Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-06-18
UNITED STATES IS CONCERNED
CANAL WILL FACILITATE SHIPMENT
OF OUR GOODS.
Emperor May Force the Passage OF
the Measure IN the Upper House
Germany Displeased by the
Work of the Peace
...- Congress.
ropyright. 1gss. BY the Assoclated press,.

BERLIN, June 1.-THE canal bill en-
crossed attention this week, and the pa
pers had much to say pro and con. accord
ing TO party standpoint. The ultimate fate
of the bill concerns America, as the con-
struction of network of canals joining
the three largest rivers in Prussia-the
Elbe, Rhine and Weser-and the far East
ern provinces, those bordering on the Ger
man ocean, will cheaper and facilitate the
freights of American exports, notably
cereals, meats, cotton and other bulky
goods. Another point interesting to Amer
lea is the fact that the Prussian Agrarians
and those parties affiliating with them,
the Conservatives, Reichspartei and a por-
tion of the Center, have made the bill a
test of strength between the government
and almost a personal contest between
them and the emperor, who, with the en-
tire Prussian cabinet, is pledged for the
canal. His majesty left no doubt this week
that he strongly wished the great canal
to be built. Tuesday he summoned the
| crown council for the purpose of agreeing
with the cabinet on a line of action in the
diet, and personally drew up a declara-
| tion, which was read in the diet on Thurs
| day, promising compensation to individuals
| and to provinces, especially Slesia, finan-
| cially injured by the canal The passage
of the bill through the lower house of the
diet will therefore be signal defeat for
| the Agrarians, who are always the most
| hostile to American interests in Germany.
The Liberal press stood united for the bill,
and it Is confidently expected the canal
will give a powerful impetus to German
| industry, especially in the highly devel-
oped Rhine and Westphalian districts, and
will create a more extended and more uni
form market for agricultural products.
| The correspondent here of the Associated
Press learns on high government author
| ity that the acceptance of the bill by the
lower house of the diet does not mean its
adoption by the upper house, where the
government expects determined opposition,
as the Agrarian interests are usually pre-
dominant in that body. IT, as is mos,
likely, the majority of the upper house op,
poses the bill, the emperor is determined
| to resort to the eXpedient of forcing its
| final passage, which has not been tried in
Prussian politics for a generation. This
will be a so-called pairsschub The em>
peror asking of Prussia will create a suffl-
cient number of new peers to secure the
desired majority.
| The emperor's intentions remain secret
known to few of his intimates, but they
will! be carried out in the event of the
to demonstrate that the Agrarians are not
strong enough to defeat important legis.
lation required for the country's good
1t is reported his majesty is incensed at
the fact that the leading Agrarian organs
and chiefs had the assurance to state OPEN
ly and pointedly last week that they meant
to make the bill prove their political pre-.
dominance
Immediately after Thursdays sitting,
Prince Hohenlohe, the imperial chancellor
and Dr.. MIGUEL, the Prussian minister of
finance, visited the emperor, who insists
on a dissolution If the bill is rejected The
committee will begin the discussion of the
measure June 2S. The Centrists demand
the passage of the municipal election bill
before action is taken on the canal bill
The many claims for compensation greatly
complicate the situation.
The recent developments at the peace
conference are generally commented upor
here, and the statements of the foreign
papers, particularly the English, that the
German representatives at The Hague are
opposed to arbitration have been noteC
with deep displeasure. Almost the entire
press of Germany gives indignant voice tc
what the papers term English intrigue.
in order to prejudice the world against
Germany's pacific intentions"
An important foreign Office official saiG
Press:
The incomplete and usually distorted
partisan reports OF the doings of our rep
resentatives at The Hague, which have
appeared for weeks in the foreign, notably
the English and French, press, are calcu
lated to create false Impressions. 1t wa:
on account of this that Count Munster pro-
posed that full reports of the transactions
from day to day be given out officially. The
fact that such proposition was made by
and have no fear of correct and full re-
ports.
permanent court of arbitration, this goe:
beyond Russia's proposal. Aside from that
we miss several seemingly essential fea
lures, SUCH as rules providing for absolute
impartiality. AS soon as guarantees o.
such impartiality are given, Germany will
be able to assent to propositions going be
yond the scope of the original Russian
proposition.
Some method will probably be found t.
improve on the incomplete and unfair re
now in vogue. even If complete reports have
to be printed in the official organ of the
German government"
This statement is borne out by the utter
ances of the semi-official press. The Ber
lin Post this week has a series of editori
ais bitterly commenting on the false ant
malicious reports of the English press re
garding Germany''s attitude at Tn,
Hague" and asks ironically why, IL Grea
Britain wishes to found courts Of arbitra
ton. she has not appealed to such cour
difficulty.
The Cologne Gazette expressed the belle
that the whole conference will soon "enc
in smoke" This view is supported by
score of other influential papers
The National Zeitung said it hoped tn,
government would soon establish a methot
of regular and reliable daily reports O
the doings of the conference.
The snub administered to Germany b,
rejecting her minister's proposition at Th,
Hague has been bitterly commented on b,
the press here The Deutsche Zeitung re
This treatment of big power like Ger
many strikes US as wholly inappropriate
answer to this lack of courtesy"
The Berlin Tageblatt however SAYS:
If the report Is correct we must aSsum,
DR.. Zorn misunderstood his Instructions
It now seems certain that the anti-strik,
Dill will not find majority in the reich
stag. According to the government pro
gramme the bill will come up next week
but strong pressure is being exerted on tn.
government to postpone 1t until the au
tumn, as during the past fortnight the op
side the Radicals and Socialists, the Ma
tional Liberals and the larger part of thu
Center oppose the measure. It seems. 4
the government insists on the first readinf
before adjournment, that the bill will b,
defeated without the honor of a referenc,
to committee. The government woult
thus meet a severe defeat.
The correspondent of the Associated
Press learns on reliable authority that ne
Spain and Germany for the cession of tn,
West African island of Fernando Po an(
some other important Spanish colonies
The negotiations are at such stage tina
mutual secrecy is insisted upon. It /.
learned that the Canaries are also within
these negotiations. Spain asks a big price
however; much higher than Germany /.
willing to pay.