Prepare War and the Panama Canal
"Prepare war," cry a host of men. And so the prophet, 800 years before Christ, declared the cry would go forth. See Joel 3:9-14. Fortify the canal, demand a mass of men. Yet the Isthmian Canal Commission of 1899-1901, with a membership of two expert army and one navy official, declared that a "neutral canal operated and controlled by American citizens, would materially add to the military strength of the United States; that a canal, whether neutral or not, controlled by foreigners, would be a source of weakness to the United States rather than of strength; and that a canal not neutral, to be defended by the United States, whether by fortifications on land or by the navy at sea, would be a source of weakness." And the Springfield Republican of January 26 says that the Shonts Canal Commission of 1906 declared in a letter to the Secretary of War, "In that opinion we concur." And yet the cry, "Prepare war, wake up the mighty men," will go on just the same. It is one of God's omens of the last times.