Questions over the Panama Canal.

On 4 November 1903 a small revolution established the state of Panama, formerly part of the nation of Colombia. Two United States warships, the Nashville and the Dixie, sailed offshore to deter interference by the Colombian military. The new state of Panama was far more receptive than Colombia had been to American plans to complete the long-stalled Panama Canal, a project begun by a French syndicate and now secretly backed by wealthy American investors. President Roosevelt privately expressed reservations over the way the project's future had been secured, but publicly he defended every action taken by his government. William Nelson Cromwell, a handsome and influential New York lawyer, had spread his clients' money liberally in the Congress, including $60,000 to the Republican campaign fund in 1900.

Threat of Political Blackmail.

Shortly before the 1908 election, Panamanians disgruntled over their...