The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-10-15
THE CANAL TREATY.

tSAuoy Will 0OAoIO1C SullOll
and Mason of Illinois, ex-
pressed a very decided and patrio-
tic opinion On the subject Of the new
canal treaty, in reply to Senator Ma
sons r%eiteration of his w%ell-known
views in opposition to the negotiations
of any treaty and in favor of tearing
up the Clayton-Bulwer treaty and
throwing the fragments in John Bulls
face AND asking him:
What are you going to do about
! it?'
The president told him that, after
the treaty was read, the man who OPP
posed it would, in his opinion, assume
the position that he was not only an
enemy Of the canal and of the United
States, but a friend of Great Britain
to the exclusion of his own country.
The president is right. Men of the
views of Senator Mason have succeed
ed in delaying the construction of an
isthmian canal by defeating the Hay
l. IiCoIy, "LllCl1 PlOVluCu LII
the elimination of the antiquities of
the Clayton-Bulwer treaty and pre-
served the general principle of neu-
~tralization established in Article VIII
of that treaty. The keynote Of opposi-
ton like Mason's is that it is the duty
Of II government to abrogate the
C1autnn- P11JUnr trcatu on itc 0y-,,
ton without the consent Of the party
of the other part. This opposition ele-
ment has talked as if we ought to con-
struct a canal and allow lone but
American vessels to pass through it.
Senator Mason has himself come near
in his u~tterances to this climax of alb
surbity. The new treaty which he is
opposing opens the canal to foreign
tonnage and makes the United States
the g%uarantor of the neutrality of the
canal, with the right to take such
measures as it deems best to protect
the property in time of war. If the
senators who want to repudiate the
treaty of 1850 and ignore Great Brit
ain, succeed in defeating the new
treaty. in which Great Britain makes
the largest concessions and
demands no compensatory con-
cessions from Jul government,
they will surely register them
selves as opponents of an 18TH
milan canal, and, as President Roose-
welt says, as friends of Great Britain
to the exclusion of their own country.
1t would seer impossible that a sufic-
lent number of senators could be
found to place themselves in such a
puerile attitude Of opposition They
have been calling for an American
canal built by Americans for Ameri-
cans and the new treaty provides for
such a canal, extending it's use, as a
matter of necessary international
| courtesy to other maritime nations, a
course, indeed, absolutely essential to
the financial welfare of the enterprise.
which like others of the kind requires
I'LL " Ala q III q &c oAO,
v for it's maintenance 1t is prob
able that this opposition will weaken,
if it has not already weakened, under
the influence of the very decided pub
lie sentiment, led by the president
himself and voiced by his lamented
predecessor in his last speech. Public
sentiment favors the isthmian canal,
and if the treaty is ratified next win
ter, our government is ready, with
the hindering obligations entailed by
the Clayton-Bulwer treaty wiped out
in the most honorable way, to proceed
to select a route and construct the
canal. Certainly the years of talking
should come to an end and the years
of action should begin.