Sarbanes, Paul S. (Democrat of Maryland). Page 1052, 1136-1137, 1139-1142, 1174, 1177, 1263, 1293-1294, 1311, 1332, 1334, 1365, 1385, 1416-1417, 1432-1433, 1460-1462, 1469, 1489-1491, 1496-1500, 1553-1555, 1564-1565, 1589, 1597, 1612-1618, 1631-1637, 1693, 1697-1698, 1715-1716, 1773-1774, 1828-1831, 1879-1881, 1888-1889, 1891-1892 Schmitt, Harrison H. (Republican of New Mexico) Scott, William L. (Republican of Virginia) 775, 1451-1455, 1542, 1562-1563 .69-70, 144-147, 168, 171-173, 568-569, 743, 1054, 1151-1152, 1251-1252, 1254, 1623-1632, 1634-1637, 1696, 1699, 1702 Sparkman, John (Democrat of Alabama) 212-214, 240, 259, 276, 296, 326, 358, 419-420, 436, 466, 492, 532-535, 595, 785, 820-821, 868, 975, 1051-1052, 1059-1065, 1263-1265, 1431-1432, 1575-1576 1805-1809, 1817-1818, 1821-1822 130-132, Stennis, John C. (Democrat of Mississippi) 238-239, 1047, 1298-1305, 1704, 1826-1828 Stevenson, Adlai E. (Democrat of Illinois). 1387-1389 744-746, 945-946 848 1, 16, 18, 90-91, 94-96, 205, 235, 340, 342, 400, 409-410, 529, 560-562, 574, 577-578, 586-587, 619, 659, 947, 1051-1052, 1328, 1338, 1340-1346 Tower, John (Republican of Texas). Wallop, Malcolm (Republican of Wyoming) 748 902 1577-1589 [From the Congressional Record-Senate, Jan. 12, 1977] THE PANAMA CANAL Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, on November 21, 1976, John A. litchell, business editor of the State, Columbia, S.C., wrote a very teresting and informative article on the Panama Canal. The Mitchell article provides an excellent background for undertanding the recent problems in Panama. He has also written a ompanion article which appears in the same edition of the State ntitled, "Canal's Gaillard Cut Is Named for Army Engineer From outh Carolina," which gives the historical background of the Gailard Cut. Both of these articles are very informative and exceedingly well vritten. It is my feeling that the Panama Canal issue is one of the nost important issues before the American public. The article by John A. Mitchell, in which he interviews Hugh M. Chapman, a member of the Board of Directors of the Panama Canal Company, and chairman of the board of the Citizens and Southern National Bank of South Carolina, is an excellent piece which I would commend to all my colleagues in the Senate. Mr. President, in order to share the article on the Panama Canal and its operation, as well as the historical article on the Gaillard Cut, with my colleagues, I ask unanimous consent that they be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the articles were ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: THE PANAMA CANAL-COLUMBIAN DISCUSSES ITS OPERATION (By John A. Mitchell) Little, if any, change in the operation of the Panama Canal is likely under the (Jimmy) Carter administration, according to a member of the corporate board of directors of the Panama Canal Co., which runs the business side of the canal. "Carter the candidate is not Carter the President, and we're not sure he'll be much different (from past Presidents)," Hugh M. Chapman, chairman of The Citizens & Southern National Bank of S.C. and a member of the canal company board since last May, told The State. "However, I might not be on the board after next Jan. 20 (inauguration date for Carter)," Chapman said. The 11 directors serve at the pleasure of the secretary of the Army and "In effect, that's at the pleasure of the President, who appoints the secretary," he said. The unique company was set up to run a government-owned facility, the Panama Canal, as if it were a private business and the board reports to the sole stockholder, the secretary of the Army. Although the governor of the Canal Zone-an Army major general assigned for a four-year term—is ex-officio president of the Panama Canal Co., the business operation of the canal is entirely separate from the civil government of the zone, and both are separate from the administration of the Army base in the zone, Chapman said. The board "tries to run the canal like a business and at least break even," Chapman said, but that the company has had a deficit for the past few years. For fiscal 1975, the company had a net loss of $8.9 million, down a little from the net loss of $11.8 million for fiscal 1974. (1) 29-400 0 - 78 - 2 The company foots the bill for all operations in the Canal Zone, pays interest charges on the U.S. investment-$14.8 million in fiscal 1975-and