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Review of The Canal Builders: Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal by Julie Greene, March 2011
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Review of The Canal Builders: Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal by Julie Greene, March 2011
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Alexander Missal
damaging of all, unfortunate engineering
Seaway to the Future: American
decisions" (26). In 1903 assistance pro-
Social Visions and the Construction
vided by the U.S. government and the
of the Panama Canal
American-owned Panama Railroad to the
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,
Panamanian independence movement
2008, 267 pp., 34 b/w illus. $34.95 (cloth),
resulted in Panama's independence from
ISBN 9780299229405
Columbia. The following year the Hay-
Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed with pro-
visions highly favorable to American
Julie Greene
interests.
The Canal Builders: Making America's
The canal project got off to a rocky
Empire at the Panama Canal
start. The first chief engineer, John Wal-
New York: Penguin Press, 2009, 496 pp., 37
lace, lasted only one year. During his ten-
b/w illus. $30 (cloth), ISBN 9781594202018
ure, rumors spread in the United States
about cronyism in the ICC and the
The story of the Panama Canal's construc-
employment of prostitutes for the work-
tion has been told many times, notably by
ers. Both Missal and Greene credit Theo-
David McCullough in his bestseller The
dore Roosevelt and his visit to the Canal
Path Between the Seas (New York: Simon
Zone in 1906 with turning the situation
& Schuster, 1977). Begun in May 1904,
around. In particular, both authors argue
the forty-mile (64-km) canal was built by
that the iconic photograph of Roosevelt in
the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC), a
his tropical white suit operating a Bucyrus
civilian branch of the U.S. Department of
steam shovel was instrumental in aligning
War. It was completed by August 1914 at a
public opinion behind the canal project.¹
cost of $352 million. During that decade,
John Stevens, a railroad engineer, was
150,000 people, mostly West Indians,
the second chief engineer for the ICC. He
worked on the project. What Alexander
believed that the principal problem facing
Missal, a German journalist with a PhD in
the ICC was labor. As Greene relates, Ste-
Anglo-American History from the Univer-
vens advocated the use of Chinese work-
sity of Cologne, and Julie Greene, a pro-
ers, but for various reasons the ICC turned
fessor of history at the University of
to West Indians (principally from Jamaica,
Maryland, have achieved in their books is
Barbados, and Martinique). Later this
to add valuable new dimensions to our
unskilled labor force was augmented by
understanding of the canal's construction
Spaniards, Italians, and Greeks, recruited
and reception, and of the daily lives of
in the belief, widespread among the ICC's
those who built it. In Seaway to the Future
management, that white workers would be
Missal recaptures the early significance to
more productive than the black West Indi-
Americans of the canal and Canal Zone-a
ans. White-collar and skilled blue-collar
strip of land five miles wide on either side
workers were recruited from the United
of the canal and by 1912 home to 62,000
States and paid 25 to 33 percent more than
people-by analyzing American books,
wages at home. To manage this workforce,
magazine articles, photographs, and draw-
the ICC developed a system of gold and
ings of the era. Greene, in The Canal Build-
silver payrolls. The gold roll included
ers, explores social and labor conditions for
white-collar and skilled workers, mostly
the workers who built the canal.
Americans, paid in U.S. currency, while
Both authors provide similar back-
those on the silver roll were paid in Pana-
ground information. The attempt to build
manian dollars. As Greene points out, the
a canal in Panama began in 1880 with the
distinction was not strictly based on race
French Compagnie Universelle du Canal
but, rather, "on class, gender, race and
Interocéanique, under the direction of
nationality" (72). Gradually the gold/silver
Suez Canal builder Ferdinand de Lesseps.
payroll system "hardened into a system of
That project was abandoned in 1889, as
segregation
[which] came to shape
Greene explains, on account of "persistent
every aspect of life in the Zone, from work
disease, inadequate technology, insuffi-
to housing, leisure activities, sexual rela-
cient funds, high labor turnover, and most
tionships, and shopping" (63).
BOOKS
121
Here the interests of Missal and
elite" (as quoted by Missal, 136). Missal
often less than satisfactory. One such effort
Greene diverge. Missal is primarily inter-
explains how Bellamy, like many other
was the development of YMCA clubhouses
ested in what the project meant for the
Americans, was "appalled by the transfor-
throughout the Canal Zone. Greene
American people and how their views were
mation of American cities and the social
reports that in Gorgona, a machine-shop
affected by what he calls "the Panama
tensions of his age" (136), and therefore
town, worker membership in the YMCA
authors." By this he means both book
celebrated order-the basis of his utopia-
began at 72 percent in 1907 but fell to 44
authors, such as Willis John Abbot, whose
over democracy's perceived potential for
percent by 1910. The workers turned
Panama and the Canal in Picture and Prose
chaos. In Bellamy's utopia, democracy is
instead to amusements and diversions oper-
(1913) sold more than one million copies,
sacrificed to the order of what he calls a
ating outside the Canal Zone, particularly
and the authors of articles in popular new
"perfect concert of action" (137). Many
the saloons and brothels of Cocoa Grove, a
mass-circulation American magazines
Americans saw the Panama Canal as the
district of Panama City. Greene describes
such as Cosmopolitan and McClure's. It was
realization of Bellamy's utopia. Bellamy's
how the tensions among American, Pana-
these authors, Missal argues, who gave
"perfect concert of action" was, in fact,
manian, and West Indian workers boiled
reality to the Panama Canal. The Panama
similar to ICC secretary Bishop's descrip-
over in the Cocoa Grove Riots of 4 July
authors, for example, celebrated William
tion of the Panama Canal project as a
1912, causing one death and twenty inju-
Gorgas, the medical officer who mini-
"perfect operation" (138). As in Bellamy's
ries. And death inside the Canal Zone was
mized yellow fever and malaria in the
utopia, the Panama authors saw in the
rife. According to official figures, some
Canal Zone, as "first of all a success of
construction of the canal the "elimination
5,600 workers died in the course of the
American civilization: through his work,"
of private companies," the existence of
canal's construction, although the actual
one author praised, "a veritable valley of
"great distributing establishments," a
total may have been closer to 15,000.
