Panama

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.

Uncle Sam, as Santa Claus with his bag of toys, hands a bag of money labeled “$10,000,000” to a little boy wearing a hat labeled “Panama” and holding a huge ship, some books, one labeled “Ledger,” and towing a model train. A railing on the right divides the space into an area with a Christmas tree and an area without. Hanging on the railing, looking in, are five boys labeled “Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, [and] San Domingo” who are depressed and possibly angered that Santa Claus/Uncle Sam has nothing for them.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Only a month before this cartoon was drawn, on November 18, 1903, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was ratified between the United States and the very new Republic of Panama. It followed the declaration of Panama’s independence from Colombia in such short time that Secretary of State John Hay proposed and signed the treaty with Panama’s appointed representative, Philippe Bunau-Varilla in a New York hotel room; the “Minister” had not yet been to Panama.

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 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 agrees that nothing can be done without Panama’s consent. However, he suggests that Secretary of State Hay contact Rafael Reyes to see if he has a practical proposal which can be taken into consideration with the people of Panama.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-22

President Roosevelt is working on getting confirmation for the Panama and Cuban treaties. The Democrats are moving against both treaties and Senator Spooner has been “filled with distrust at the last moment.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-12

President Roosevelt is sure that he will enjoy seeing H. Mortimer Durand and looks forward to discussing several matters with Henry White. The Alaska and Panama settlements have made a “good showing” and Roosevelt intends to pass Cuban reciprocity as well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-26

President Roosevelt defends his actions regarding Colombia and negotiations regarding the Panama Canal. Roosevelt’s position is that the Panama project should not be a party project. His concerns are that Democratic senators could defeat the treaty if they deem such action to be to their political advantage.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-19

President Roosevelt enjoyed reading the book by George Otto Trevelyan’s son, George Macaulay Trevelyan, and comments that he finds reading a great comfort, a “dissipation which I have to sometimes try to avoid, instead of an irksome duty.” The presidential campaign is now opening and Roosevelt has been told he will be nominated without opposition, although he does not know who the Democrats will nominate and what the ultimate result of the election will be. Roosevelt feels that the American system of government is somewhat inferior to the British system in that “the Presidential office tends to put a premium upon a man’s keeping out of trouble rather than upon his accomplishing results,” whereas this is not as much the case for Prime Ministers. Roosevelt feels that his actions in ending the anthracite coal strike, and his dealings in Cuba and Panama, speak for themselves and have been for the good of the American people, but he knows that his actions have also earned him opponents.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-28

“Accept the felicitations of this Government on the first anniversary of Panaman Independence.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-03

President Roosevelt responds to Representative Williams’s claim that he does not understand the South. Although Roosevelt is “greatly puzzled” by some difficulties he has encountered in the South, he has tried to treat the Southern States fairly. Roosevelt believes there are no issues with what he has done in the South but how he has been misrepresented in the South. The president is fine if people disagree with his policies, but he does not like when the facts are misrepresented. He mentions statements made by Alabama Senator John Tyler Morgan and Williams himself that were incorrect. Roosevelt does not appreciate the application of base motives to the president of the United States, and believes if the people of the South have been misled, it is because Southern leaders have misled them. Roosevelt also does not appreciate white men in the South trying to get their vote to count more than those in the North, and believes African American men should be judged by the same tests as “ignorant, vicious and shiftless whites.” Roosevelt closes by saying that what the South “really needs” is for her leaders to tell the truth.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-05

President Roosevelt shares in President of Colombia Reyes’s desire to “draw a veil over the past” between their countries and Panama, although he protests against Reyes’s suggestion that the United States wronged Colombia during the revolution there and subsequent secession of Panama. In fact, the United States made every effort to help Colombia in the matter, and Roosevelt pledges to help in any way now – but he is not sure what Reyes expects him to do. Panamanian matters are up to the people of Panama. Roosevelt also says that the Navy Department will not be able to make a proposed purchase from Colombia.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-20

President Roosevelt would prefer to have outright control of the canal route and does not believe that Colombia has the right to permanently “block one of the world’s great highways.” However, Roosevelt cannot express his feelings publicly as this would be taken as an effort to incite an insurrection in Panama. Item includes typewritten and shorthand copy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-10

Theodore Roosevelt inquires about Ruth Moore Lee’s health, and tells about Kermit Roosevelt’s railroad work in South America. Roosevelt also explains his move from the Republican Party to the Progressive Party during the 1912 Presidential campaign and details issues in the party platform. Although Roosevelt expects that Wilson will win, he is happy because of his strong belief in the Progressive movement, his hope that it is the beginning of a new movement that will lead American democracy away from materialism, and his admiration for his colleagues such as Hiram Johnson.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-14

Theodore Roosevelt agrees that the United States government should fund the building of tributaries along the Mississippi to ward against flood waters. Roosevelt resolves that the tributaries should be of the finest engineering, comparable to the engineering used in the building of the Panama Canal. Roosevelt draws a corollary between improving safety along the Mississippi to a political alliance between the Northern and Southern regions of the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-07-16

Charles Fletcher Lummis praises President Roosevelt for maintaining the Cuban treaty and protecting giant redwoods. However, he believes that the United States was wrong in its rapid recognition of the Republic of Panama.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-12

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary received Federico Boyd’s article on the secession of Panama and will see that Roosevelt sees it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-11

On behalf of Theodore Roosevelt, his secretary thanks W. R. Coates for sending the lines about Panama.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-18