by B. TRAVEN
“The time of solving political errors with weapons is over—absolutely over. It is doubtful that weapons have ever resolved anything of a lasting character anywhere in the world. I personally cannot remember a single case in history when a war, a military occupation, or a dictator’s decree achieved something that was not lost within a generation due to rebellions, uprisings, or clever abuse of political and economic entanglements. Gentlemen, look at India, Indonesia, Indochina, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Cyprus, and Algeria. You may also rest assured that the vassal states of the Soviet Union will not remain where they are today. Not a single one will remain. None of the political or economic systems in existence today will continue to exist. It is a matter of root causes and their consequences based on human character. The history of humanity tries to make us understand this fact. However, we do not seem willing to pay enough attention to the lessons of history. The dignified men in power are as stubborn and obstinate as a roulette player who claims to be following his lucky star. They continue to commit the same errors over and over in their blind belief that this time, in their one particular case, the final advantage will be on their side despite ten-thousand-year-old lessons of history.” The chairman’s neighbor, Senator Clifford, lightly tapped him on the shoulder to catch his attention. Understanding, the chairman nodded at Senator Clifford, picked up his mallet, and energetically pounded the table several times.
“Miss Norval, why are you telling us all this? It really does not have anything, absolutely anything, to do with the matter at hand.”
“Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, I honestly thought that the honorable gentlemen of the committee would have guessed my intention by now. Allow me to explain it briefly: Let us look at the Republic of Panama, and not only their government, but the people of Panama, who have never had any say in any negotiations or treaties since the abundantly dark circumstances of the founding of the Republic of Panama. Let us assume that the people remember that they have an inalienable right to their homeland: a right that a government installed by one foreign power cannot sell to another foreign power. And suppose that the people of Panama insist on the return of their native land, then what, Mr. Chairman? Will we honor the right of the Panamanian to self-determination? Or will our Marines teach the Panameños the necessary respect for the so-called holy treaties with machine guns, bayonets, and if they must, with atom bombs? I am not a prophet, gentlemen, but I am convinced that our government will be in hot water about the Panama Canal much sooner than we might think, given current global developments.”
“Miss Norval,” the chairman interrupted her, “I think that it is not our job here to worry about complications and difficulties that will probably never occur.”
“As you say, Mr. Senator, they will probably never happen. However, your choice of the word ‘probably’ allows for the possibility that such a complication might occur, even in your own mind.”
The chairman looked at Aslan blankly. Apparently, he did not know how to reply. He looked at his watch, compared it to the clock on the wall, glanced at his colleagues, rapped his gavel, and announced: “The committee has decided to adjourn the hearing until Monday at eleven o’clock in the morning. At that time, the questioning will continue.”
He rapped the gavel again. All those present rose, and the senators disappeared in order to come up with questions for the next interrogation, while the cameras followed their every movement.
“Good grief, I am so happy,” said Aslan to Beckford. “I am so glad that they adjourned the meeting. I was so caught up that I did not know how to get back to our canal. I can deal better with direct questions.”
“What do you need on Monday, ma’am?” asked Beckford.
“Every statistic that might possibly come up.”
Beckford was also glad that they had adjourned the hearing. He was pretty sure that one of the assistants in uniform who kept cavorting around him would not be opposed to a dinner invitation. He figured he could bribe her and make her more willing by offering her a job in his office. Assistant secretary or something like that. After all, her salary would not come out of his own pocket.
She accepted the invitation. However, when they arrived at her hotel, she said a quick “Good night!” and disappeared inside. That was all.
14.
On Monday morning, the cameras were once more already rolling twenty minutes before the actual show began. The patient television audience had to endure advice on the following: the only toothpaste that would truly keep their teeth healthy; the only carburetor in the world that could guarantee a savings in gasoline of 43.29 percent; the only mattress in the world that guaranteed healthy and normal sleep; the only ground coffee in sealed tin cans that fully retained its aroma until the very last cup of coffee; and the face cream that “gives you the fresh face of a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl—or your money back.”
Aslan appeared a few minutes before the beginning of the hearing. Once again, she was wearing a new dress. The cameras slid along the garment as if they wanted to undress her. Although this dress was also made in Vienna, they announced it as “le dernier cri,” manufactured by a famous company on Fifth Avenue. The next morning, the company received a bill for an advertisement they had not ordered. Of course, the company could refuse to pay for the advertisement, but then the advertiser would use the first opportunity to announce that they had erred, and that the company had not made the dress after all, since they did not have the latest models yet. The retraction would cause more damage than paying the large sum requested for the unwanted advertisement.
