Every American schoolkid knows the story. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt essentially stole the province of Panama away from Colombia, used American troops to guarantee its independence, and committed U.S. technological prowess to building a great ditch linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Panama Canal was more than an engineering wonder of the world, however. It was a national icon, a symbol of the ingenuity, determination, and benevolence of the United States of America. “I took Panama,” TR would later crow. Now we’re giving it back.

At high noon on December 31, 1999, under terms of the 1977 treaty negotiated by President Carter, the Panama Canal becomes the sole property of the Republic of Panama. Eighty-two years old, fastidiously maintained by a highly professional work force, the canal is still in splendid operating condition. The United States has run the canal as a nonprofit, international utility, which was not only generous but necessary for world commerce; two- thirds of the cargo that passes through the waterway is either coming from or going to the United States. Panama won’t be so selfless when it takes over management of the canal; the waterway generates nearly $ 500 million in annual revenues, an irresistible cash cow for a poor country. Panama could raise tolls inordinately or, still worse, skimp on maintenance to steer money into government programs or the pockets of corrupt Panamanian politicians. If these things happen, says an American diplomat who helped negotiate the treaties, “they’ll kill the golden goose dead.”