repays the U.S. Treasury the net cost of civil government, including health and medical services$23.55 million in fiscal 1975. The operation doesn't cost the U.S. taxpayer anything and Chapman says the board wants to keep it that way. There was a toll increase in 1974-first since 1914-and another is likely to go into effect soon as a result of toll hearings held by the board in August, Chapman said. Opposition to the toll hikes comes from the shipping lines, but “65 per cent of the ships using the canal are under foreign flags and they should pay, not the U.S. taxpayer," he said. The company itself runs one ship, carrying mostly government cargo and some government personnel, between New Orleans and Panama. "This is a tie and a lifeline to our personnel there," Chapman said. Until 1961 the company operated the Panama Line, which had several 10,000-ton ocean liners carrying government and commercial cargo and passengers between New York City and Panama. It was phased out after President Eisenhower in 1960 ordered the line to stop competing with private ships. "Our job is primarily maintaining the locks and seeing that ships move efficiently through the canal," Chapman said. Basic design and operation haven't changed since the canal opened, Chapman said, although some sections have been widened to allow passage of larger ships and more two-way traffic. There has been some trouble with Panama, mostly because of the dictator (Gen. Omar Torrijos), Chapman said, but the board "is not the party that negotiates treaties. However, the Secretary of State does keep us informed on the progress of such negotiations." In the original treaty, signed 1903, the Republic of Panama granted the U.S. “in perpetuity the use, occupation and control" of the Canal Zone and the right to act as "if it were sovereign" in the zone, and that is what Panama primarily objects to now, Chapman said. "They want an expiration date on the treaty," he said. (In 1974 Secretary of State Henry Kissinger signed an agreement to guide negotiation of a new treaty that would eventually return the Panama Canal to Panama.) Chapman said a treaty could be negotiated "without giving up our solid rights" and that this would not be the first time the 1903 treaty had been amended. Article II of the 1903 treaty was modified in part by a 1936 treaty between Panama and the U.S. but did not change the basic rights granted the U.S., he said. "It's not a natural resource. It's an engineering marvel that we built on land we bought and paid for," he said. Under the 1903 treaty, the U.S. guaranteed Panama's independence (from Colombia) and paid her $10 million. In 1904, the U.S. bought the French Canal Co.'s rights and properties for $40 million and began construction. The idea of Panama Canal goes back to 1524, when Charles V of Spain ordered the first survey of a proposed route. The French Canal Co., headed by Ferdinand DeLesseps, builder of the Suez Canal, began the effort in 1880 to build the waterway across Panama and tried for 20 years but didn't make it. The U.S. Army Engineers began work on the Panama Canal in 1904 and it was completed and opened by late 1913 at a cost of about $387 million. The purpose was to aid U.S. defense and to expedite world shipping. "Since then, our people have poured millions back into Panama," Chapman said. In addition to the country of Panama getting revenue from the canal, a number of Panamanians are employed in the operation, he said. In fiscal 1975 $83,685,357 was paid to 8,549 non-U.S. citizens working in the Canal Zone. The 2,236 U.S. citizens employed there got $75,645,086. The canal was opened to commercial traffic in August, 1914, when the SS Ancon made the first official ocean-to-ocean transit. In 1974 there were 15,269 transits and the ships paid $121,319,791 in tolls and toll credits. The pre-World War II traffic peak was 7,479 vessels in 1939. The largest toll, $49,208.04, was paid by the Tokio Express in November, 1974, and the smallest, 36 cents, was paid by the adventurer Richard Halliburton for swimming the canal in 1928. The tolls are cheaper than sailing the vessels around the tip of South America, Chapman said. Panama Canal traffic picked up somewhat while the Suez Canal was closed, following the 6-day Israeli-Arab War in 1967, but declined when the Suez Canal re opened last year, he said, because a lot of shippers from northern Europe like to go |