Senator ALLEN. I see it is recorded in English and Spanish.
Miss MCCLELLAN. That is correct.

Senator ALLEN. Do you know how many deeds are contained here?
Miss MCCLELLAN. No, sir, I have not researched that.

Senator ALLEN. Contained here is the record of all the deeds showing purchase by the United States.

I see that these show purchases from private owners in Panama in the Canal Zone. I see that in some instances they may have bought and paid for them several times.

This was quite a job to put all this on microfilm, wasn't it?

Miss MCCLELLAN. Yes, it was.

Senator ALLEN. This will then preserve the original record for posterity. Is that right?

Miss MCCLELLAN, Yes.

Senator ALLEN. Where is the original record?

Miss MCCLELLAN. It is in the Administrative Office of the Courts. Senator ALLEN. It was our purpose, as I understand it, under the direction of President Wilson to purchase all of the private property there.

Miss MCCLELLAN. I have a list of all the names of the people connected with these transactions.

Senator Allen, I did not bring the original copy of this but this is the list of persons and what I would call the final report for you [indicating].

Senator ALLEN. Thank you.

You will be able to leave that with us?

Miss MCCLELLAN. Yes, that will be fine.

Senator ALLEN. This has listed here on several dozen pages the amount claimed and the amount paid. There are literally hundreds of these. You actually give the names of the Panamanians who own property? Is that correct?

Miss MCCLELLAN. Yes.

Senator ALLEN. I am glad to have this for the record.

[General discussion held among the members of the media, the Senators, Mr. Luitweiler, Ms. McClellan, and the audience.]

Senator ALLEN. We have asked Mr. Luitweiler to come to the witness table also.

The distinguished Senator from North Carolina, Mr. Helms, who is the Senator from Mr. Luitweiler's home State, is here to present Mr. Luitweiler.

Senator Helms, please proceed.

STATEMENT OF HON. JESSE HELMS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

Senator HELMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

First of all, I want to commend you on your opening statement. As has been the case throughout the decision and debate on the treaties, the debate has certainly been capably led by the Senator from Alabama. He has supplied an immense amount of commonsense to the debate.

I have often thought, Mr. Chairman, that the Lord gave both the United States and me a good constitution. It is up to us not to abuse them. I am often fearful of the abuse of the U.S. Constitution.

In connection with your comment about the disposition of U.S. property, I believe the record should show that more than half of the Members of the House of Representatives-231 Members in fact-have cosponsored a House resolution expressing the conviction that Congress, both the House and the Senate, must act on the disposal of the Canal Zone. This clearly is a warning to the Senate; it may even be a red flag that, if the House of Representatives is ignored in this matter, then the House of Representatives may indeed find it difficult to facilitate the implementating legislation which will be required by the treaties if the Senate should make the mistake of approving them. Now, as to this distinguished citizen from our State, Mr. Chairman, over the last year or so, Members of the Senate have been called upon to do a tremendous amount of reading and research to familiarize ourselves with the historical and technical data that we need at our fingertips in order to participate in the great debate on the Canal Treaties. I do not know one Senator who has not been sent back to the history books by this tumultuous issue; and judging from the people I talk to, it has prompted many other Americans to do the same. I myself have had the good fortune to talk to many experts in the maintenance and defense of the canal. Not too many months ago I went to the Canal Zone to talk to the people who live there and to many Panamanian citizens.

So I have had a rather thorough education in the matters affecting the canal. I am glad I have had it.

But one of the greatest contributors to my education, I might say, has been a series of letters I have received from an extraordinary gentleman who is with us this morning, Mr. J. C. Luitweiler. Mr. Luitweiler first wrote to me after seeing a "Meet the Press" broadcast on the Canal Treaties, in which I was participating.

Since that time, I think it is only fair to attribute a great deal of what I know about the history of the Panama Canal to a "correspondence course" with Mr. J. C. Luitweiler, of Tryon, N.C.

Disturbed by what he was hearing about our acquisition of the Canal Zone, Mr. Luitweiler took to his typewriter to set the record straight. I believe the testimony here today will demonstrate that no one could be more qualified to do so than he.

