Central High School - EN EM Yearbook (North Manchester, IN)

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•• AS YOU UKK IT. to 1889. With the exception of Cleveland' nil-ministration, the Panama project went through a steady change of policy. Until that time the United States had thot of the canal as being used by all nations on the most liberal terms. Now it wan clear that the policy had come to be “a canal under American control. Congress introduced resolutions declaring that the United States must exercise such control over the canal as their safety and prosperity demanded. In 1882 correspondence between the United States and the Central American governments with regard to the treaty was dropped and has not since been resumed. The Nicaragua treaty was withdrawn Commissioners were appointed to go to Central America and also to South America to learn the best methods of securing intimate international and commercial relations. This commission recommended that the United States extend ail invitation to the several other governments of America to join at Washington in conference to promote the commercial intercourse and prepare some plan of arbitration. The Maritime Canal company, which secured a concession for a canal by the Nicaragua route in 1885, and had carried on the work of excavation from 1829 to 1903. did not accomplish very much in those four years when the panic of 1903 came on, the company became absolutely insolvent and has never been a hie to resume work. It has lost its concession. Whin this private effort was seen to be a failure the American government decided to investigate the Nicaragua mute with the idea of constructing a canal by that route as a government enterprise. Congress, turned to this route mainly because it was the one in which an Amenc-m company had been interested and because scandalous failure of the Old Panama Company had brought its route into disrepute- In the last few years the thot of this route has been abandoned and that between Panama and Colon has received the consideration. In 1888 surveyors secured the contract for the Panama route for a canal, and a congress was held at Paris to consider the matter. United States commissioners were present and the congress adopted a scheme for a sea-level canal, which we know now was totally impracticable. The Panama route was again considered in 1892 and seemed the favorable location. This route between Panama and Colon was both shorter and could be made cheaper than the Nicaragua route. . It is also of lower elevation. On June 28. 1902, the President was authorized to proceed with the construction of a canal by wa v of Panama as soon as possession could be obtained. There were many diplomatic difficulties to be considered before making the canal. The United States must make treaties with all tile foreign nations. As was said before, there can be no tide level canal on account of the many obstacles, such as the swamps and volcanic ledges on the Panama side: while the marshes and quicksands on the Atlantic coast arc apparently unsunnonntable. The periodical overflow of the Chagres tills the valley of the isthmus, as in tlie flood of 1879, which swept all before it. and covered the railway with twelve feet of water. The wet season of nearly eight months, causes delays and damages to the cuttings. Earthquakes, too. occur as in September 1882 when much damage was done to the cities and to the Panama Railway. To this must be added the great cost of labor and living. January 22. 1903. Congress agreed upon a treaty which they thot would be favorable to Colombia. Hut in a special session of congress. Colombia failed to acknowledge the treaty. Not until November 1903 did the United States succeed in getting control of the proposed route. Colombia was forced to ratify the treaty and her independence was acknowledged in return. At the first session of Congress in 1904, the states instructed their representatives to vote f».r ratification of the treaty. Many democrats had already stated their intention of voting in the affirmative. January 18. three new amendments. relating to sanitation and the control of the harbors, were introduced. President Roosevelt asked that there be no more amendments added and that the bill be presented for ratification. At this meeting $14,009,000 were appropriated to be paid Panama for annexation: $15,000.-ooo to Colombia for loss of territory: $40,000.tNK» for the purchase of canal's rights. Congress decided to take final action on the treaty on or before February 23. On the 20th. Morgan made the last speech oil the subject, and on the 23rd. the treaty was ratified by a majority of seventy-one to seventeen, fifteen democrats joining the republicans in the affirmative. Work will l»egiii at the nearest possible time and preparations are already being made. Some ofShak ?speare’s Women Fern Hornaday. In reading the dramas of Shakespeare, one cannot help but notice the many types of women that he pictures. Hut they are not merely wooden puppets, tricked out to impersonate some virtue or vice needed in his plohscheme. but are real Page Twenty-Seven

