Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-12-16

arbitration. of the claims of foreign citizens
arising out of the destruction of the city of AS
pinwal1 by the insurrectiOnary forces.
THE IsTHMUs CANAL.
The interest of the United States in q prac-
tcable transit for ships across the strip of land
separating the Atlantic from the Pacific hos
been repeatedly manifested during the last half
century NY immediate predecessors caused to
be negotiated with Nicaragua treaty for the
construction, by and at the sole cost of the
United States of canal through Nicaraguan
territory, and laid before the Senate. Pending
the action of that body thereon, L withdrew the
| treaty for denomination. Attentive considera-
| ton of its provisions leads me to withhold it
| from resubmission to the Senate.
Maintaining [ do the policy of the Presi-
dents from Washington day, which prescribe
| enlarging entangling alliances with foreign
| states, Go not favor policy of acquisition OF
new and distant territory, or the incorporation
| of remote interests with our own. The laws of
progress are vital and organic, and we must be
conscious of that irresistible tide of commercial
expansion which, a5 the concomitant OF our
active civilization, day by day, is being urged on
ward by those increasing facilities of production
| transportation, and communication to which
| steam and electricity have given birth
| But our duty in the present instructs us to
address ourselves mainly to the development
| of the vast resources of the great area COM
! mitted to charge, and to the cultivation of
| the arts of peace within our borders though
| jealously alert in preventing the American
| Hemisphere from being involved in the pol1t1-
| cal problems and complications of distant gov
| ernments. Therefore | am unable to recon-
OESSAShOAAN
| leges of ownership or rights outside of our own
| territory when coupled with absolute and un-
limited engagements to defend territorial in
tegrty of the state where such interests lie.
SHIP RAILWAY
While the general pro- ect of connecting the
two oceans by means of a canal is to be encour-
| aged, / am of opinion that any scheme to that
end, to be considered with favor, shall be free
| from the features alluded to. The Tehuantepec
route is declared by engineers of the highest re-
pute and by competent scientists to afford an
| entirely practical transit for vessels and car
| goes by means of ship railway from the
| Atlantic to the Pacific. The obvious advantages
| of such route, if feasible, over others more
! remote from the axia1 lines of traffic between
Europe and the Pacific, and particularly be-
tween the valley of the Mississippi and the
western coast of North and Seth
| America, deserving of consideration.
Whatever highway may be constructed across
the barrier dividing the two greatest maritime
areas of the world, must be for the worlds ben
eft-a trust for mankind, to be removed from
| the chance of domination by any single power,
nor become point of invitation of hostilities or
| q prize for warlike ambition. An engagement
combining the construction, ownership, and oper-
alton of such a work by this Government with an
offensive and defensive alliance for its protection
| with the foreign states whose responsibilities
and rights we would share, is, in my Judgment,
| inconsistent with such dedication to universal
and neutral use, and would moreover, entail
| measures for its realization beyond this
| scope of our national policy or present means.
| The lapse of years has abundantly confirmed
| the wisdom and foresight of those earlier adj
| ministrations, which, long before the conditions
| of mari time intercourse were changed and en-
| larged by the progress of the age, proclaimed
the vital need of nter-oceanic traffic across the
commercial isthmus and consecrated it in adj
vance to the common of mankind by their
positive declaration and through the formal
obligation of trade. Toward such realization
the efforts of my administration will be applied,
ever bearing in mind the principles on which it
must rest and which were declared in no I'M
certain tones by Mr. Cass, who, while Secretary
of State in 1885, announced that what the
| United States want in Central America, next to
4
neutrality of the inter-oceanic routes which
may be laid through it.
TRANsCoNTINENTAL RAILWAYS
The construction of three transcontinental lines
of railway, all in successful operation, wholly
within our territory and uniting the Atlantic
and the Pacific Oceans, has been accompanied
| by results of most interesting and impressive
nature, and has created new conditions, not in
| the routes of commerce only but in political
geography, which powerfully affect our relations
toward and necessarily increase our interests
in, any transishthmian route which may be
opened and employed for the ends of peace and
traffic, or in other contingencies, for uses inim-
ical to both.
Transportation is a factor in the cost of com
modities scarcely second to that of their prOduc-
ton, and weighs as heavily upon the consumer.
Our existence already has proven the great i'm
portance Of having the competition between
land carriage and water carriage fully devel-
oped, each acting as q protection to the public
against the tendencies of monopoly, which is in
herent in the consolidation of wealth and power
in the hands of vast corporations. These sug-
gestions may serve to emphasize what have
already said on the score of the necessity of a
naturalization of any inter-oceanic transit, and
this can only be accomplished by making the
| uses of the route open to all nations and SUBJ
ject to the ambitions and warlike necessities of
none.
The drawings and report of q recent survey OF
the Nicaragua Canal route, made by Chief En-
gineer Menocal, will be communicated for your
information.
chilli, PERU AND BOLIVIA.
The claims of citizens of the United States for
losses by reason of the late military operations
of Chill in Peru and Bolivial are the subject of
negotiation for Claims Convention with Chill,
providing for their submission to arbitration.
CHINA AND THE CHINESE QUESTION.
The harmony of our relations with China is
fully sustained in the application of the acts
lately passed to execute the treaty of 1880, re-
strictive of the immigration of Chinese 1aborers
into the United States. Individual cases of hard
ship have occurred beyond the power of the Elk
ecutive to remedy, and calling for judicial de-
/ termination.
The condition of the Chinese question in the
Western States and Territories lis, despite this
restrictive legislation, far from being satisfac-
tory. The recent outbreak in Wyoming Terri
| tory, where numbers of unoffending Cinnamon
undisputably within the protection of the trea-
ties and the law, were murdered by mob and
! the still more recent threatened outbreak of the
same character in Washington Territory, are
still fresh in the minds of ALL and there is ap
prehension lest the bitterness of feeling against
the Monaghan the Pacific slope may
find vent to similar 1awless demonstration
. All the power of this Government should be ex-
, ert6d to maintain the amplest good faith toward
|. China in the treatment of these men and the in.
, flexible sternness of the law in bringing the
|, wrong-doers to justice should be insisted upon
Every effort has been made by this Government
to prevent these violent outbreaks and to aid the
representatives of China in their investigation OF
these ourages and it is but just to say that they
are traceable to the laWlessneSS of not citi
| | zens of the United States engaged in competi
: ton with Chinese laborers.
Race prejudice is the chief factor in original
ing these disturbances, and it exists in large
part Of our domain, ieopardizing our peace and
the good relationship try to maintain with
China The admitted rights of Government
to prevent the influx of elements hostile to its
|, internal peace and security may not be ques
toned, even where there is no treaty stipula
ton on the subject. That the exclusion Of
Chinese labor is demanded in other countries
, where like conditions prevail, is strongly
evidenced in the Dominion of Canada, where
Chinese immigration is regulated by
, laws exclusive than own
| If existing laws are inadequate to compass the
end in view shall be prepared to give earnes
, | consideration to any further remedial measures
within the treaty limits which the wisdom O.
, Congress may devise.
THE CONGO STATE.
The independent state of the Congo has beer
organized as a government under the SOY
ereignty of his Majesty the King of the Belgians
who assumes its chief magistracy in his per
sonal character only, without making the new
state a dependency on Belgium. 1t is for
tunate that benighted region, owing all it has
of quickening civilization to the benefcence o