Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-06-23
A CANAL AGREEMENT
1t Will Be Panama First and
Nicaragua if the Title Is
Lacking.
House Will Agree to Time Limit
OF Year to Secure
Title.
Agreement Will Insure Building
of Canal by One OF the
Routes.

Washington, June 23.-There ha!
been reached practical agreement OF
the canal question as between the sen.
ate and house. The conferees have no
| held an official session, but the friends
OF the Nicaragua route at both ends OF
the capitol have managed to get to-
gether. and will consent to the ildop-
ton of the Spooner compromise, at 1t Is
called, with simple little amendment
| which they believe will result ulti-
mately in the building of canal along
the Nicaragua route.
The house, it will be remembered
passed the Hepburn BILL which pro-
! vided for the immediate construction
| by the government of canal across
| the isthmus along the route indicated
| by Lake Nicaragua. The senate, IN
passing what is known as the SpooneI
compromise. provided that the presi-
dent should build a canal along the
Panama route, paying the French COM
pany $40,000,000 for its right, provided
an absolutely good title could be OBJ
| tanned, and also provided that the
United States of Colombia would make
q satisfactory concession direct to the
United States.
If these conditions can not be salts
| fed the president is required, under the
terms of the Spooner substitute, to be-
gin the construction of the canal along
the Nicaragua route.
The real friends of an isthmian canal
were comparatively Indifferent as to
whether it was built by the Panama or
1>1,t l,a ton, To I c
actually built at ALL The friends of the
canal have been honestly afraid that
the passage by the senate of the
Spooner compromise would mean de-
lay.
There is no limit of time in the act
passed by the senate within which the
president is required to make his decis-
ion. No one who knows President
Roosevelt would believe for an instant
that he could be induced to consent to
q delay from any improper motives. He
is as anxious as anybody to build a ca
nal, but is comparatively Indifferent as
to the route, provided he is satisfied
that when the work is once undertaken
it will be carried to a conclusion with
out any unreasonable delay.
Senator Morgan, Colonel Hepburn
end other prominent friends of the
Nicaragua route have all along con-
tended that congress must pass a posi-
tive order to begin work on the canal
to head off the scheme of the trans
continental railway combine, which has
been endeavoring to prevent the build
ing Of any canal at ALL They have
believed that if the .Spooner compro-
mise was passed by congress, leaving
the decision to the president, the influ
cnce of the transcontinental combine
would be strong enough in France and
in the United States of Colombia,
where the railroad interests already
duce diplomatic difficulties enough to
tie the hands of the president.
Clever diplomacy, it is said, could be
exerted easily by means of which the
republic of France, the Panama Canal
Company and the United States of
Colombia, each one being undoubtedly
a party in interest, could be started on
e triangular exchange of diplomatic
notes which might be continued for
years.
These real friends of the canal have
been fearful that the railroad interests,
which are antagonistic to any canal by
any route at all, would find 1t easy to
get the negotiations into such a state
that they always would be apparently
on the eve of satisfactory settlement
and yet never would be completely adj
Justed.
In this way President Roosevelt
would be put into an embarrassing po-
sition. He could not produce a good
title to the Panama canal without the
consent of all three of the parties in
interest. and yet at the same time he
could not assert positively tnat good
title could not be obtained, and the in
evitable result would be delay from one
day to another, a new pretext being
provided as soon as the old one was
exhausted.
friends of Nicaragua canal, including
Senator Morgan and Colonel Hepburn
the leaders at each end of the; capitol
have agreed to accept the 7Spooner
compromise substantially as it now
stands, provided there is inserted in it
q rigid time limit within which the
president will be required to make his
decision as between Panama and Mica
ragua. They favor a provision that
If the president is unable to secure
good title to the Panama canal, includ-
ing quit claim deed from the Panama
Canal Company, the republic of
France, representing her citizens, and
the United States of Colornbia, thru
whose territory the canal must run,
within one year, he shall thereupon be-
gin the construction of canal by the
Nicaragua route.
The friends of the Nicaragua line be-
lieve that this will put an end to all
indefinite delay and will bring the mat
ter to a head during the next fiscal
year. Furthermore, they also believe
that the imposition of such a time limit
will result in the selection of the Mica
ragua route. because they continue to
assert that the Panama people can not
by any possibility give a title which
will be accepted by any ordinary real
estate guaranty title company.
The transcontinental influences III
congress are opposed to any time limit
as a matter of course, but the PROPOSE
ton is so fair on It's face, and it is so
evidently the only one which can pass
the house, that 1t is believed that the
senate will agree to it. 1t is said the
president himself would much prefer
time limit. as that would relieve him of
all embarrassment and would force the
Panama people either to fish or cut
bait.