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•• AS YOU LIKK IT. ’ loathed the excesses ot the revolution. Now the all absorbing question wa»—“Money. The national credit wa gone and no more money could be raised by taxation. No man in France had Huch a horror of bankruptcy as Mirabcau and his eloquence was never more convincing nor commanding but it achieved nothing. Finally. Talleyrand. an unscrupulous priest, suggested that the nation confiscate tjie church. Mirabcau was opposed to this, hut the Assembly such was the urgent need of money decreed that the church property should be put at the disposal of the state. This did not do the good that it was expected to do. At this time. April 2nd. 1701. Mira beau died, worn out with labors and passions, weakened by his youthful follies and perhaps, as some claim, by poison. The grief with which the Assembly received the news of his death was shared by the whole of France. Mirabcau regretted his early life for he said that he felt that he alone could save France from the distrust of her monarch and the catastrophe. When Mirabcau entered the Assembly, he was mistrusted, feared and despised by the majority of people, for his moral character was bad. Hut he was kind hearted, generous, made friends and used them till nearly all respected and loved him. Nearly all of the earlier writers aiul also the writers of the present day say that Mirabcau. had lie lived, could have prevented the dreadful outrage. The Panama Canal Audn Hoover. The first conception of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama is almost concident with Balboa's discovery of the Pacific Ocean in 1513. Since 1820 that idea has been assuming definite form and actual work has been done on a canal between Panama and Colon. As early as 1555 we find the navigators propounding the question of a short route to India and the western coast of America, by digging a canal somewhere across the narrow neck of land which joins North and South America. The canal question was one of the subjects proposed for discussion hi Clay's instructions to our representatives to the Panama Congress of 1826. This was the first definite step taken by the United States. Clay did not propose to give the benefits exclusively to the United States but toall nations on condition that they lend their aid to the construction of the canal. Hut our commissioners never reached the Congress and the project was not. therefore, raised. Other early efforts were put forth for the construction of a canal not alone by the government of the United States but by other nations, in 1828 jBolivar, president of Colombia, put forth efforts to construct a roadway between the two oceans. And in 182 ), the king of the Netherlands secured arrangements with Central America for a private company for the cutting of a canal, opened on the same terms to all nations. Tiie congress of the United States began to act on the question again in 1835. taking active measures. The senate adopted a resolution requesting the president to enter into negotiations with the governments of other countries, especially with Central America and Colombia for the pur-posc of protecting those who might attempt the opening and insuring “free and equal navigation by all nations.' Jackson and Van Burcn commit-sioned.agents to Panama in 183b and 183 ) but without permanent results. In 184b, the United States succeeded in making a treaty with Colombia, which put into effect the previous resolution of Congress, this treaty gave the United States the right of way across the Isthmus of Panama by any means of communication that then existed or that might afterwards be constructed. On the side of the United States, perfect neutrality of the isthmus was guaranteed and the rights of sovereignty of Columbia over the territory was extended to the Colombian government. England had been watching the proceedings of United States with jealous eyes, and the affair almost resulted in a war between the two countries. because the British laid claim to the coast of Panama and were themselves thinking of another route across the istlim(iThey finally formed a treaty with the United State- fora joint protection over the proposed canal. Neither country could colonize or erect fortifications. This treaty also provided for the neutrality of the canal. It was ratified but the countries afterward quarreled over the article stating that neither country should exercise any dominion over Central America, as the countries of Central America were in favor of the interpretation given by the United States. England was forced to come to terms. The Civil war of 1861 stopped the further progress of the quest ion for a time but the treaty was still considered binding. The question did not come up in the United States again until 1872 and from that time until 1880 many careful surveys were made. In ls7‘). the concession was secured from Colombia by which the old Panama canal company obtained the right to excavate a canal between Panama and Colon With this concession, active work was carried on from 1883 Page Twenty-Six

