Panama--Panama Canal

The Annual Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission for a portion of the current year to November 30, 1904.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11

President Roosevelt talks about his favorite horse, and mentions Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt’s sickness, which leaves Ethel to read to Archie and Quentin. Granville Fortescue is at the White House as aide. Mrs. Wood is coming to dinner and there is quite a furor over General Wood’s confirmation. The situation in Panama is getting along alright.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1903-12-05

An article from “The Outlook” magazine regarding Theodore Roosevelt, canal development, and political aspects. It was the eleventh installment in a possible autobiography by Roosevelt. 

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913-12-06

Author gives breakdown of Panama Canal construction stating that several hundred engineers and over a thousand laborers are working on the project. Additional information is given about the use of old French machinery being used in conjunction with newer machinery.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-12

Theodore P. Shonts milks a cow labeled “Canal Commission” that is feeding on a mixture of hay and money labeled “Appropriation.” Shonts has a bucket labeled “Progress” between his knees. Secretary of State William H. Taft stands in the background holding a pitchfork. Up a hill on the right is an outbuilding labeled “U.S. Treasury” full of hay.

comments and context

Comments and Context

J. S. Pughe’s cover cartoon in Puck is a virtual lesson in cartoon iconography — hay-barn, fodder, milk, funds. The actual context is the figures and the dialog-caption, addressing a rather continuing challenge in the construction of the Panama Canal, centered in the Culebra Cut.

A variety of boats and ships, as balloon aircraft loaded with tourists and travelers, float above the Panama Canal. It is suggested that the age of aviation will render the canal obsolete. Caption: At which distant day ocean navigation will be a trifle out of date.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Theodore Roosevelt tells John Callan O’Laughlin that he has nothing to fear about Congress investigating the “Steel Corporation matter,” the Sugar Trust, or the Panama Canal because every action was made public knowledge from the beginning. Roosevelt expected some public uproar about the Steel Corporation once the danger had passed.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1911-06-02

A bloated businessman labeled “Railroad Interests,” smoking a cigar and wearing a gold necklace of railroad passenger cars, sits on the hillside at the Culebra Cut in Panama. He is speaking to Uncle Sam, who is standing on the edge of the Cut, his coat over one arm and holding a pick-axe with the other. Stuffed head-first, in the businessman’s pocket, is John F. Wallace, chief engineer of the canal construction until his resignation in 1905. Caption: Gentleman in the Background — Sam, here’s an engineering problem for you. If it’ll take ten years to cut through Culebra, how many years will it take to cut through me?

comments and context

Comments and Context

It was in June of 1905, weeks before Puck published this centerspread cartoon by Joseph Keppler, Junior, that John F. Wallace, the Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal project, abruptly resigned his position. He was succeeded by John F. Stevens. Both men were railroad designers and engineers in the United States before and after their work on the Canal.

A frenzy of activity is underway as many politicians and capitalists join the labor forces to construct the Panama Canal. Theodore P. Shonts, chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, is standing on the right, holding a whip, and directing the laborers. In the background, large groups of men labeled “Order of Walking Delegates, The Idle Rich, Amalgamated Aldermen, [and] Insurance Presidents Union No. 6” are waiting, with tools, to be called into action. Caption: Let our superfluous citizens do the work.

comments and context

Comments and Context

S. D. Ehrhart’s expansive cartoon in Puck seized upon the news of labor challenges in the Culebra Cut portion of the Panama Canal construction, and built an elaborate cartoon-fantasy about people in politics, the social world, and finance being put to work at manual labor.

A Frenchman stands outside the U.S. Treasury building, holding in one hand a newspaper that states “Colombia Rejects Canal Treaty” and in the other hand a paper labeled “40,000,000 for France if Treaty is Ratified.” It appears that he was about to cash in a promissory note for $40 million, only to discover at the last moment that it is worthless.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The disappointed Frenchman in Pughe’s cartoon reflected the angrier (if possible) reaction of President Roosevelt, Secretary of State John Hay, Senator John Spooner (R-WI), and other American proponents of a canal through the Panamanian region of Colombia. A treaty, with all business and financial arrangements, had been negotiated, only to be rejected by the Colombian senate.

Uncle Sam, taking a break from digging, leans on a shovel while speaking to a diminutive man wearing two handguns and a knife, and a sombrero labeled “Central America.” In the background is a sign that states “Panama Canal Route.” Caption: Uncle Sam — Now, young man, while I’m digging here, I’d like a long period of depression in the Revolution Business.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon was drawn immediately upon the signing of the Hay–Herrán Treaty that ceded rights to United States to build a canal through Colombia. (The signatories were John Hay, United States Secretary of State; and Tomás Herrán, Colombian chargé d’affaires.) The treaty was signed on March 14, 1903, and this issue of Puck is dated March 25.

President Roosevelt operating a steam shovel during his visit to the Panama Canal dig site.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-11-26

President Roosevelt sitting in a steam shovel

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-11-30

President Roosevelt speaking to a group of workmen beside a steam shovel

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-11-26

President Roosevelt speaking with railroad employees during his visit to the Panama Canal.

Collection

Dickinson State University

Creation Date

1906

President Roosevelt rides over the “Cuban Reciprocity Bill,” the “Panama Canal Bill,” and the ratification of treaties towards a goal.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-16

Uncle Sam looks on as President Roosevelt forces a horse labeled the Senate to drink from a water trough labeled Panama Canal Treaty. Roosevelt holds a smoking gun where the smoke forms the words “extra session.” The item is regarding an extra session of Congress to address open treaties and bills.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-18

Uncle Sam hands President Roosevelt a shovel as he starts to dig the Panama Canal himself. Caption: Uncle Sam:-“Now for a little strenuousness, Mr. President. We’re Waiting for You.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-18

President Roosevelt rides down the Capitol steps laden with the signed bills, Panama Canal treaty and Cuban Reciprocity bill, that he kept the Senate in an extra session to complete.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-21

President Roosevelt is shown pushing an extra session of Congress down the throat of Senator Morgan of Alabama who is standing on the Panama Canal bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-02