death has been converted into a land of
"general dining house in every neighbor-
Greene does not provide a breakdown of
health and comfort" (62). By painting por-
hood," and "much larger incomes" (136).
these deaths but indicates that the leading
traits of figures such as Gorgas, the Pan-
To most readers of the time, these achieve-
causes were pneumonia, nephritis (liver
ama authors sought to demonstrate that
ments seemed to outweigh the loss of
inflammation), and industrial accidents.
the canal was where "human technology
democratic rights. As in Bellamy's utopia,
Both authors are critical of the ICC's social
triumphed over nature" (64). They wrote
where "the working population had no
policies, particularly the treatment of West
further, says Missal, of "the staggering
voting rights" and "the state [was] ruled by
Indian workers. Yet neither author provides
dimensions of the Panama Canal and the
an administrative elite" (136), workers in
a comparison with other contemporary
wonder of the engineering work" (122). In
the Canal Zone had order but virtually no
construction projects, such as the New
developing this popular view of the canal,
constitutional rights.
York Barge Canal (built 1903-1918), which
they frequently contrasted American know-
Where Missal is interested in how the
would permit readers to assess this judg-
how with supposed French ineptitude and
Panama authors portrayed the canal to the
ment more fully.
moral inferiority. For example, they
American population, Greene is interested
As Missal's discussion of the Panama
reported that the French shipped 20,000
in the workers' perspectives. "How," she
authors indicates, most North American
snowplows to Panama and that they drank
asks, "does looking at the [Panama Canal]
observers of the time viewed the project as
champagne instead of water-allegations
construction project from the perspective
utopian in its aims and achievements.
denied at the time by high-ranking mem-
of the workers change our understanding of
From an architectural historian's point of
bers of the ICC, but nonetheless popular
this moment in history?" (4). Greene
view, it is disappointing that neither author
with the American public.
explains that the engineers of the Panama
included much material on the physical
Most crucially, the Panama authors
Canal not only engineered a transportation
aspects of that "utopia," such as the ICC's
described the Canal Zone as a tropical
corridor but also a social system that would
architectural and city planning efforts. (In
American Garden of Eden, a utopia; this
ensure order and discipline among the
addition to building the canal, the ICC
view became popular and pervasive in the
workers and promote the canal's timely
also managed the Panama Railroad Cor-
United States. Here both Missal and
completion. The system of gold and silver
poration-a separate entity also owned by
Greene raise the specter of Edward Bel-
rolls, through encouraging competition
the U.S. government-and built and
lamy's best-selling utopian novel of 1888,
among social and ethnic groups, was one
managed the towns and facilities of the
Looking Backward, 2000-1887, in which a
way to achieve this order. The ICC also
Canal Zone.) Also disappointing, and
time traveler from 1887 appears in Boston
achieved order through such negative mea-
somewhat surprising, is the fact that nei-
in the year 2000.² In the new society of
sures as blacklisting, anti-loitering laws,
ther author provides a broader discussion
2000 he finds a "system of organized pro-
police spying, extensive prison punishment,
of nineteenth-century utopian planning
duction and distribution" that has "elimi-
and deportation. Unions were opposed and
schemes or literature beyond Bellamy's
nated private companies" and established
union organizers deported. Along with
book. Moreover, both Greene's and Mis-
"great distribution centers." "The work-
these measures, the ICC developed amuse-
sal's books would have benefited from the
ing population has no voting rights" and
ments and diversions that were intended to
inclusion of more illustrations. Captions in
"the state is ruled by an administrative
keep the workers content, yet these were
both tend to be minimal and credits for
122
JSAH / 70:1, MARCH 2011
photographers and delineators are some-
times omitted. While both books include
the maps needed to understand the loca-
tion and layout of the Canal Zone, those in
Greene's book, drawn by Jeffrey Ward, are
superior. Still, shortcomings aside, Missal's
and Greene's books present important and
complementary new perspectives on the
construction of the Panama Canal, per-
spectives not readily available elsewhere.
ROBERT J. KAPSCH
Center for Historic Engineering
and Architecture
Notes
1. Roosevelt's trip to Panama marked the first time
a sitting president had left the U.S.
2. Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 2000-1887
(Boston: Ticknor and Company, 1888).
BOOKS
123