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•• AS YOU LI KB IT. women who throb with human impulses and true life. None of his women are so perfect that they have no weaknesses; and not even lady Macbeth is without some redeeming' virtue. Just as innocence is the simplest of human traits, so Miranda of “The Tempest is the least complex of Shakespeare's characters. We see her as a type of innocence. She knew absolutely nothing of the world outside of her island home and had no friends except her father. Hand in hmd with this primary trait, arc tound the hand-maidens of innocence, tender solicitude for others, extreme sensitiveness, and childish frankness. When her father ch »se to te’l her of her past life, she was filled with great sorrow because she had caused him so much trouble and wondered that he should be willing to endure so many misfortunes for her sake. All her thoughts were expressed openly, because she thought no wrong. When she saw Ferdinand, she declared that she admired him. even if he was a traitor. Because her mind was pure, she could not realize what treason really meant. In talking to Ferdinand, she told him. with childish naivitc, that she care I as much for him as she expected t care for the man whom she would mirry an 1 t!i it she w ml 1 gla lly b:-come his wife. On account of her love for Ferdinand. she disobeyed her father's command by revealing her identity. As soon as she thought what she had done, she said that she was sorry but viewed it merely as a mistake, n t as a sin. Her innocence, instead of making her seem narrow, helped her to think pure thoughts, to brond-enher mind, aud gave her the pearl of all woman hood, perfect sincerity. Closely allied with the primal womanly trait of innocence, is that of filial devotion. Cordelia in •■King Lear'' shows us Shakespeare's conception of filial affection. She was the favorite of her aged father and said she knew she loved him more than her smooth-tongued sisters, but she would not exaggerate her love. She said that she loved her father as a daughter should and could not love him more in order to gain a third of his kingdom. Even when her father disowned her aud sent her dowerless from his door, she turned to her sisters and charged them to take good care of her father. “To your professed love. I leave him. she said. “But alas! stood I within his grace, 1 would prefer him a better place. At her departure, she retained a great love as ever for her father, alth her sisters had received the entire dominion. Then, after the elder daughters had won into their iian Is the rewards of flattering. insincere protestations ami hail heartlessly turned King Lear out into the storm. Cordelia, with the true tilial love which is not dependent on reward, came to his rescue. Faithful in her love, she did her best to restore him to happiness again. When Lear was recovering from his illness an 1 regretting his treatment of her. lie opened his eyes to find her standing by his bed. In answer to his pleas. s!ie declared, with genuine forgetfulness, that she had nothing to forgive, that she had in c iuve to do him wrong. From the d mghter to the wife is but a small step, and this step Shakespeare took, when he pictured Dc-demona. This gentle wife of Othello is the maker of the home. When not busy with her household duties, she loved to listen to the thrilling stories of Othello, even when a mere child. Tlu-'C sad stories of the M or won Desdc-mono's affection. At last she told him. that, if he knew of another man who had endured such great trials, she would gladly share his fortunes. Of course, this was her modest wav of telling Othello her love and he married her against her parents' will. Her loving disposition pleased Othello very much and he tried to make her nest as attractive as possible. She. in turn, tried to please her husband in every way. True to her function of making the home the haven of rest and quiet toward which the husband turns longingly, she did everything in her |K wcr to make peace between Othello and Cassio. merging her own interests in those of her husband. She plead with Othello and talked to Cassio privately that the two might be on good terms when they met. As Othello's awakening jealousy made him become surly, she tried harder than ever to please him. At last her efforts Ih gan to make her scheme and she kept displeasing things from him as was the case when she lost the handkerchief which he had given her. In a short time, Othello grew mad with rage and decided to kill her. Even when he told her lie intended to kill her. the wife, hoping to find her old influence with her husband, declared her innocence and begged time to prove it. She took the time, in which Othello told her to pray, to reawaken his affection. But when, at last, she found that he would not relent and tried to pray, it was too late. Othello murdered her lieforc her earnest prayer was finished. But Shakespeare has drawn in strong contrast with the wifely devotion of Desdemona. the woman of keen mind and deep reason. Portia of “The Merchant of Venice'' stands for the intellectual woman. Site was not closely attached to her home, but like a man. was anxious to go where-cver she saw opjiortunity. After urging Bassauio. in vain, to go to Antonio, she went herself to be at the trial of the merchant in whom she felt so Page Twenty-Eight