The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-08
spooner Amendment Condemned and
Methods of the Panama Company
Denounced.
ANTI-ANARCHY BILL CHANGED
ENTIRE DAY SPENT BY THE HOUSE
ON AMENDMENTS.
Word "AssauItv Stricken Out-No Quo
rum When a Motion Was Made
to Recommit.

for time the bill to relieve shippers from
the London dock charges, the Senate re-
sumed consideration to-day of the isthmlan
canal project. AT the conclusion Of routine
business in the Senate to-day Mr.. Depew,
of New York. addressed the Senate in ad-
vocacy Of the bill appropriating slO,OOO,OOO
for the purchase Of 100000 acres of land
for a national forest reserve in Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina. Georgia
and Tennessee. 1t is stated by the COM
mittee reporting the measure that lit may
fairly be urged that the establishment of
this forest reserve in the region OF the
Southern Appalachian mountains is mat
ter of great national Importance and that,
owing to the peculiar conditions existing
lin this region, the establishment of this
reserve need not necessarily be accepted as
a precedent for the establishment Of SINH
lar reserves elsewhere in the East. Mr.. De-
pew said the project was favored by Presi-
dent Roosevelt and the secretary OF agri-
culture and federal action was justified by
public necessity. He said the most favor
able results might be expected from the
establishment of the reserve. He said
that within ten years the great hardwood
forests in the proposed reserve would be
destroyed entirely. Such a result would be
disastrous to the States affected and the
entire country.
A. the conclusion of Mr.. Depew's remarks
Mr.. Hale said the Senate could not fail 70
be impressed by the great Importance Of the
subject. He had not been aware of the ex
tent of the land to be purchased, and
thought that some action ought to be taken
upon the matter st this session.
. The Senate then began consideration of
the measure commonly known as the Lon
don dock charges bill. Mr.. Nelson in sup
port of the bill said the charges made at
the London docks against American -four
principally were a discrimination against
the United States. In response to an in
quiry from Mr. McCumber as to what
guaranty the shippers of this country would
have in the event of the elimination of the
London dock charges that the Atlantic
freight rates would not be increased Mr..
Nelson replied that there was no guaranty
and could be none. The shippers would
have to take their chances on that. The
steamship trust organized by j. z. Morgan,
he said, might raise the freight charges.
That was not to be prevented by the pend
ing bill. God deliver us from trusts" de-
clared Mr.. Nelson. THAT is a matter which
we will have TO take care of later on" The
bill, he said, was for the purpose of pro-
tecting the American manufactures, the
American producer and the American farm
er. which protection was needed all the
more since the formation Of the shipping
combine by Mr.. Morgan. AS the situation
is. said he, the American shippers are in
the clutches of devil fish of a monopoly
from which we ought TO pray every evening
before going TO bed to be delivered"
Mr. Mitchell, of Oregon, continued his
speech, begun on Thursday, in opposition
to the Panama route. After considering
the engineering difficulties of the route,
which ne regarded as very serious, he en-
N n AaNa ,ofr
OF the Panama Canal Company which he
declared were the most corrupt in the his
tory of the world. He warned Congress
that no better way could be found to de-
feat the construction of any canal than to
adopt the Spooner amendment, as the
United States could have no connection
with the Panama route without becoming
involved in the intricacies Of the French
courts, from which IL would find it impossi-
BILE to extricate itself. He declared that
any connection this country might have
with the Panama proposition would result
in the deflement of the government He
said that he had referred inadvertently to
the isthmian canal commission as Han
mas commission" and that he had not in
tended to reflect upon Mr.. Hanna or upon
the commission.
Mr. Mitchell handled without gloves the
proposition to build the canal by the PAN
anna route and incidentally the Spooner
amendment. BY the adoption of this prop
osition, he said, the United States would be
lacking on TO one of the greatest frauds
and pieces of corruption known since the
world began. He could not believe, he said
that the Senate proposed to consider seri-
ously a proposition which will involve the
United States in legal controversy for a
hundred years. ] want the Senate &c know
the facts and TO determine whether we
really shall take up this rotten CONCERN
across the sea-"
Mr. Mitchell expressed the opinion that
the enactment of the Spooner amendment
beginning Of the canal project, as the Pres
ident probably would have to make an in
dependent investigation of the subject be-
fore he reached decision. He urged that
Congress ought to accept the responsibility
of selecting a route and not turn the re-
sponsibility over TO the President He
suggested that the possibility that if
the United States should adopt the
Panama route some other nation would
construct a canal by the Nicaragua
route. thus creating a competition that
would be disastrous to the United States
Mr.. Mitchell asserted that the Panama
canal enterprise was lone of the most stu
pendous gold-brick games ever imposed
upon a people" He declared that by the
Spooner amendment and the views of the
minority of the canal committee the United
States not only was invited TO participate
in gigantic lottery scheme, but also would
be compelled by French law, controlling
the canals construction, to purchase in
France all raw materials entering into the
canal. He pointed out that the new Pan
ANA Canal Company had entered into obli-
cations to construct the canal, and he in
sisted that the United States If it should
purchase the Panama Canal Company's
rights and property, would be the legatee
of all obligations of the French company
including those to the stockholders of the
old Panama Canal Company. In view of
all the conditions. he did not thing a wise
man would invest 100000 in a proposition
of that kind.
In conclusion. Mr.. Mitchell declared that
if he asting about for a way TO de-
feat the construction of an isthmian canal
he could find no better one than the sup
porting of the Spooner amendment Then
after brief executive session, the Senate
at $42 p m, adjourned