With the early opening of the canal it became advisable for Congress to determine the future policy of the United States toward the Canal Zone, and to lay out a system of government there which would meet the needs of the future. It was determined that the Canal Zone should be used for the operation of the canal, rather than for a habitation for such settlers as might choose to go there. Hence the provision was made that the President of the United States should have the right to determine how many settlements there should be on the Canal Zone and how many people should be permitted to live there. It will be the policy of the United States to discourage general settlement and to maintain only such towns as are necessary for the operation of the big waterway, granting only revocable leases to any outsiders when it is deemed advisable to allow them to occupy land within the Zone. There will be only five settlements in the Zone, if present plans are carried out: One at Cristobal, one at Gatun, one at Pedro Miguel, one at Corozal, and the settlement at Ancon and Balboa at the Pacific terminus of the canal. The total number of people who will reside in these settlements will probably not exceed 10,000, a material reduction from the 62,000 living on the Zone in 1912. Those who are still there, but who will not be needed in the permanent organization, will be repatriated at the expense of the United States Government. In 1912 there were approximately 31,000 British subjects on the Zone, practically all of them negroes from the British West Indian islands and British Guiana. The great majority of these will be carried back to their homes, as will all of the 4,300 Spaniards who desire to return. There were nearly 12,000 Americans on the Zone at that time, and perhaps two-thirds of them will leave before 1915. There were nearly 8,000 Panamans on the Zone and most of them will go to the cities of Panama and Colon, or upon the Government lands owned by the Panama Republic outside of the Zone.