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The Commissary Issue in American-Panamanian Relations 1900-1936

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Thomas M. Leonard
Thomas M. Leonard*
Affiliation:
Saint Joseph College, Emmitsburg, Maryland
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Extract

Although the Panama Railroad Company had operated commissaries in the nineteenth century, not until the United States had begun canal construction in 1904 did pressure increase for supplies and services. In 1905 Canal Zone Governor Charles Magoon reported that two salary increases had been granted to meet rising food costs on the isthmus. On each occasion, however, the salary increment was offset by the Panamanian merchants who had raised commodity prices. Laborers purportedly slipped into the jungle in search of food. In July, 1905, Governor Magoon and Chief Engineer of the canal project, John F. Stevens, agreed to establish a commissary system to distribute food at cost to the canal labor force totalling approximately 17,000 men. Apparently reacting to the jungle environment and to greedy Panamanian merchants, the United States government turned to the commissary operation. With time's passing, the commissaries blossomed “from a pork and beans beginning to silk stocking maturity.” By the late 1940's, the casual visitor wondered if he had stumbled upon a typical United States Department store in the tropics. Many Panamanians were deeply angered by this business activity, believing that their country's economy had been crushed and their right to live and expand denied. Some Panamanians charged that an international crime had been committed by the United States against the small nation. The Republic's merchants contended that most of the commissary trade actually belonged to them.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , July 1973 , pp. 83 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1973

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References

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12 811F.244/38, Enclosure 1.

13 81lF.244/37, Enclosure 1.

14 811F.244/77, Enclosure 1. See also, Memoria, que el ministro de las relaciones exteriores, 1920 (Panama: Imprenta Nacional, 1921), pp. 22-28. Hereafter referred to as Memoria.

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19 811F.244/52.

20 81lF.244/45.

21 811F.244/45, Enclosure 3.

22 811F.244/81, Enclosure 1.

23 811F.244/78.

24 For complete text see Senate, 69th Congress, 2nd Session, Executive Document B (Washington, D. C: Government Printing Office. 1926). Minutes of the final meeting of the commissioners is found in Foreign Relations, 1926, Vol. II, pp. 828–832.

25 Ibid. pp. 13–14.

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35 811F.244/130, Enclosure 1; and 811F.244/185, Enclosure 2.

36 811F.244/129.

37 811F.244/138 and 140.

38 811F.244/142.

39 811F.244/159.

40 811F.244/167, Enclosure 2.

41 Ibid.

42 811F.244/167.

43 811F.244/167.

44 811F.244/199.

45 811F.244/26, Enclosure 1.

46 811F.244/38, Enclosure 2.

47 81lF.244/32, Enclosure 1.

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49 811F.244/50 and 52.

50 811F.244/74.

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56 811F.244/249.

57 811F.244/242.

58 811F.244/242.

59 See Executive Orders Relating to the Isthmian Canal Commission, 1904–1911 (Washington, D. C: Government Printing Office, 1911).

60 Numerical File, Enclosures 11–13.

61 Numerical File, Enclosure 3.

62 Numerical File, Enclosures 11–13.

63 811F.244/167, Enclosure 2.

64 81lF.244/190. Enclosure 1.

65 Ibid.

66 811F.244/190, Enclosure 2. Brackets supplied.

67 81lF.244/191, Enclosure 2.

68 811F.244/192.

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70 Numerical File, Enclosure 3.

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72 811F.244/77, Enclosure 1; also Memoria, 1920, pp. 22–28.

73 811F.244/52.

74 81lF.244/95.

75 811F.244/160.

76 81lF.244/248.

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113 “The Rebublic of Panama grants to the United States all rights which it now has or hereafter may acquire to the property of the New Panama Canal Company and the Panama Railroad Company as a result of the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Colombia to the Republic of Panama over the Isthmus of Panama and authorizes the New Panama Canal Company to sell and transfer to the United States its rights, privileges, properties and concessions as well as the Panama Railroad and all the shares or part of the shares of that company. Ibid., p. 4.

114 Ibid., pp. 1–2.