The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-12-17

washington. December 12.-The sem
ate committee on canals TODAY
authorized a favorable report upon Sem
ator Morgan's bill providing for the az
QUESTION from Nicaragua and Costa
hlca Of the right of way via the Nicara-
qua route. Senator Morgan, later, pre-
sented this report to the senate. accom-
panylng h return of the bill with a
Voluminious report upon the general
subject of a canal across the istbmus
Action upon the bill providing for the
construction Of the canal was deferred
senator Morgan's report covers more
than 500 pages of printed matter and
deals with many of the questions con-
nected with the construction of the
canal. including a thorough inquiry into
The attitude 70 Great Britain upon the
subject and the different canal routes.
He also discusses the relationship of the
Panama Cana Company to the con-
struction by the United States Of a
water way across the isthmus, and.
while he makes reference to a letter
written by President Hutin, of the Pan
OHIO company " OGCTGUdfy OF State
Hay, he does not give the text of thu
communication. Referring to the Pan
anna company he says:
This company, in a previous admin.
iStratiOn. has succeeded in obtaining the
resignation of a secretary of the navy
TO accept a nominal position in Their
service at a large salary and expended
$1,000, 900 in New York chiefly in &C.
quiring the aid of leading business
houses in promoting the De Lesseps
plan without a dollar of stock being
subscribed in that city.
desperate financial straits of the new
Panama Canal Company compelled
them to make Overtures to the United
States to unload their enterprise on
the United States, and their agents be.
came accordingly aggressive in this e.
fort"
Senator Morgan again refers to the
letter to Secretary Hay Of last Novem-
Der saying that M. Hutin previously
had made an unmistakable proposal to
sell the Panama property to the United
States. and adding:
Yet Mr.. Hutin, in his correspon-
derke with Admiral Walker and in his
letter and the accompanying memo
randum sent to Mr.. Hay first SUI
and then states and argues and finally
insists that the United States oferej
to purchase their property, n that
HIItI the COIilpduy dSISeu " Sell IL lIlC
iSthmian cana commission refused to
enter into a scheme of arbitration tC
ascertain the value of it. He imputes
bad faith, to the commission and severe
Iy criticiSes their dealings with the ca
nal company.
The conclusion with reference to this
point of the controversy is set forth in
the following language:
1.-THE motive for this unSeemly and
unprecedented misconduct must be,
either that this canal is des-
perate in its purpOse to unload its prop
erty upon the United States because
the French stockholders have lost faith
i'm it's success or that it is e~ndeaVoring
to prevent the competition of n canal
with it's Panama railroad, the shares
Of which they value at $500, the face
value being S1G0 per share, on account
of it's enormous earnings"
The introductory pages of the report
contain a general review of the i'm
portance of the construction of an is
thmian canal, and in the second para
graph of the repOrt it is declared that
the failure to accomplish this work
would create a feeling of national de-
spair."
Senator Morgan attributes the fall
ure TO construct the canal in the past
to the attitude of other nations. saying:
For the past fifty years the power ana
influence of the British government.
aided by combinations in the United
States and France, have defeated.aIl eff
forts tn omen an American iSthmian
canal. The combinations at home and
in France that have assisted N sup
pressing the demands of our Industrial
classes for a canal to onne the
oceans are chiefly the trans-contlnental
railway in Canada and in Panama and
those in the United States-eight great
generations tina now control almost
the entire transportation service be-
tween the oceans that wash the coasts
of the western hemisphere
In further discussing the ATTITUDE OF
Great Britain Senator Morgan SAID:
1T is clear that an oVerrul1ng neceS-
sitv of imperial, commercial and mill
tary policy connected with her policy
as TO the Suez canal, forced Great Brl-
tain to adhere to the Clayton-Bulwer
treaty as a means of preventing the
construction of a canal through Near
aqua by the United States, while 81"
would continue TO hold the vantage
ground of occupation ar increasing au-
thority in the territories of Nicaragua
and Honduras which she had agreed
to abandon Her intention to control
both canals was the evidently fixed"
He asserts that Great Britain'S con-
troll of the Mosquito coast was used as
a pretense to hold us until she had &C.
compliShed her greater policy relating
to the SueZ canal. we We're" he says
held in the leash by British rulers until
they could accomplish the control of the
Suez canal"
The major portion of the report was
made before the new Hay-Pauncefote
treaty had been promulgated, but in an
appendix the following reference is
made to that treaty:
eff two-thirds of the senate shall con
cur with the government of Great Brit
ain in establishing a conservative basis
upon which a canal for ships through
the American sthmuS shall be operated
for the security and benefit of all ma
lions. such agreement may well be con-
sidered as an advanced step in a true
civilization. honorable to both govern.
ments n rich in blessings to mar
kind.
Whatever sacrifice it may involve ir
bene is that might be otherwise claiu
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