
numbers over 200 men, under Captain Shanton. About one-fifth of the men are white
and the others black. In different places I questioned about twenty or thirty of
these en, taking them at random. they were a fine set, physically and in discipline.
With one exception all the white men I questioned had served in the American Army,
usually in the Philippines, and belonged to the best type of American soldier.
Without exception the black policemen whom I questioned had served either in the British
army or in the Jamaica or Barbados police. They were evidently contented, and were
doing their work well. Where possible the policemen are used to control people of
their own color, but in any emergency no hesitation is felt in using them
indiscriminately.
Inasmuch as so many both the white and colored employees have brought their families with
them, schools have been established, the school service being under Mr. O'Connor.
For the white pupils white American teachers are employed; for the colored pupils there
are also some white American teachers, one Spanish teacher, and one colored American
teacher, most of them being colored teachers from Jamaica, Barbados, and St. Lucia.
The schoolrooms were good, and it was a pleasant thing to see the pride that the teachers
were taking in their work and their pupils.
There seemed to me to be many saloons in the Zone; but the new high-license law which goes
into effect on January 1 next will probably close four-fifths of them. Resolute and
successful efforts are being made to minimize and control the sale of liquor.
The cars on the passenger trains on the Isthmus are divided into first and second class,
the difference being marked in the price of tickets. As a rule second-class
passengers are colored and first-class passengers white; but in every train which I saw
there were a number of white second-class passengers, and on two of them there were
colored first-class passengers.
Presented by CZBrats
February 12, 1999