Senator Clifford assumed the position of chair this morning. Without any introductory niceties, he immediately began shooting questions at Aslan: “Miss Norval, the committee members and I are now convinced that it is indeed a possibility—even if it is a very remote one—that a conflict about the Panama Canal Zone might arise, just as it did in the unfortunate case of the Suez Canal several years ago. In the meantime, my colleagues and I have researched the possibility of building a new canal through Nicaragua or the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Have you heard or read about that, Miss Norval?”
“I am familiar with the literature about these plans. Both projects are feasible. Even combined, both projects would barely cost a twentieth of the canal that our company is intending to build. However, both canals would go through land that we do not own. Even if one or both of those countries were to sell or lease the land to us, we would not have any guarantee at all that we would not face the same problems someday that we might unexpectedly confront with regard to Panama. The only solution is to build a canal that runs through land we own in its entire length.”
“Miss Norval, do you admit that a canal directly from New York to San Francisco is not feasible?”
“No, I do not admit that at all. Such a canal is feasible. However, it would go through rich and very expensive areas. You would have to circumvent large cities and important industrial centers, which would make the canal unnecessarily long. The cost of such a canal would be excessively high. However, it is a feasible project. I am convinced of that. I do admit, however, that a trip through that canal would not save a lot of time due to the many sluices.”
“Can the canal that your company intends to build become reality more easily, Miss Norval?”
“It can indeed become reality, and taking all circumstances into consideration, it will only cost about a tenth of the total for a direct canal. Probably a lot less. This canal from Galveston via Houston to the Pacific Coast goes through land that is mostly flat and infertile and partly desert. One would only have to cross a few insignificant rivers, and none of the mountain ranges present difficulties of the kind that we could not overcome relatively easily today.”
“How many nautical miles would a ship save traveling from New York, let us say, to Los Angeles if we assumed that your planned canal was open for traffic?”
Maps and tables appeared behind Aslan.
“From New York to Los Angeles, the d
istance is four thousand nine hundred thirty-one nautical miles. From New York to Los Angeles via the canal we have planned, it would be approximately three thousand one hundred twenty-five nautical miles. So the canal will shorten the ship’s trip from New York to the Pacific Coast by one thousand eight hundred six nautical miles. That is about half the distance of the sea route from New York to Hamburg, Germany. We can cut this distance by another one hundred fifty nautical miles.”
“How is that, Miss Norval?” interrupted Senator Clifford.
“In order to save another one hundred fifty nautical miles, it would only become necessary to cut through the peninsula of Florida at its narrowest point and to build a canal that would be merely double the length of the Kiel Canal in northern Germany. This canal would also cut the distance of travel from New York to New Orleans by one hundred fifty nautical miles. Let us add these hundred and fifty nautical miles that the Florida Canal saves us to the total savings in nautical miles from New York to the Pacific Coast, and we get approximately one thousand nine hundred fifty-six nautical miles, so about two thousand nautical miles. Without a doubt, you can see how much this would save in terms of time, fuel, delivery times, and wages under normal circumstances. However, every intelligent person can imagine what this enormous shortening of the sea route would mean in times of trouble, catastrophes, and war.”
“You mention wartime, Miss Norval. And what happens if enemies bomb your canal in a war?”
“I will ask you right back, Mr. Senator. What happens if they bomb the Panama Canal? Or what do we do if they sink a few big cargo ships to block the canal? I have an answer to those questions. We can repair a canal that goes through our own country in a time span of twenty-four hours because we can transport ten thousand workers with the best machines to the damaged areas within six hours. However, a similar repair of the Panama Canal would take two weeks, if not much longer.”
Aslan looked from one senator to the other, as if she wanted to read a ruling or decision on their faces. After a few moments of silence, she smiled warmly at them, and the gentlemen could not refrain from smiling back. They felt that Aslan’s smile did not intend to bribe them, nor to influence their judgment; this apparently well-meaning smile hid quite a bit of irony. It gave the impression that Aslan had won and the senators had lost. They could not come up with any argument that would dismiss Aslan’s project as quixotic.
Aslan was exceedingly well prepared, better indeed than the committee, which did not know most of the facts she presented. She had managed to divert the hearing from its original focus—an investigation—to an area that the committee only followed with difficulty.
The numbers, which Aslan juggled so easily as if it were a game, confused the gentlemen. They were used to the slow-thinking processes of career politicians, who never gave a concrete answer and did not have anything better to say than: In some ways, yes—but then in other ways, no.
Numbers can sometimes wield truly crushing power, since they do not seem to have a shape you can attack. In and of themselves, they mean nothing. However, a demagogue or a car salesman can more easily hide his intentions by rattling off numbers than by giving beautiful speeches. Sometimes—not always, but definitely occasionally—you can even conquer a woman just as easily with numbers as with pearls.
