Evening star., 1898-12-10

til all opposition has been overcome but
am convinced that a majority Of two-thirds
in each house Of Congress is today ready to
respond to the demand of the people and
for that reason is in favor of proceeding
at once to take the necessary action to
build that canal. If the people are disap-
pointed in their demand on this occasion
the men who obstruct their win ought to
be prepared with very strong reasons to
justify their course of conduct. / do not
believe they have such reasons. am sure
no reasons have been suggested that in
the slightest degree are sufficient to answer
this demand Of the people.
The Attitude Of Great Britain.
This question Of possible Interference on
the part of Great Britain with this canal.
which is now being pushed to the front, is
an invention of the men who are trying to
defeat the canal For more than twelve
years Great Britain has been fully advised
of the course of the United States in this
matter, and has never opposed the. slightest
criticism or objection to anything we have
done or proposed to do in any bill before
congress. How these gentlemen have as
certained that Great Britain must be con-
suited before we proceed to build the canal
am not advised. There is nothing in the
bill now pending in the Senate that is at all
inconsistent with the Clayton -RuIwer
treaty On the contrary that bill carries
out the purpose and intent of the CLAYTON
BuiWer treaty in broad pacific and sin
cere way.
Ownership of Stock.
I'VE claim nothing for the United States
in this bill relating to the control of the
canal that does not belong to any man or any
state, or any corporation, that owns a
majority of the stock in any other corpora
ton. 1 have not heard that the United
States is prohibited by concessions or other
wise from owning stock in the canal. There
is no intimaticn of any such thing. On the
other hand, the concession says foreign gov
ernments may own the stock and If the
United States may own 500 of the stock /
do not understand why it may not own
majority of it if it is able to buy it. The
point that was made on this subject was
that the United States could not be per-
mitted to own a majority of the stock in
that canal. Nobody ever pretended that
she had no right to own any of the stock.
Now, I would like somebody to point out
to me in what way the United States is
prohibited from owning majority of the
stock.
This sort of quibbling was brought for
ward in the past but now that the canal
is recognized as indispensable for the pro-
lection and security of our country, objec-
tions against its construction must not only
be serious, but they must be substantial, in
order to obstruct ana avoid the purpose Of
the people of the United States that a
even If it Is to be done at the expense of
war.
True State of Sentiment.
THE true state of the sentiment of the
people of the United States today is that
if there is no other way to build this canal
than to go there and take the country in
order to build it, they would demand of
Congress that that should be done But,
happily, no such measure Is necessary.
Nothing needs to be done but for the Con-
gress of the United States to observe q
straightforward, honorable, upright course,
acting upon rights already established upon
concessions that have been made, and pro-
ceed TO declare what our will is in regard
to this matter. 1t is proufied in the bill
that Is before the Senate that the Pres
fdent Of the United States may at any time
suspend an issue of bones to raise money
for building this canal
"Of course, such a suspension would
amount TO the entire stoppage of the whole
progress of the work. Now If Great Brit
ain, Nicaragua or Mr.. Grace or any one
else chooses to raise question in regard to
TINS matter and our rights as asserted in
this act of Congress, the President can
stop proceedings and settle such questions
III not settled satisfactorily to the United
States he can suspend the issue Of bonds
me matter Is left entirely in his discretion.
what this bill does is to amend act Oh
congress chartering the canal company
Inc right to make that amendment was
provided for in the act which granted the
original charter
These gentlemen who are proposing a
postponement by Congress until they can
have definite plan agreed upon under
stand perfectly we'll that if that postpone
meht Is TO continue until their objections
are ar disposed of no canal will ever be built.
lhat Is precisely what they want.
What the Railroads Want.
The Panama railroad, the companies that
nave built railroads through Guatemala
the Southern Pacific and the Central Pa
ciiic, with all their various branches, de-
sire to control the transportation of all the
commerce that comes across the Pacific
ocean and across this continent, and they
wish to handle it on their railroads. in
stead OF by water. They intend, If they
can prevent 1t, that there shall be no water
competition with their transit routes, ex-
cept around Cape Horn. That is what they
are attempting to do. They want to de-
stroy the hope of building any canal.
~ we persist in acting in the interest of
such plans, and subject the people of our
racine coast to the hardships they are en-
during and have endured for so many
Years, We may have to consider the QueS-
ton of drawing boundary lines on the crest
OF the Rocky mountains, for these people
have been punished by the government Of
the United States on this account, and they
have become exasperated
What We owe to the Navy.
Il think that we owe enough to the grand
achievements of the American navy in the
last six months to make US willing to pro-
vide shorter line of communication be-
tween the fleets of the Pacific and those
of the Atlantic than the 1900 miles that
the Oregon had to travel to come here to
defend the Atlantic coast and has again to
go over together with the Iowa and other
ships Tor the purpose of controlling our
interests In the Pacific ocean"
GEN. BROOKE,S COMING.