President Roosevelt was proud of his many accomplishments, one of which was completing the Panama Canal. The work began by the French under Ferdinand de Lesseps, but failed after 7 years, 20,000 lives and $300 million. In 1907, President Roosevelt had made the canal an American project, and by 1908 he was ready to claim victory, like no other man claimed victory before.
In 1881, Ferdinand de Lesseps enticed over 100,000 patriotic French investors to begin work on a sea-level canal that would cross the Columbian isthmus of Panama to unite the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1888, after $300 million was spent, 11 miles of canal had been dug, and 20,000 men died, the canal still remained unfinished. Investors lost their money, and the French had failed. But the dream of a canal was not dead. In 1902, Roosevelt acted quickly and the United States purchased the canal property and equipment for $40 million. Initial attempts at digging the canal in 1904 mirrored the French disaster, the Americans had poured in another $128 million into the swamps of Panama with little to show for it. Heavy rains and frequent mudslides often washed away much of the progress that was made. Much hope had seemed to be lost, but a new chief engineer by the name of John Stevens helped turn things around. Stevens had built the Great Northern Railroad across the Pacific Northwest and would now put in a multi-pronged plan of attack to save the canal. Attack the political red-tape to increase efficiency, attack the mosquitoes to reduce yellow fever, and attack sea-level plan to replace it a lake and lock plan. Although, Stevens resigned in 1907, he was quickly replaced with Colonel George Washington Goethels, an army engineer with experience building lock-type canals. The Panama canal was back on track and Roosevelt was ready to claim victory.
In Roosevelt's last annual address to congress, he outlined his accomplishments. Among this was his work on the Panama Canal:
"The work on the Panama Canal is being done with a speed, efficiency and entire devotion to duty which make it a model for all work of the kind. No task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any nation; and no task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men on the isthmus, from Colonel Goethals and his fellow commissioners through the entire list of employees who are faithfully doing their duty, have won their right to the ungrudging respect and gratitude of the American people."Roosevelt summed up his 7 years of Presidency,
"In short, during the seven years and three months there has been a net surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of the extraordinary expense of the Panama Canal, and a saving of nearly nine millions on the annual interest charge. This is an exceedingly satisfactory showing, especially in view of the fact that during this period the Nation has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that it regarded as necessary. There have been no new taxes and no increase of taxes; on the contrary, some taxes have been taken off; there has been a reduction of taxation."
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2017). Theodore Roosevelt: Eighth Annual Message. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29549 [Accessed 6 Dec. 2017].
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Panam2.JPG
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