Mr. Luitweiler, now 88 years of age, is what the historians would refer to as a "primary source." To put it bluntly, that means he knows what he is talking about because he served as the secretary of the Joint Land Commission by means of which property owners in the Canal Zone were compensated.

Mr. Chairman, he was appointed to this post by two American and two Panamanian members of the Commission, and it is he who signed the many orders of payments for the claims presented by the property owners, many of whom did not hold titles in the Anglo-Saxon meaning of the term.

Mr. Luitweiler can singlehandedly refute the rather sophomoric allegations of those in the Senate and elsewhere who continue to claim that we somehow "stole" the Canal Zone. Mr. Luitweiler can refute this with incontestable facts.

He can speak about such people as Colonel Goethals and William Crawford Gorgas from personal reminiscence. He was on the scene

when the Canal Zone was transformed from a pestilential swamp to the greatest manmade waterway in the world.

It is my pleasure to present my fellow North Carolinian, Mr. Luitweiler.

Senator ALLEN. Thank you, Senator Helms. We greatly appreciate that fine introduction.

Mr. Luitweiler, I think for the benefit of the committee and the record you might explain just what your connection was, and what years you had that connection, regarding the purchase for the United States of America of land comprised of the Panama Canal Zone.

TESTIMONY OF JAMES C. LUITWEILER, SECRETARY OF THE JOINT UNITED STATES-REPUBLIC OF PANAMA LAND COMMISSION

Mr. LUITWEILER. If you look at a copy of the treaty which was sent to me, you will find article VI and article XV on which the Joint Commission operated.

Senator ALLEN. Yes, I have both right here.

Mr. LUITWEILER. You will find in article VI that the Commission was appointed of two Panamanians and two Americans who would evaluate whatever property was taken for the construction, the maintenance, the operation, the sanitation, or the defense of the canal.

At the end of 1913, Colonel Gorgas, for reasons best known to him, decided that the whole Canal Zone was necessary for that purpose, not just a piece of it but all of it. So he asked President Wilson to declare that the United States would expropriate the entire Canal Zone and everything on it for the benefit of the United States.

He sent down two Commissioners, Dr. Rowe and Dr. Faulkner. I went along as a secretary. On the way down I was told that I was too young for the job but if I would grow a mustache I might be appointed Secretary of the Commission. That is why I have the mustache here today. That is a 65-year-old mustache. It is worth $100 a month

to me.

Senator ALLEN. To put a little age on you so that you could qualify for the higher position?

Mr. LUITWEILER. I was 23 then and I looked like a kid. With a mustache I looked 10 years older.

Senator ALLEN. It is not necessary now to establish your age to have the mustache, is it?

Mr. LUITWEILER. If I shaved it off, I would not look any younger. [Laughter.]

Senator ALLEN. I see.

Mr. LUITWEILER. Anyhow, we got down to Panama and we met two Panamanians, Dr. Boyd and Dr. Lewis. They spoke Spanish and English. Our Commissioners and I spoke English and Spanish also. Within 24 hours it was agreed that I should serve as the Secretary to the Joint Commission.

I think another thing happened that is good for the record.

Senator ALLEN. This is what year?

Mr. LUITWEILER. 1913.

General Gorgas had beautiful quarters set up for us on the Canal Zone. He said, "I want the Commission under my thumb." He said that to other people, too.

The Americans said that they would have to confer with Panamanians about that. We went to Panama, and the President of Panama showed us the palace. He said we could use it for the meetings if we liked. It was beautiful, like a judge's chambers.

AMERICANS WELCOME

So he treated us handsomely. He wanted to do everything he could to make us welcome because the President of Panama was all for taking over the Canal Zone by the United States and for paying for the property that was owned there.

Senator ALLEN. Had the canal opened at that time?

Mr. LUITWEILER. No, not until the end of 1914. This was preparation for the openng of the canal.

After that constitution of the Commission, they appeared in public session. Judge Fave, General Counsel for the Panamanian Canal Commission, testified before the Commission that in his opinion all the thousands of Panamanians, Negroes from the Caribbean Islands, and so on doing work on the canal were there as squatters. They had no title. American law said you had to be 20 years or 30 years before you can acquire title to land that you squatted on.