The gentlemen of the committee were convinced that Aslan’s numbers were authentic. And you cannot drown out authentic numbers with words. The silence in the chambers began to weigh heavily on those present. With the sure instinct of a woman, Aslan understood the moment correctly: “Gentlemen, I have said what I felt it my duty to say in order to prove that the canal we are discussing here is not only feasible, but that we must build it. I assure you, most honorable gentlemen of the Senate, our company will raise the funds necessary to complete the project.”
The senators put their heads together and began conferring with one another fervently. The cameramen were happy because it finally gave them the long-awaited opportunity to present an interesting new scene to their audience.
Aslan signaled Beckford and her assistants to prepare for a turn in the hearing.
The chairman, Senator Clifford, rapped the gavel. “Miss Norval, you have convinced the committee members and myself that it could be possible to realize your project under certain circumstances and with help from the government. However, that is not the committee’s last word. We will communicate our final decision in a few weeks’ time. However, I have a few important questions for you.”
At this point he blew his nose awkwardly and noisily. Then he continued: “Your company is an entirely capitalist, private enterprise. Its shareholders hope for more or less high profits, or let us call them dividends. Is that correct, Miss Norval?”
“Entirely correct, Mr. Senator.”
“To build such a canal through land that is partially private but also partially owned by Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, you need permission from state governments. Have you begun the process of obtaining said permits?”
“Not yet, Mr. Senator.”
“And why not, Miss Norval?”
“Up until now, we have only worked on obtaining an approximate budget for the cost of construction.”
“I understand virtually nothing of canals and their construction costs. However, common sense tells me that this canal will not cost less than fifty billion dollars.”
“Fifty billion dollars, Mr. Senator? The canal would practically be free of charge if its construction cost amounted to a mere five hundred billion dollars.”
“I am afraid I misunderstood, Miss Norval. Did you really say that the canal would be practically free if it cost five hundred billion dollars?”
“That’s exactly right, Mr. Senator. Five hundred billion.”
“Do you have any idea, Miss Norval, how much money that is?”
“I do have an idea, actually a very exact idea how much money that is. It is five hundred thousand million dollars.”
“Does that kind of sum not make you dizzy, Miss Norval?”
“Not at all, Mr. Senator. I have dealt with much higher numbers for months now. And what is a sum of five hundred thousand million dollars if our country’s budget for one year alone, in 1960, was more than seventy-seven thousand million dollars. Taxes not only covered that huge sum but even exceeded it!”
“Well, you have to admit, Miss Norval, that you cannot compare the budget of a large country such as ours to that of a private enterprise you are preparing.”
“I do not see any difference, Mr. Senator. My project is of equal importance to our country as its defense, which devours approximately one-third of the budget.”
“But how do you think you can get a sum of such astronomical proportions? There is not that much money to be had in the country.”
Aslan discreetly played with her right earring and behind her, tables appeared. The television cameras jumped on this opportunity to show their audience something new.
“Mr. Chairman, we have more money than we need for ourselves and our well-being. After World War I, not only did we forgive the war debts of England, France, Italy, and even Germany, which we conquered, but we also forced millions of dollars on those nations to get their devastated economies back on track, which created stiff economic competition for us. We supported czarist generals, white guards, and dissolute insurgents with millions of dollars, since they promised to get rid of Bolshevism overnight.
“Gentlemen of the Senate, we did the same thing after World War II. We gave away our taxpayers’ money to all parties, whether they had asked for it or not; because we did not know what to do with all our money. Without the money that we gave them, England, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Turkey, Portugal, and Spain would probably not exist as independent countries today. Of course, no honest person in the world would have a right to accuse us of wrongdoing for that.
“Approved by Congress in its session of July 13, 1946, we forgave England a debt of twenty-five thousand million dollars, and on t
he same day, we gave England a new loan of four thousand four hundred million dollars, without the slightest hope of repayment on their part given that England cannot even pay the interest on current debts and is constantly forced to request extensions. As if that were not enough, on January 1, 1951, we forgave England another two thousand six hundred ninety-four million and three hundred thirty-nine thousand dollars in order to save the crumbling British Empire from collapse, although there is nothing to save anymore.
“And you are asking me, Mr. Senator, where we should obtain the money for the construction of our canal? Honorable committee, our country lost all of that money I have been talking about, all those enormous sums of money. We will not get a single one of those dollars repaid. And the saddest thing about all this is that aimlessly giving away American taxpayers’ hard-earned money has not made us a single friend. Instead, it has garnered distrust and, in most cases, bitter hatred. We have no assurance that we could count on the support of these countries in case of a serious conflict. We cannot even be sure of English help in case such help was contrary to their own interests.”
