The Minneapolis journal., 1901-10-10
THE CANAL TREATY

President Roosevelt, in an interview
yesterday with Senators Cullom and Ma
son, of Illinois, expressed very de-
cided and patriotic opinion on the subject
of the new canal treaty, in reply to SEN
ator Mason's reiteration Of his well-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 opposed it
would, in his opinion, assume the position
that he was not only an enemy of the ca
mel 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 succeeded in
delaying the construction Of an isthmian
canal by defeating the Hay-Pauncefote
treaty, which provided for the elimina-
tion of the antiquities of the Clayton
Bulwer treaty and preserved the general
principle of naturalization established in
Article VIII. OF that treaty. The key
note Of opposition like Mason's is that 1t
is the duty of our government to aDro-
gate the Clayton -Bulwer treaty on its own
motion without the consent of the party
of the other part. This opposition element
has talked as if we ought to construct
a canal and allow none but American ves-
sells to pass through 1t. Senator Mason
has himself come near in his utterances
to this climax Of absurdity. The new
treaty which he is opposing opens the
canal to foreign tonnage and makes the
United States the guarantor Of the neu-
trality of the canal, with the right to take
such measures as it deems best to protect
the property in time of war. II the SEN
ators who want to repudiate the treaty
of 1850 and ignore Great Britain, suo-
ceed in defeating the new treaty, In which
Great Britain makes the largest conces-
sions and demands no compensatory con-
surely register themselves as opponents
Of an isthmian canal, and, as President
Roosevelt says, as friends Of Great Britain
to the exclusion of their own cauntry. 1t
would seem impossible that a sufficient
number of senators could be found to
place themselves in such a puerile atti-
tude of opposition. They have been calling
for an American canal built by Americans
for Americans 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, in
| deed absolutely essential to the financial
welfare of the enterprise, which like 9TH
ers of the kind requires an income and a
rather large one, even for its maintenance
1t is probable that this opposition will
weaken, If it has not already weakened
under the influence of the very decided
| public sentiment led by the president
himself and voiced by his lamented pre-
decessor in his last speech. Public senti-
ment favors the isthmian canal, and II the
treaty is ratified next winter, our gov
ernment is ready, with the hindering obli-
cations 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.