That matter became the subject of discussion at the first meeting of the Joint Commission in the judge's chambers. I sat in there about a month. The Panamanians brought in a lot to demonstrate the civil law. They said these were the laws that applied. They said that people were squatting on the land and they said that these people were entitled to be treated under Panamanian law.

Senator ALLEN. You went by the civil law of Panama in paying compensation for the land, did you not?

Mr. LUITWEILER. The civil law of Panama provided that anybody who squattered on land even for 24 hours, if he was kicked off, he was entitled to be paid for his improvements.

Senator ALLEN. You respected that law in making your acquisition? Mr. LUITWEILER. This is an aside. There was quite an argument which went on regarding this subject. Dr. Rowe said, "If we accept Dr. Fave's principle and kick all these people out without paying a cent, we will have a black eve."

Senator ALLEN. You didn't follow that?

Mr. LUITWEILER. We didn't. We decided on the contrary, which followed the Panamanians' idea of the Spanish law applying.

Since there were tens of thousands of pieces of claims, the Commission decided it could not hear each and every individual claim. Instead of that, they set up a yardstick. There would be so much, $50, for every hut which was planted with banana trees; there would be $50 for a man and his wife; if he had children, there would be $50 for every child.

DOUBLE PAYMENT FOR PANAMANIANS

Senator ALLEN. When you ascertained how much the Panamanians in possession of the property were entitled to, you doubled that, did you not?

Mr. LUITWEILER. That is right. If a man was a Panamanian citizen. it was doubled.

Dr. Rowe and Dr. Faulkner had the view that these people were being kicked out of their land. They said, "If we follow Judge Faye's principle, this would be a black eye."

You remember when the English kicked the French out of Canada, they had that situation. They did not want that on our conscience. They wanted the Panamanians to be satisfied.

When it was published in the newspaper that the award was going to be on the Spanish law-and they actually set out the way it was to be done the Panamanian citizens and the government and everybody acclaimed it. The only people who objected was General Gorgas because he thought it was going to add to the cost of the canal. Paying these individual claimants would probably cost $150,000 or $200,000. This was a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the canal.

Senator ALLEN. You paid not only for the land, but you paid for the improvements that you found on the land. Is that right?

Mr. LUITWEILER. Yes. In addition, we paid for consideration of the fact they had been evicted from their homes.

Senator ALLEN. The Commission was charged with the duty and the responsibility of buying all the land in the Panama Canal Zone. Is that right?

Mr. LUITWEILER. That is right.

Senator ALLEN. They made a good faith effort to do that. Is that right?

AWARDS PAID WITHIN 24 HOURS

Mr. LUITWEILER. Yes; and it could be said to Colonel Gorgas' credit that none of the awards that were paid were turned down. They were paid within 24 hours. So the U.S. Government did its part in paying religiously every claim if the award was made.

Senator ALLEN. Did the Commission in your judgment buy all of the property in the Panama Canal Zone for the United States of America? Did the Commission purchase from private owners all of the land in the Panama Canal Zone for the United States of America?

Mr. LUITWEILER. As far as I know, they did because at the endSenator ALLEN. The Commission was open for anyone to come in to present a claim for property. Is that right?

Mr. LUITWEILER. Yes. Unfortunately, I had a bad case of malaria at the end of 1914 and I was an invalid.

Dr. Rowe and Dr. Faulkner were replaced by two other American Commissioners. That went on for a couple of years.

Senator ALLEN. By the way, this was rather a strange Commission. You had two Panamanians and two Americans. That is not usually the case. If they could not agree, I believe the two governments would appoint a referee or an umpire.

Mr. LUITWEILER. Yes, an umpire.

Senator ALLEN. That's an unusual Commission.

Were there many instances of having to get an umpire or did the Panamanian Commissioners and the American Commissioners generally see eye to eye?

Mr. LUITWEILER. They agreed pretty well while I was there. But when they were replaced by two more Commissioners, the fat was in the fire. They didn't agree at all.

Senator ALLEN. Then they had to appoint an umpire?