"The situation at Panama is different. The Republic of Colombia first granted a concession to the Panama Railroad Company, giving it exclusive privileges on the Isthmus, which will continue according to modifications afterwards made for ninety-nine years from August 16, 1867. A later concession to the Panama Canal Company required it to enter into some amicable arrangement with the railroad company under which the former might occupy the territory along or near its line. The canal company acquired by purchase a majority of the railroad stock, and the necessary arrangements were made. This stock is now under the control of the New Panama Canal Company, which gives it a directing influence in both organizations. The canal concession is to continue according to its latest extension for ninety-nine years from the day on which the canal shall be wholly or partially opened to public service, and the date fixed for this in the contract is October 31, 1910. Should it fail and the concession be forfeited the company will still have exclusive control of the territory through which its line extends till 1966 under the railroad concession. The canal company is absolutely prohibited to cede or mortgage its rights under any consideration whatever to any nation or foreign government under penalty of forfeiture. {68} The contract with the railroad company contains a like prohibition and declares further that the pain of forfeiture will be incurred by the mere act of attempting to cede or transfer its privilege to a foreign government and such an act is declared absolutely null and of no value or effect. These concessions, if acquired by the United States, would not give to the Government the control and ownership evidently contemplated by the law, that is, an absolute ownership in perpetuity. The right under the contract with the railroad company is designated as 'the use and possession' of the property for ninety-nine years, and it is provided that 'at the expiration of the term of the privilege' and by the sole fact of the expiration, the Government of Colombia shall be substituted in all the rights of the company and shall immediately enter into the enjoyment of the line of communication, its fixtures, dependencies and all its products. The right of the canal company is substantially of the same character. … An examination of the charter rights of the New Panama Canal Company under the general incorporation laws of France and the special legislation in its behalf resulted in finding an enactment, included in a law passed June 8, 1888, requiring that all the plant necessary for the construction of the canal shall be manufactured in France and that the material must be of French origin. This being the situation, it was manifest that, even if the privileges of the