Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-10-22
TEEDUPBY4'REATY
That of 1877 Very Repugnant
to Western Men.
A MOVEMENT FOR ITS ABR0GATION.

Objections Urged Against the Convention
with Great Britain Which Prohibits
warships on the Great Lakes-western
Shipbuiiders Deprived of the Utiliza-
ton of Their Advantages in Materials
Secretary Rusk Preparing a Valuable
Bulletin of Com parative Prices-Frauce
to Take Our Pork.
WASHINGTON, Oct 22.-There promises
to be general onslaught on the treaty of
1917 with Great Britain in the forthcom-
Ing annual reports. Not only will the
secretary of the navy probably recon-
mend its abrogation and the secretary of
late say word in the same vein,
b 1t the chief of the bureau of navis alton,
w w. Bates, who, by the way, is an old
Chicago shipbu lder, will jump hard on
the odious treaty, which prevents the
construction and maintenance of a fleet
Of war vessels on the great lakes Mr..
Bates will present the merits of the treaty
from a commercial standpoint. while the
cabinet officers will take broad national
ground and show how utterly defenseless
we are rendered on the Canadian border
by the operation of the treaty.
The Treaty Practically Imperative.
The general trend of sentiment will be
to impress upon the senate the necessity
of passing resolution giving the neces-
sary six months notice required before
abrogating a treaty. A number of we'll
known authorities on diplomatic matters,
notably eX-Congressmsn George E.
Adams, OF Chicago, have taken the ground
that the treaty is practically imperative
from various reasons, and that there is no
necessity for formal notice of abrogation.
However, it is likely that the state au-
thorities would counsel less abrupt and
more courteous shedding of the shackles
than would be Implied by total disre-
gard of the treaty
Complaint Against John Bull.
An authority on the subject said:
So far as Great Britain is concerned the
treaty has been practically imperative for
years. BY means of canals the British bring
their warships within easy access of the lakes
Great Britain alternates between making
treaties and schernins how she Taay evade
the obligations they impose. In this case she
holds over our heads an implied obligation by
which We could be prevented from putting
a fleet on the lakes to defend our northern
boundary and the great commercial interests
OF Chicago, Cleveland and Buffalo from inva-
sion in case OF a war with any other foreign
power.
Interferes with ship Building.
The commercial effect of the treaty seems to
be the most distasteful to the people residing
In the lake regions During the last year the
ship building interests Of that region have
lodged many petitions in favor of the abroga-
ton of the treaty. As the treaty operates ship
builders the lakes are excluded from COM
peting for contracts in building vessels
Last season the secretary of the navy made a
ruling which practically declared the treaty
operative by rejecting the bid OF Wheeler &
CO., of Bay City, Mich. on specifications for
the construction OF war vessel
Chicago q Rival of Philadelphia.
With a supply OF raw material for ship
building uneQualed by any region on the
globe, this section is excluded from the COM
petition, the great industry paralyzed and the
federal government deprived OF the benefits
which would accrue in low-priced vessels,
which could reasonably be made cheaper ON
the ground where the raw materials are all
produced than by shipping them across the
continent and adding to the cost Of construc-
ton the cost OF the transportation. Most of
our warships now constructed in Phila-
ielphia- Shonld this tire atty be suspended it is
more than likely that Chicago would succeed
Philadelphia the great ship builder for the
government